Education in Neuroimaging Award - Prof. Janaina Mourao-Miranda

Elisa Guma & The Communications Committee

Interview with Prof. Janaina Mourao-Miranda, winner of the 2023 Education in Neuroimaging Award

At the 2023 annual OHBM meeting, Prof. Janaina Mourao-Miranda received the Education in Neuroimaging Award for her significant contribution to education and training in the field of neuroimaging. Prof. Mourao-Miranda leads the Machine Learning Neuroimaging Lab at the Centre for Medical Imaging Computing (CMIC) in the Computer Science Department at the University College London (UCL). Prof. Mourao-Miranda received her bachelor’s in Electronic Engineering at Federal university of Para (Brazil). She then pursued a MSc in Computer Science and a Ph.D in Neuroscience at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Next, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Neural Computation at Siemens, Munich, Germany followed by one at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, London. After her second postdoctoral experience she was awarded two prestigious Wellcome Trust fellowships (Research Career Development and Senior Research) which enabled her to establish a research group at UCL.

Her group applies pattern recognition and machine learning to neuroimaging data with the goal of uncovering the relationship between brain and behaviour. One of the goals of her research program is to develop novel machine learning models to investigate the complex relationships between neuroimaging data and multidimensional descriptions of mental health disorder in hopes of improving understanding, diagnosis, and prognosis for these conditions.

We had the pleasure of asking Prof. Mourao-Miranda a few questions about her work, research trajectory, and any advice she has for junior trainees. Read on to learn more! You can also check out our previous interview with Prof. Mourao-Miranda showcasing her OHBM 2022 Keynote lecture here.

Q1. Which elements in your career do you think contributed most to you receiving this award?
Janaina Mourao-Miranda (JMM):I believe pioneering the application of machine learning to neuroimaging analyses, leading the development of the open-source software Pattern Recognition for Neuroimaging Toolbox and a long track record of organizing courses and workshops to train students and researchers on applying machine learning to neuroimaging data were the key elements that contributed to receiving the award. Also coming from Brazil where access to education in neuroimaging is limited made me understand the need for and importance of developing accessible tools and materials for training multidisciplinary researchers across the world.

Q2. In your experience, have economic barriers become easier to overcome in order to ensure greater access to neuroimaging education and training? What can we, as a community, do to ensure even better access to resources in the future?
JMM: Despite initiatives such as reduced registration costs for members from lower-income countries to attend the OHBM meeting, Merit Abstract Award and Merit Travel Stipend, I think economic barriers are still very difficult to overcome to access neuroimaging education and training in lower income countries. For example, academics from these countries still struggle to pay the OHBM membership and students have limited access to travel funds. This can be clearly seen by the distribution of attendees by country attending OHBM every year. Furthermore, the educational materials on the OnDemand platform are only accessible to OHBM members. Having hybrid OHBM annual meetings with cheaper online registration (for lower income countries) would enable researchers that cannot afford traveling to the conference to access its contents. Furthermore, creating cheaper membership for academics and students from those countries would enable more access to the educational materials on the OnDemand platform.

Q3. Do you believe that neuroscience education could be incorporated at earlier levels (i.e., high school and earlier)? If so, how?
JMM: Yes. I think neuroscience education should be incorporated from elementary school in an age appropriated manner. For example, it would be very helpful for kids to learn about the effects of screen time and video games on their brains. This would likely lead to positive changes on behaviour and mental health outcomes.

Q4. What are some elements that contribute to a well rounded neuroscience education? Are there some topics that should be emphasized (ex: statistics, ethics, etc.)?
JMM: Neuroscience is a multidisciplinary field and as such requires a multidisciplinary education, covering neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, psychology, modelling (physics, statistics, machine learning), ethics, etc. That said, no one can know everything so working on a multidisciplinary and supportive team significantly contributes to getting a well-rounded education in neuroscience. There is not a single pathway to becoming a neuroscientist, many trajectories can lead to it.