Savannah Hays, a PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering was recently awarded the Best Poster at the 2025 ACTRIMS Young Scientist Conference for her work on improving the accuracy of brain imaging analysis in multiple sclerosis (MS).
“My poster focused on the importance of preprocessing heterogeneous clinical magnetic resonance (MR) imaging data, specifically the use of super-resolution and harmonization techniques,” said Hays. “These methods help standardize MR data collected from multiple clinical sites, improving the performance of deep learning algorithms used to calculate brain and lesion volumes. Without these preprocessing steps, algorithms often fail or produce unreliable results.”
The project, titled “The Importance of Super Resolution and Harmonization in a Pragmatic Clinical MR Image Dataset”, is part of the Traditional versus Early Aggressive Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis (TREAT-MS) Trial, a national study evaluating treatment strategies for multiple sclerosis. A member of the Image Analysis and Communications Lab led by ECE Professor Jerry Prince, Hays began contributing to the project at the start of her PhD work in 2022.
Mentored by Prince, Hays also works closely with Associate Research Scientist Aaron Carass and with members of the School of Medicine’s Department of Neurology, including Assistant Professor Blake E. Dewey, Professor Ellen M. Mowry, and Professor Scott D. Newsome.