James S. Hyde Memorial Lecture

James S. Hyde, PhD, was a pioneer in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a leading authority on brain connectivity, and a world-renowned expert in electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy instrumentation.

Dr. Hyde was recruited to the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) in 1975 as a professor of radiology after a long and successful career with Varian Associates. He went on to become the founding director of the Biophysics Research Institute (now the Department of Biophysics), professor of biophysics, and the initial holder of the endowed James S. Hyde Professorship in Biophysics.

In 1976, he and Harold M. Swartz, MD, PhD were principal investigators on the NIH-funded National Biomedical EPR Center grant, which was the nation’s first federally funded center focused on EPR instrumentation development; Dr. Hyde became director of the EPR Center in 1980 and remained in that role until his retirement in 2016. In 1992, Dr. Hyde, MD/PhD student Eric Wong, and PhD student Peter Bandettini were the first to publish on fMRI of the sensorimotor system in the human brain. In 1995, Dr. Hyde published the first paper on resting-state functional connectivity MRI, which has been cited more than 7,000 times. Over his 41-year career at MCW, Dr. Hyde received more than $56 million in direct federal grant support and authored or co-authored more than 400 scientific papers and book chapters. He has been awarded more than 37 patents in imaging and technology and founded a technology development company with Richard Stevens. Dr. Hyde has been honored by MCW with the Distinguished Service Award as well as internationally by numerous prestigious scientific societies. His contributions to the scientific community are both innumerable and invaluable.

This annual memorial lecture honors the remarkable legacy of Dr. James S. Hyde.