Scientific Committee
The society has adopted an organizational structure for the scientific committee to “get things done” and achieve our larger scientific goals, where individual units are ultimately responsible for its own specific objectives. The structure and people in charge can be found below.
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Education Unit Lead: Alexander Leemans Head of the PROVIDI Lab, UMC Utrecht Description
The Education Unit develops and hosts a variety of training initiatives to deliver state-of-the-art tractography education in the form of workshops, hackathons and online webinars, amongst others. These events help to increase the standard of interdisciplinary tractography knowledge and training world wide. -
Events & Publications Unit Lead: Laurent Petit Director of Research, CNRS, France Description
Responsible for organizing the IST international conference and tractography specific scientific communications, the Events & Communications Unit is already at work planning the inaugural IST meeting in Bordeaux in 2025, along with the launch of a Neuroanatomy and Tractography collection of articles in the journal Brain Structure and Function.People
Kurt Schilling - VU Medical Center (USA) Hiromasa Takemura - NIPS (JPN)Maxime Descoteaux - UdeS (CAN)Tim Dyrby - UofD (DK)Jessica Dubois - Inserm (Fr)Vinod Kumar - Max Planck (GER)Chiara Maffei - MGH / Harvard (USA)Alberto De Luca - UMC Utrecht (NL)Lauren O’Donnell - Harvard/BWH (USA)Joseph Yang - RCH (AUS)Donald Tournier - KCL (UK)M. Thiebault de Schotten - CNRS (Fr)Dogu Baran Aydogan - UofEF (FIN)Simona Schiavi - ASG (ITLY)Alexander Leemans - UMC Utrecht (NL)Stephanie Forkel - Donders Inst. (NL) -
Technology Unit Lead: Graham Little CEO, Jump Ship Labs Description
The technology unit is responsible for all aspects of tech development and support for the society. This includes web development, database management as well as developing new tools to allow members to share and collaborate with massive amounts of imaging/anatomical data. -
Application & Translation Unit Lead: Catherine Lebel Professor, Radiology, University of Calgary Description
Tractography has shown promise for improving health and wellbeing, but translation of research to practice is not always straightforward or quick. Part of this problem relates to a gap between research and practice, which this unit aims to help bridge. We aim to support numerous applications of tractography, and help accelerate translation of research into impact. -
Interdisciplinary Definitions Unit Lead: Lauren O’Donnell Associate Professor, Radiology, Harvard Medical School, BWH Description
The general meanings and knowledge of terminology differ greatly between disciplines. This is extremely problematic for tractography; for instance, a bundle can mean completely different things to a computer scientist or neuroanatomist. To enable more seamless communication, the Interdisciplinary Definitions unit brings together experts from disparate disciplines to define terminology that will help guide research across scales, modalities, species, and scientific domains.People
Kurt Schilling - VU Medical Center (USA) Silvio Sarubbo - UofT (ITLY)Pratik Mukherjee - UCSF (USA)Alard Roebroeck MU (NL)Martin Parent - LU (CAN)Laurent Petit - CNRS (Fr)Jarrett Rushmore - BUMC (USA) Suzanne Haber - UofR (USA) Kathleen Rockland - BU (USA)Chiara Maffei - MGH / Harvard (USA)Shiva Hassanzadeh-Behbahani - BWH / Harvard (USA) -
Standardization Unit Lead: Ariel Rokem Research Associate Professor, University of Washington Description
In order to foster interdisciplinary and international collaborations significant advancements in methods standardization need to occur. This includes new standards for data storage and meta-data, consensus on tractography methods, standardizing image acquisition and evaluating state-of-the-art validation hardware. The standardization unit aims to advance all of these technological aspects to enable more accurate, repeatable and reliable tractography techniques.People
Francois Rheault - UdeS (CAN)Kurt Schilling - VU Medical Center (USA) Silvio Sarubbo - UofT (ITLY)Simona Schiavi - ASG (ITLY)Donald Tournier - KCL (UK)Jelle Veraart - NYU (USA)Tim Dyrby - UofD (DK)Alessandro Daducci - UofV (ITLY)Sarah Heilbronner - BCofM (USA)Wei Tang - IU (USA)Stam Sotiropoulos - UofN (UK)Alberto De Luca - UMC Utrecht (NL) -
Funding & Collaborations Unit Leads: Maxime Descoteaux & Flavio Dell’Acqua Description
The Funding and Collaborations Unit is focused on garnering support for the society through sponsorship and cross-discipline / cross-border funding opportunities. These objectives include grants related to network building, interdisciplinary training and large scale scientific projects. -
Advisors Description
The society is fortunate to have world leading experts spanning vastly different disciplines. To leverage this expertise, advisory roles have been established to help guide the leadership team in framing the society’s structure and objectives.
Leadership Transition Process
Our leadership transition process is designed to ensure continuity and mentorship within the International Society for Tractography (IST). Here’s how it works:
Unit Transition Structure
Start-Up Period: To maintain stability in the early years of the society all unit leads for the scientific committee will serve an initial start-up period of 2 years.
Rolling In & Rolling Out: After this period, a structured rolling in and rolling out process is implemented:
- Past Member: Outgoing unit leads remain on the scientific committee for 1 year as a “Past Unit Lead.”
- Apprentice Lead: Incoming leads (see below) serve as apprentices for 1 year.
- Unit Lead: After the apprenticeship, the unit lead will serve for an additional 2 years.
Each unit lead therefore commits to a minimum of 4 years of service.
Leadership Transition Steps
President Transition: The President becomes the Past President for 1 year. The Vice-President (VP) is promoted to President.
Vice-President Selection: The Nomination Committee, created by the Board of Directors, shortlists candidates from the current unit leads for the VP position. IST members will then vote to elect the new Vice-President.
Unit Lead Elections: Each unit is responsible for electing its new lead. A current lead can serve a maximum of two terms (4 years).
This process ensures a smooth and effective transition of leadership within the IST, fostering growth and stability in our scientific endeavors.