Congyu Liao

Congyu Liao, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging and Technical Director of the Neuroimaging Technology Research Center (NTRC) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He completed his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Zhejiang University (2018) and postdoctoral training at the Martinos Center (MGH/Harvard) before joining UCSF in 2025.

• PhD, Biomedical Engineering – Zhejiang University (2018)
• BS, Control Technology and Instrument Science – China University of Geosciences (2013)
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Harvard Medical School (2021)
• Instructor – Stanford University (2025)

Dr. Liao specializes in advanced diffusion and quantitative MRI techniques for neurodevelopment and neurological disorders. His work focuses on distortion-free imaging, high-resolution myelin-water fraction mapping, and AI-driven MRI reconstruction. He has pioneered methods like gSlider-BUDA for mesoscale diffusion MRI and Deli-CS for spatio-temporal reconstruction.

Congyu’s 15 most recent publications span topics in MR fingerprinting, diffusion imaging, and deep learning applications in MRI. Key trends include ultra-high-resolution brain imaging at 7 Tesla, reduced cross-scanner variability with vendor-agnostic sequences, and real-time motion correction for distortion-free dMRI.

• 2022: Junior Fellow, ISMRM
• 2022: Summa Cum Laude Merit Award, ISMRM
• 2021–2018: Multiple Cum Laude/Magna Cum Laude Merit Awards, ISMRM
• 2015: Educational Stipend, ISMRM

He leads NIH-funded research (R01HD114719) on infant brain development imaging and has mentored collaborations with institutions like Stanford, Harvard, and MGH. His lab integrates MR physics, computational methods, and clinical translation to address challenges in pediatric and neurodegenerative diseases.