After completing his PhD at Cambridge University in cardiac imaging, Dr Wise joined the FMRIB Centre, Oxford University at the beginning of 2000. Richard worked closely with Professor Irene Tracey in her Pain Imaging Neuroscience Group. There he led the methodological development of human pharmacological FMRI studies. These examined the effects of analgesic agents that modify the processing of pain signals within the human brain, for example using FMRI to track the action of potent pain-killers as they are administered. This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust Advanced Training Fellowship held at Oxford University.
This work has led Richard to develop his research agenda aimed at improving the interpretability of FMRI data in demanding applications, such as drug studies. In 2005 he won a Medical Research Council Career Development Award to support his work initially in Oxford and now in Cardiff. This programme aims to investigate the physiological basis of FMRI measurements and neurovascular coupling using the recently implemented combined techniques of simultaneous EEG-FMRI.
