Melanie Morrison, PhD
Assistant Professor
Radiology
School of Medicine

In 2016 she joined UCSF's Radiology Department as a postdoc, working under Dr. Janine Lupo primarily on brain tumor projects until summer 2022.

Since 2019, Dr. Morrison's independent research has been focused on the clinical translation and integration of advanced MRI techniques to improve neurosurgical interventions and neuromodulation therapies for neurologic and neuropsychiatric conditions. Her research group leverages multimodal 3T and 7T MRI data to: (1) develop and test new strategies for precise brain targeting in neuromodulation, (2) derive predictive imaging markers of treatment efficacy for patients' motor, cognitive and behavioral symptoms, and (3) evaluate brain function in real-time during brain neuromodulation to further our understanding of underlying therapeutic mechanisms. Both image processing and statistical modeling techniques are implemented at the core of this translational research, with a strong emphasis on method transparency, reproducibility, and accessibility. Currently, these exciting projects are supported by three UCSF seed grants, an NIMH R21 grant, and an NINDS R01 grant.

As a first-generation academic, Dr. Morrison is very passionate about mentorship, outreach, and providing equal opportunities in academia for underrepresented minority trainees and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.

• Altered Iron and Microstructure in Huntington's Disease Subcortical Nuclei: Insight From 7T MRI.
  Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI 2024 Yao J, Morrison MA, Jakary A, Avadiappan S, Rowley P, Glueck J, Driscoll T, Geschwind MD, Nelson AB, Possin KL, Xu D, Hess CP, Lupo JM
• Intracranial beta activity is a biomarker of circadian and stimulation-induced arousal in obsessive compulsive disorder.
  Brain stimulation 2023 Fan JM, De B, Frank AC, Basich-Pease G, Norbu T, Morrison MA, Larson P, Starr PA, Krystal AD, Lee AM
• Advances in Deep Brain Stimulation: From Mechanisms to Applications.
  The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 2023 Sandoval-Pistorius SS, Hacker ML, Waters AC, Wang J, Provenza NR, de Hemptinne C, Johnson KA, Morrison MA, Cernera S
• Functional imaging of deep brain stimulation in dystonia: a review
  Dystonia 2023 Bledsoe IO, Morrison MA.
• Human upper extremity motor cortex activity shows distinct oscillatory signatures for stereotyped arm and leg movements.
  Frontiers in human neuroscience 2023 Starkweather CK, Morrison MA, Yaroshinsky M, Louie K, Balakid J, Presbrey K, Starr PA, Wang DD
• Editorial for "Relationship Between Microstructural Alterations and Cognitive Decline After Whole-Brain Radiation Therapy for Brain Metastases: An Exploratory Whole-Brain MR Analysis Based on Neurite Orientation Dispersion and Density Imaging".
  Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI 2023 Yao J, Morrison MA, Lupo JM
• Cerebellar Deep Brain Stimulation in Cerebral Palsy: Promising Early Results and a Look Forward to a Larger Clinical Trial.
  World neurosurgery 2023 Cajigas I, Morrison MA, San Luciano M, Starr P
• Cerebellar deep brain stimulation for the treatment of movement disorders in cerebral palsy.
  Journal of neurosurgery 2023 Cajigas I, Morrison MA, Luciano MS, Starr PA
• DeepSWI: Using Deep Learning to Enhance Susceptibility Contrast on T2*-Weighted MRI.
  Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI 2023 Genc O, Morrison MA, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Burns B, Hess CP, Banerjee S, Lupo JM
• Comparison of quantitative susceptibility mapping methods for iron-sensitive susceptibility imaging at 7T: An evaluation in healthy subjects and patients with Huntington's disease.
  NeuroImage 2022 Yao J, Morrison MA, Jakary A, Avadiappan S, Chen Y, Luitjens J, Glueck J, Driscoll T, Geschwind MD, Nelson AB, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Hess CP, Lupo JM
• Cortico-Subthalamic Field Potentials Support Classification of the Natural Gait Cycle in Parkinson's Disease and Reveal Individualized Spectral Signatures.
  eNeuro 2022 Louie KH, Gilron R, Yaroshinsky MS, Morrison MA, Choi J, de Hemptinne C, Little S, Starr PA, Wang DD
• Functional network alterations in young brain tumor patients with radiotherapy-induced memory impairments and vascular injury.
  Frontiers in neurology 2022 Morrison MA, Walter S, Mueller S, Felton E, Jakary A, Stoller S, Molinaro AM, Braunstein SE, Hess CP, Lupo JM
• An Integrated Analysis of Clinical, Genomic, and Imaging Features Reveals Predictors of Neurocognitive Outcomes in a Longitudinal Cohort of Pediatric Cancer Survivors, Enriched with CNS Tumors (Rad ART Pro).
  Frontiers in oncology 2022 Kline C, Stoller S, Byer L, Samuel D, Lupo JM, Morrison MA, Rauschecker AM, Nedelec P, Faig W, Dubal DB, Fullerton HJ, Mueller S
• Relationship between 7T MR-angiography features of vascular injury and cognitive decline in young brain tumor patients treated with radiation therapy.
  Journal of neuro-oncology 2021 Avadiappan S, Morrison MA, Jakary A, Felton E, Stoller S, Hess CP, Molinaro AM, Braunstein SE, Mueller S, Lupo JM
• 7-T Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Management of Brain Tumors.
  Magnetic resonance imaging clinics of North America 2021 Morrison MA, Lupo JM
• DBS targeting for essential tremor using intersectional dentato-rubro-thalamic tractography and direct proton density visualization of the VIM: technical note on 2 cases.
  Journal of neurosurgery 2021 Morrison MA, Lee AT, Martin AJ, Dietiker C, Brown EG, Wang DD
• Identification of occult cerebral microbleeds in adults with immune thrombocytopenia.
  Blood 2020 Cooper N, Morrison MA, Vladescu C, Hart ACJ, Paul D, Malik A, Young T, Luqmani A, Atta M, Sharp DJ, Bussel JB, Waldman AD
• 7 Tesla MRI investigation of cortical thickness in patients with Huntington’s disease and age-matched healthy controls
  Movement Disorders 2020 Morrison MA, Jakary A, Avadiappan S, Tallakson J, Glueck J, Nelson A, Possin K, Dietiker C, Geschwind M, Hess C, Lupo JM.
• Temporal properties of resting-state functional MRI are associated with ON/OFF levodopa MDS-UPDRS III scores in patients with Parkinson’s disease
  Movement Disorders 2020 Morrison MA, Bledsoe IO, Wang SS, Lee AT, Volz M, San Luciano M, Katz M, Dietiker C, Galifianakis N, Martin AJ, Starr PA, Larson PS, Ostrem JL, Wang DD.
• Rate of radiation-induced microbleed formation on 7T MRI relates to cognitive impairment in young patients treated with radiation therapy for a brain tumor.
  Radiotherapy and oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology 2020 Morrison MA, Mueller S, Felton E, Jakary A, Stoller S, Avadiappan S, Yuan J, Molinaro AM, Braunstein S, Banerjee A, Hess CP, Lupo JM
• Simultaneous multi-slice spin- and gradient-echo dynamic susceptibility-contrast perfusion-weighted MRI of gliomas.
  NMR in biomedicine 2020 Han M, Yang B, Fernandez B, Lafontaine M, Alcaide-Leon P, Jakary A, Burns BL, Morrison MA, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Chang SM, Banerjee S, Lupo JM
• A Fully Automated Method for Segmenting Arteries and Quantifying Vessel Radii on Magnetic Resonance Angiography Images of Varying Projection Thickness.
  Frontiers in neuroscience 2020 Avadiappan S, Payabvash S, Morrison MA, Jakary A, Hess CP, Lupo JM
• Imaging Markers of Lower-Grade Diffuse Glioma. In: Pope W. (eds) Glioma Imaging
  Imaging Markers of Lower-Grade Diffuse Glioma. In: Pope W. (eds) Glioma Imaging 2020 Morrison MA, Waldman AD
• System and method for intraoperative characterization of brain function using input from a touch panel device
  System and method for intraoperative characterization of brain function using input from a touch panel device 2019 Graham SJ, Morrison MA, Tam F, Schweizer TA, Das S, Garavaglia M
• NIMG-55. TO ASSESS THE UTILITY OF ADVANCED QUANTITATIVE DIFFUSION MRI DERIVED FROM MULTI B VALUE ACQUISITIONS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF TREATMENT RESPONSE, USING A SPATIALLY-INDEPENDENT APPROACH
  Neuro-Oncology 2019 Islam S, Morrison MA, Waldman AD
• NIMG-56. A MULTIMODAL 7 TELSA MRI INVESTIGATION OF LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF RADIOTHERAPY ON THE ADOLESCENT BRAIN & COGNITION
  Neuro-Oncology 2019 Morrison M, Avadiappan S, Yuan J, Stoller S, Jakary A, Mueller S, Molinaro A, Banerjee A, Hess C, Braunstein S, Lupo J
• RTHP-21. CHARACTERIZATION OF RADIATION THERAPY EFFECTS ON CEREBRAL VASCULATURE IN PEDIATRIC BRAIN TUMOR SURVIVORS
  Neuro-Oncology 2019 Avadiappan S, Morrison M, Jakary A, Felton E, Mueller S, Lupo J
• RTHP-02. CHARACTERIZATION AND EVOLUTION OF RADIOTHERAPY-INDUCED VASCULAR INJURY AND CORRESPONDING CHANGES IN WHITE MATTER STRUCTURE: AN INVESTIGATIVE STUDY IN 125 PATIENTS WITH GLIOMAS
  Neuro-Oncology 2019 Morrison M, Jakary A, Bian W, Wen Q, Hess C, Clarke J, Butowski N, Chang S, Nelson S, Lupo J
• Toward Automatic Detection of Radiation-Induced Cerebral Microbleeds Using a 3D Deep Residual Network.
  Journal of digital imaging 2019 Chen Y, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Morrison MA, Lupo JM
• USING DWI-MRI PARAMETERS FROM MULTI- B VALUES ACQUISITION AND A HISTOGRAM APPROACH FOR ASSESSMENT OF EARLY THERAPEUTIC RESPONSE IN GLIOBLASTOMA
  Neuro-Oncology 2019 Islam S, Morrison M, Orton M, Grech-Sollars M, Waldman A
• Spatial reorganisation of the somatosensory cortex in a patient with a low-grade glioma.
  BMJ case reports 2019 Das S, Morrison M, Tam F, Graham S
• MEDU-15. STRUCTURAL BRAIN NETWORK PROPERTIES AND COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN ADOLESCENTS AFTER RADIATION THERAPY
  Neuro-Oncology 2019 Yuan J, Morrison M, Jakary A, Mueller S, Tymofiyeva O, Xu D, Lupo J
• MEDU-18. FUNCTIONAL BRAIN NETWORK PROPERTIES AND COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN ADOLESCENTS FOLLOWING RADIATION THERAPY
  Neuro-Oncology 2019 Morrison MA, Jakary A, Felton E, Stoller S, Yuan J, Mueller S, Lupo J
• MEDU-43. GLOBAL AND REGIONAL EFFECTS OF RADIATION THERAPY ON CEREBRAL MICROVASCULATURE IN PEDIATRIC BRAIN TUMOR SURVIVORS
  Neuro-Oncology 2019 Avadiappan S, Morrison M, Jakary A, Felton E, Stoller S, Hess C, Mueller S, Braunstein S, Lupo J
• Risk factors of radiotherapy-induced cerebral microbleeds and serial analysis of their size compared with white matter changes: A 7T MRI study in 113 adult patients with brain tumors.
  Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI 2019 Morrison MA, Hess CP, Clarke JL, Butowski N, Chang SM, Molinaro AM, Lupo JM
• ACTR-42. THE USE OF ADVANCED DIFFUSION MRI PARAMETERS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF TREATMENT RESPONSE IN GLIOBLASTOMA USING MULTI-B VALUE ACQUISITION AND A HISTOGRAM-BASED APPROACH
  Neuro-Oncology 2018 Islam S, Morrison M, Grech-Sollars M, Orton M, Waldman A
• NIMG-47. A HISTOGRAM-BASED, BACK-PROJECTION METHOD FOR TREATMENT RESPONSE ASSESSMENT IN GLIOBLASTOMA USING MULTI B-VALUE ADVANCED DIFFUSION MRI
  Neuro-Oncology 2018 Morrison M, Islam S, Grech-Sollars M, Waldman A
• CHARACTERIZATION OF RADIOTHERAPY-INDUCED CEREBRAL MICROBLEEDS WITH ULTRA-HIGH FIELD MRI: EXPERIENCE IN YOUNG AND ADULT BRAIN TUMOUR POPULATION
  Neuro-Oncology 2018 Morrison M, Jakary A, Felton E, Hess C, Clarke J, Butowski N, Chang S, Mueller S, Lupo J
• A user-guided tool for semi-automated cerebral microbleed detection and volume segmentation: Evaluating vascular injury and data labelling for machine learning.
  NeuroImage. Clinical 2018 Morrison MA, Payabvash S, Chen Y, Avadiappan S, Shah M, Zou X, Hess CP, Lupo JM
• MEDU-25. THE EFFECTS OF CRANIAL RADIOTHERAPY-INDUCED VASCULAR INJURY ON BRAIN TISSUE STRUCTURE AND COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN CHILDREN WITH MEDULLOBLASTOMA
  Neuro-Oncology 2017 Morrison M, Jakary A, Felton A, Mueller S, Lupo L
• NCO-09 * THE EFFICACY OF THERAPEUTIC DISCOURSE ANALYSIS DURING BRAIN TUMOUR RESECTION IN AWAKE CRANIOTOMIES
  Neuro-Oncology 2016 Milburn S, Garavaglia M, Hare G, Rigamonti A, Kelly C, Morrison M, Graham S, Das S
• Pre-operative Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Application to Tumour Resection by Awake Craniotomy
  Pre-operative Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Application to Tumour Resection by Awake Craniotomy 2016 Morrison MA
• Sources of Variation Influencing Concordance between Functional MRI and Direct Cortical Stimulation in Brain Tumor Surgery.
  Frontiers in neuroscience 2016 Morrison MA, Tam F, Garavaglia MM, Hare GM, Cusimano MD, Schweizer TA, Das S, Graham SJ
• PS2 – 196. The Spatial Agreement Between Pre-Operative Functional MRI and Intra-Operative Direct Cortical Stimulation
  The Canadian journal of neurological sciences 2016 Morrison MA, Tam F, Garavaglia MM, Hare GMT, Cusimano MD, Schweizer TA, Das S, Graham SJ
• Reliability of Task-Based fMRI for Preoperative Planning: A Test-Retest Study in Brain Tumor Patients and Healthy Controls.
  PloS one 2016 Morrison MA, Churchill NW, Cusimano MD, Schweizer TA, Das S, Graham SJ
• A novel tablet computer platform for advanced language mapping during awake craniotomy procedures.
  Journal of neurosurgery 2015 Morrison MA, Tam F, Garavaglia MM, Golestanirad L, Hare GM, Cusimano MD, Schweizer TA, Das S, Graham SJ
• Neuro-Oncology
  NI-59 * TABLET TECHNOLOGY FOR IMPROVED PREOPERATIVE SPEECH MAPPING USING FUNCTIONAL MRI IN PATIENTS WITH LOW-GRADE GLIOMA 2014 Morrison M, Golestanirad L, Schweizer T, Graham S, Das S
• Optical coherence tomography platform for microvascular imaging and quantification: initial experience in late oral radiation toxicity patients.
  Journal of biomedical optics 2013 Davoudi B, Morrison M, Bizheva K, Yang VX, Dinniwell R, Levin W, Vitkin IA