Postdoc Feature
Alicia Cronin, Ph.D.
Alicia Cronin is a postdoc in the Institute of Imaging Science program within the School of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center where her current research focuses on spinal cord imaging. Since beginning in her postdoctoral role in April 2023 at Vanderbilt, Alicia has extended her expertise to include other quantitative MRI techniques in the spinal cord as well as transitioning to image the thoracic and lumbar portion of the cord, which is even more challenging than the cervical cord. Alicia has been passionate about science since an early age when her father helped to ignite a passion to better understand the human body. Whether it was learning about the stars or dissecting a frog at the kitchen table, Alicia was able to discover and explore science in a way that was paramount to her future career decisions. As Alicia's time as a postdoc progresses, she hopes to continue to learn and challenge herself in this field and continue to be involved in the postdoc community at Vanderbilt. She also hopes to become involved in community work in Nashville that allows for children to have the opportunity to experience the STEM field that she did as a child and help them cultivate a love for science. Prior to her postdoctoral role here at Vanderbilt, Alicia received her Ph.D. in Medical Biophysics at Western University in London, Canada. During her Ph.D. studies, Alicia focused on developing a quantitative pH-weighted MRI technique in the cervical spinal cord, with the eventual purpose of being implemented in degenerative cervical myelopathy patients to discover a surgical recovery biomarker. During this time, she fell in love with the field of spinal cord imaging, which is extremely under researched compared to the brain, its central nervous system counterpart, but just as important to understand different neurological processes and diseases.