Dr. Kullervo Hynynen is a pioneering leader in medical physics and image-guided therapeutic technologies with an internationally recognized career spanning over three decades. He currently serves as Vice President of Research and Innovation and Director of the Physical Sciences Platform at Sunnybrook Research Institute while holding dual professorships as Professor in the Department of Medical Biophysics and Cross-Appointed Professor in the Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. A distinguished recipient of the Canada Research Chair in Imaging Systems and Image-Guided Therapy, he earned his PhD from the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom and established his research trajectory through significant leadership roles including founding and directing the Focused Ultrasound Laboratory at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. His career reached a pivotal moment in 2006 when he moved to the University of Toronto to lead a landmark $160 million initiative establishing the Centre for Research in Image-Guided Therapeutics, a major consortium between the Canadian government and Sunnybrook Hospital.
Dr. Hynynen is widely recognized as the inventor of MRI-guided focused ultrasound technology, a groundbreaking advancement that has revolutionized noninvasive medical interventions across multiple therapeutic domains. His research has demonstrated how focused ultrasound can provide highly localized and controllable energy deposition deep within tissue when guided by noninvasive imaging such as MRI, enabling applications ranging from noninvasive tumor surgery to targeted drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier. With an impressive publication record exceeding 350 peer-reviewed papers and 30 patents or pending applications, many of which have been licensed by industry, his work has established the theoretical models, transducer array technologies, and controlling software necessary for controlled ultrasound exposures of tissues. His development of systems for ultrasound exposure of the brain through the intact skull has opened new therapeutic possibilities for neurological conditions previously considered untreatable through noninvasive means, fundamentally transforming treatment paradigms in oncology and neuroscience.
As a visionary leader, Dr. Hynynen directs an extensive research group at Sunnybrook comprising approximately 50 to 100 members who span the vast spectrum of focused ultrasound applications in both animals and humans. His contributions to the field have been recognized with numerous prestigious honors including the IEEE Rayleigh Award, the Focused Ultrasound Visionary Award in 2016, and designation as an IEEE Fellow for his contributions to image-guided therapeutic focused ultrasound. He maintains leadership positions as Fellow of both the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and the Acoustical Society of America, while serving on editorial boards and study sections that shape the future direction of medical imaging research. Currently focused on advancing the clinical translation of focused ultrasound technologies, Dr. Hynynen continues to pioneer new applications including enhanced drug delivery to the brain, noninvasive neuromodulation, and targeted cancer therapies, positioning his work at the forefront of the next generation of precision medicine approaches that promise to transform patient care worldwide.
