Tonima Ali

Dr. Tonima Ali is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Sydney's School of Biomedical Engineering and a member of the Brain and Mind Centre. Her research focuses on improving structural, compositional, and functional understanding of biological tissues using MRI, particularly in neuroimaging applications such as Multiple Sclerosis analysis. She teaches courses including Industry and Community Project (ICPU4000), Biomedical Image Analysis (BMET5933), and Comparative Imaging (MRTY4041). Her current projects include surface-based analysis of white/grey matter myeloarchitecture and brain fingerprinting via MRI. Dr. Ali holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alberta, an MSc in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Calgary, and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics from Queensland University of Technology. She previously worked as an National Imaging Facility (NIF) Fellow at the University of Queensland.

Education:

• BSc Electrical Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada
• MSc Biomedical Engineering, University of Calgary
• PhD Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics, Queensland University of Technology

Research Themes: Neuroimaging, MRI optimization, tissue composition analysis, and disease diagnostics.

Teaching & Supervision:

• Course leader for ICPU4000, BMET5933, and MRTY4041
• Supervised capstone projects on white matter fiber orientation and diffusion MRI
• Guided PhD projects on laminar VASO signal analysis and MRI quality assurance

Grants: 2024 Brain and Mind Centre grant for normative subcortex modeling in neurodegenerative disorders.

Labs & Teams: Active member of the Brain and Mind Centre and affiliated with the University of Queensland's imaging research group. Collaborates with IEEE, ISMRM, and Women in STEM networks.