Joseph Maldjian, M.D.

Joseph A. Maldjian, MD, is Professor of Radiology at UT Southwestern, and serves as Chief of the Neuroradiology Division and Director of the Advanced NeuroScience Imaging Research (ANSIR) Lab. His clinical interests involve bringing novel imaging methodologies and advanced analysis methods into the clinical setting.

What I really appreciate about neuroradiology at UT Southwestern is the perfect partnering of clinical and research excellence.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Princeton University, Dr. Maldjian earned his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark. He completed his residency training in diagnostic radiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, and then received advanced training in neuroradiology through a two-year fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia.

Before joining the faculty at UT Southwestern, Dr. Maldjian served as a Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Prior to that, he held faculty appointments at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and at New Jersey Medical School.

Investigating traumatic brain injuries

Dr. Maldjian’s research team has been instrumental in bringing arterial spin-labeling (ASL) into routine clinical practice. This noninvasive method “tags” arterial blood water through a process of magnetic inversion, making it possible for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to detect the “magnetized” blood flowing through brain tissue. He has also developed fully automated means for processing, archiving and analyzing these images, as well as images obtained using functional MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, positron emission tomography, and magnetoencephalography (MEG). Dr. Maldjian’s research lab maintains a data processing resource that can handle large amounts of neuroimaging data and provide an interface to an array of commonly used software platforms.

The main focus of Dr. Maldjian’s research is sports-related, mild traumatic brain injury. He is currently one of only a few radiologists in the nation to serve as principal investigator on three active National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded R01 studies. Dr. Maldjian and his collaborators are studying the effects of sub-concussive impacts on youth and high school football players by obtaining MRI, MEG, cognitive measures and detailed head impact data from sensors embedded in players’ helmets.

He is also investigating whether genetic and racial factors related to diabetes might lead to changes in the brain structure and function in African-Americans.

Dr. Maldjian is an active member of numerous national and international societies, including the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, American Society of Neuroradiology, American Society for Functional Neuroradiology, American College of Radiology, American Board of Radiology, and the Radiological Society of North America.

Robust editorial activity

In addition to authoring more than 125 peer-reviewed publications and over 15 additions to textbooks, Dr. Maldjian is a reviewer for multiple academic journals, including Radiology, Neuroradiology, Neurology, Neuroimage, Clinical Neuroradiology, American Journal of Neuroradiology, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, Neuroinformatics, and Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography. He also serves as a charter member of the NIH Biomedical Imaging Technology Study Section A.

Personal note

Dr. Maldjian is a trained classical pianist who spends much of his free time with his wife designing, testing, and optimizing novel reward systems to get their four young children to practice the instrument.

Medical School

University of Medicine and Dentistry - New Jersey Medical School (1988)

Internship

St Barnabas Medical Center (1989), Internal Medicine

Residency

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (1993), Diagnostic Radiology

Fellowship

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (1995), Neuroradiology

• Advanced Neuroimaging Applications
• Neuroimaging Analysis Pipelines
• Resting State Magnetoencephalography (MEG) Analyses
• Sports-Related Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Featured Publications

Abnormal white matter integrity related to head impact exposure in a season of high school varsity football.

Davenport EM, Whitlow CT, Urban JE, Espeland MA, Jung Y, Rosenbaum DA, Gioia GA, Powers AK, Stitzel JD, Maldjian JA J. Neurotrauma 2014 Oct 31 19 1617-24

Graph theoretical analysis of resting-state MEG data: Identifying interhemispheric connectivity and the default mode.

Maldjian JA, Davenport EM, Whitlow CT Neuroimage 2014 Aug 96 88-94

Automated white matter total lesion volume segmentation in diabetes.

Maldjian JA, Whitlow CT, Saha BN, Kota G, Vandergriff C, Davenport EM, Divers J, Freedman BI, Bowden DW AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2013 Dec 34 12 2265-70

Head impact exposure in youth football: elementary school ages 9-12 years and the effect of practice structure.

Cobb BR, Urban JE, Davenport EM, Rowson S, Duma SM, Maldjian JA, Whitlow CT, Powers AK, Stitzel JD Ann Biomed Eng 2013 Dec 41 12 2463-73

Head impact exposure in youth football: high school ages 14 to 18 years and cumulative impact analysis.

Urban JE, Davenport EM, Golman AJ, Maldjian JA, Whitlow CT, Powers AK, Stitzel JD Ann Biomed Eng 2013 Dec 41 12 2474-87

Effect of resting-state functional MR imaging duration on stability of graph theory metrics of brain network connectivity.

Whitlow CT, Casanova R, Maldjian JA Radiology 2011 May 259 2 516-24

Fully automated processing of fMRI data in SPM: from MRI scanner to PACS.

Maldjian JA, Baer AH, Kraft RA, Laurienti PJ, Burdette JH Neuroinformatics 2009 7 1 57-72

Biological parametric mapping: A statistical toolbox for multimodality brain image analysis.

Casanova R, Srikanth R, Baer A, Laurienti PJ, Burdette JH, Hayasaka S, Flowers L, Wood F, Maldjian JA Neuroimage 2007 Jan 34 1 137-43

An automated method for neuroanatomic and cytoarchitectonic atlas-based interrogation of fMRI data sets.

Maldjian JA, Laurienti PJ, Kraft RA, Burdette JH Neuroimage 2003 Jul 19 3 1233-9

Structural and functional assessment of the brain in European Americans with mild-to-moderate kidney disease: Diabetes Heart Study-MIND.

Murea M, Hsu FC, Cox AJ, Hugenschmidt CE, Xu J, Adams JN, Raffield LM, Whitlow CT, Maldjian JA, Bowden DW, Freedman BI Nephrol. Dial. Transplant. 2015 Aug 30 8 1322-9

• Best Paper Trainee (Co-Author)
  American Society of Neuroradiology (2014)
• Graduate Design and Research Award (Co-Author)
  Biomedical Engineering Society (2014)
• Best Poster (Co-Author)
  American Society of Functional Neuroradiology (2012)
• Outstanding Teacher
  International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (2009)
• Derek Harwood-Nash Award (co-author), Outstanding Presentation Award in Pediatric Neuroradiology
  American Society of Neuroradiology (2008)
• Best Doctors in America
  U.S. News & World Report (2005-2015)
• Rennick Award (co-author)
  International Neuropsychological Society (2001)
• American Roentgen Ray Society Scholar
  American Roentgen Ray Society (1999)
• Sanofi-Winthrop Fellow in Neuroradiology
  Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (1993)
• Chief Resident, Department of Radiology
  Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York (1992)
• Magna Cum Laude, Biochemistry
  Princeton University (1984)

• American Board of Radiology
• American College of Radiology
• American Society for Functional Neuroradiology
• American Society of Neuroradiology
• International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
• Radiological Society of North America