BNAC - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Clinical Advisor
- Professor of Neurology at the State University of New York
Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, is a professor of Neurology at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Her clinical practice is devoted to the comprehensive care of adults and children living with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other demyelinating disorders. She directs the Jacobs Multiple Sclerosis Center for Treatment and Research at UBMD Neurology; the clinic offers state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic interventions for MS patients and for patients with other autoimmune diseases affecting the central nervous system. The clinic provides a full spectrum of support services to patients including, but not limited to neurocognitive assessment, physical and occupational therapy and social work services that help both patients and families. Additionally, she serves on hospital inpatient service several times a year.
She also directs the Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center of Buffalo, one of the initial six centers of excellence established by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. In addition, she serves as executive director of the New York State Multiple Sclerosis Consortium (NYSMSC), one of the largest MS registries in the nation. Dr. Weinstock-Guttman collaborates closely with BNAC in all aspects of research and treatment of multiple sclerosis.
Her research interests are aimed at better understanding the heterogeneity of MS, identifying predictors of disease progression with a primary focus on genetic and environmental interactions and influences on MS disease phenotype. She is also interested in response to therapy, e.g., influences on physical and neurocognitive status. Pediatric MS, an insufficiently explored subject, is an important area of my clinical and research interests and is part of a well-established national research network via the pediatric MS centers of excellence of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. More recent foci of her research include understanding the cholesterol link to MS and its influence on the pathobiology of MS, bone health and exercise programs for patients with MS and aging: patient characteristics and biomarkers associated with, and predictive of improved quality of life and/or MS disease stabilization in MS aging. Dr. Weinstock-Guttman has published more than 450 peer-reviewed manuscripts and has an H-index factor of 87.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Department of Neurology, University
- Board - Certified Neuroimager
Dr. Hojnacki is Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Department of Neurology, University at Buffalo. He is board certified in Neurology with fellowship training in both Multiple Sclerosis/Neuroimmunology and Diagnostic Neuroimaging.
After completing his Neurology residency at the University at Buffalo, he received the National Multiple Sclerosis fellowship in 2006 and trained at the Jacobs Neurological Institute, Baird MS Center. In 2007, he began fellowship training in Diagnostic Neuroimaging with William Kinkel, MD FAAN one of the founding members of the American Society of Neuroimaging.
In outpatient clinical practice, he evaluates for and treats conditions in neuroimmunology such as Multiple Sclerosis, Neuromyelitis optica (Devic's Disease), Neurosarcoiodosis and Central Nervous System vasculitis. In addition to this, he provides diagnostic reports of brain and spine MRI's for the Department of Neurology in the evaluation of all neurological diseases. While on hospital service, he diagnoses and treat all neurological conditions as well as provide teaching to the neurology residents and medical students in training.
His research interests include Multiple Sclerosis, its etiology and treatment, diagnostic neuroimaging and neuroimaging analysis as well as stem cell research. Dr. Hojnacki collaborates closely with BNAC and provides reading expertise in multiple clinical trials. He is involved in the development of advanced MRI techniques for many neurological conditions both for diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression. Dr. Hojnacki has published more than 75 peer-reviewed manuscripts.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Director
Job Titles:
- Director of Sequence Development
Job Titles:
- Director of Functional NeuroImaging Development
Larry Montani serves as BNAC Advisory Council Chair and leads the Strategic Planning committee. His service is inspired by a family history of MS, having three siblings with the disease, two of whom died from its complications. After an introductory visit in 2010, he joined the council hoping to help BNAC find answers and better outcomes for all the champions who fight Multiple Sclerosis. His work on the Council aims to leverage BNAC skill sets for sustainable revenue and enhance collaboration in the MS research community. A former chemical manufacturing executive, Mr. Montani also serves in advisory roles for local education, human services and manufacturing entities. Originally from Boston MA, he has an engineering and business background. He and his wife Mary live in Lewiston, NY.
Job Titles:
- Director of IT
- Director of IT and Neuroinformatics Development
- Neuroinformatics Director
Michael Dwyer is the Director of IT and Neuroinformatics Development at the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC), and Assistant Professor of Neurology and Biomedical Engineering at the University at Buffalo. Dr. Dwyer also serves as Director of Computational Analysis for the Center for Biomedical Imaging, one of the Cores of UB's Clinical Translational Science Institute. He received his PhD in quantitative neuroimaging analysis methods from the University of Bradford (2013), and also a MSc in Computer Science from Nova Southeastern University (2011). His research as BNAC's Neuroinformatics Development Director focuses on the application of quantitative image analysis methods to neuroimaging data in order to better characterize the onset, progression, and treatment of neurological diseases. Specific highlights of his work include the development and validation of a method for detecting and quantifying demyelination and remyelination in vivo, the development of a method dramatically improving on the precision of conventional tissue-specific atrophy measurement in clinical routine, and the investigation of the MRI "connectome" on cognition in MS.
Dr. Dwyer recently formed an artificial intelligence (AI) sub-group with specific focus on applications of deep learning techniques in neuroimaging. He created a new tool called DeepGRAI (deep gray matter via artificial intelligence) that reliably quantifies thalamic atrophy on low-resolution clinical routine imaging.
He has published over 150 scientific papers in peer-reviewed medical, imaging, and brain-related journals, and has edited and reviewed publications for numerous journals in his field. His papers are highly cited and frequently used as a "must-cite reference", with an H-index of 47.
Job Titles:
- Director of Integration
- Integration Director at the BNAC and Research Assistant Professor
Niels Bergsland is the Integration Director at the BNAC and Research Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University at Buffalo. He received his bachelor's degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo (2005) and his master's degree program in computer science at the Nova Southeastern University (2012). He completed his PhD in Bioengineering at the Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy on "Advanced MRI techniques in multiple sclerosis: multimodal assessment of WM and GM damage mechanisms" (2016). Since joining the BNAC in 2004, he as been active in the development of the systems, software, and processes used by BNAC personnel. Dr. Bergsland is directly responsible for the planning and execution of many of BNAC's research projects. His research involves the use of multimodal imaging techniques to aid in better clarifying the underlying pathology in neurodegenerative diseases, with a particular focus on multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. He has published over 190 scientific papers in peer-reviewed medical and neuroimaging journals. He has an H-index of 37 and serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (JMRI), PLOS ONE, Frontiers in Neurology, and the journal of Neuroimaging, where he is the section editor for multiple sclerosis.