Our staff
Professor Fernando Calamante, Director of Sydney Imaging
Professor Fernando Calamante is a Professor at the School of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the University of Sydney node of the National Imaging Facility. He has carried out research on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for the last three decades and has gained international recognition for his technical work on Perfusion MRI methods, which has been highly influential. His Diffusion MRI methods and software tool (MRtrix) for measuring brain structural connectivity are widely used globally. Fernando has been elected to several leadership positions within the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), including as the 2021- 2022 President.
Professor Steven Meikle, Deputy Director of Preclinical Imaging
Professor Steven Meikle is the Head of the Imaging Physics Laboratory at the Brain and Mind Centre and Deputy Director of Preclinical Imaging at Sydney Imaging. He works on imaging and computational methods that aim to push PET and SPECT towards their physical limits of sensitivity, spatial resolution and quantitative accuracy. He is best known for his development of instrumentation and methods that enable the brains of awake, freely moving small animals to be imaged with PET, and computational methods for the quantitative analysis of dynamic PET data.
Dr Arvind Parmar, Technical Facility Manager (Preclinical Imaging and Hybrid Theatre)
Dr. Arvind Parmar is the Technical Facility Manager at the Sydney Imaging Core Research Facility. He leads the Hybrid Theatre and Preclinical Imaging teams. With over 20 years of expertise, Dr. Parmar is a skilled preclinical imaging scientist actively engaged in projects aimed at advancing diagnostic and therapeutic tools for diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular, neurological, and metabolic disorders. He specializes in molecular imaging technologies and has worked at AstraZeneca in the UK from 2008 to 2011 and at ANSTO from 2011 to 2022, focusing on in vivo small animal imaging. Dr. Parmar holds a Master of Pharmacy in Pharmacology and a PhD in Pharmacology from M S University, India. His post-doctoral research at the University of Manchester focused on antimicrobial drug studies. Proficient in PET/CT, SPECT/CT, PET/MR, ultrasound, and optical imaging, Dr. Parmar is committed to pioneering innovative in vivo approaches for clinical translation and therapeutic evaluation.
Dr Shawna Farquharson, Clinical MRI Platform Lead
Dr Shawna Farquharson is a Clinical Scientist with more than 30 years of experience in clinical research imaging and is internationally recognised for her expertise in MRI sequence development, optimisation, and harmonisation to support high-quality, reproducible imaging. Prior to joining the University of Sydney as Platform Lead in 2025, she held senior roles at the Florey Institute and Australia’s National Imaging Facility (NIF), including National MRI Coordinator and NIF Senior Scientist. She has secured over $28 million in competitive funding, including co-authorship on successful NCRIS bids to advance national imaging infrastructure across Australia. Her research focuses on diffusion and quantitative MRI, with particular emphasis on the application of advanced imaging biomarkers in clinical populations. Her work is widely cited, with key publications in Brain, Nature Scientific Reports, and the Journal of Neurosurgery. Dr Farquharson has served in several leadership roles within the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), including as 2019–2020 President of the ISMRT, and as a member of both the ISMRT Governing Board and the ISMRM Board of Trustees. In 2023, she founded the ISMRT Future Leaders Program for Africa to improve access to MRI education in low-resource settings.
Katie Ockenden, Operations Manager
Katie Ockenden brings over two decades of higher education experience to her role as Operations Manager at Sydney Imaging. Holding a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting, her career milestones include vital contributions to an ARC Centre of Excellence and ARC Special Research Centre, supporting the development of an undergraduate degree in Cognition and Brain Science, and fostering the creation of an evidence-based Reading and Literacy Support Clinic. As Operations Manager, she is responsible for budget management, strategic planning, and comprehensive business and administrative oversight.
Preclinical Imaging Staff
Agnes Chan, Preclinical Technical Imaging Officer
Agnes has over 10 years of experience working with different preclinical models. She started her scientific research career at the University of Sydney where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree looking at transcription regulators in a muscular disease model called Williams-Beuren syndrome and a Master’s degree on the role of tropomyosin on neuritogenesis; a neuronal model. She was a research assistant at the Kolling Institute working on Activated Protein C on rheumatoid arthritis, and a wound healing and diabetic model. She has also worked at the Institute of Child Health, University College London on lentiviral haematopoietic stem cell gene therapy in Pompe Disease; a rare metabolic disease. Her role at Sydney Imaging is to support researchers with their imaging needs on various preclinical models.
Dr Raj Parajuli, Preclinical Imaging Specialist
Dr. Raj Parajuli is an electronics engineer specialising in biomedical instrumentation. He earned his masters and Ph.D. in Ultrasonic Imaging and Diagnostic Imaging from Gunma University, Japan. He conducted research on Compton cameras for nuclear medical imaging and beam monitoring at Gunma University Heavy Ion Medical Centre. Later, he became a Preclinical MRI Technologist at the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), Japan. Raj has authored over 25 peer-reviewed publications, received research grants, and developed expertise in preclinical imaging, medical physics, radiation measurements, and signal processing. He has extensive animal (mouse, rat, marmoset, monkey) handling and histology experience for research studies. In his role at Sydney Imaging, he supports scientists and researchers using various imaging facilities for their projects, with a focus on data acquisition, image analysis, and lab management.
Dr Nguyen Pham, Preclinical Imaging Specialist
Dr. Nguyen Pham holds a Bachelor and Master of Pharmacy from Hanoi University of Pharmacy, Vietnam, and a PhD in bio-inorganic chemistry from the University of Sydney. Specialising in nanoparticle development for cancer imaging and therapy, she gained expertise in synthesis and characterisation techniques. She contributed to Ferronova, a spin-off company of the University of South Australia, optimising manufacturing and testing protocols for clinical trials. Joining the Preclinical Imaging team in 2022, she offers support and training to researchers. Her background includes teaching and post-doctoral work, focusing on multimodal cancer imaging and therapy, with extensive experience in in vitro and in vivo testing.
Hybrid Theatre Staff
Lisa Partel, Hybrid Theatre Senior Technical Officer
With over 16 years of experience as a certified veterinary nurse specialising in emergency and critical care, Lisa Partel is a seasoned professional in the veterinary field. As a Veterinary Technician Specialist (ECC), she possesses a comprehensive skill set encompassing critical care, anaesthesia, emergency management, and effective team leadership. Lisa's commitment to ongoing professional development is evident through her attainment of a Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Practice in Veterinary Nursing. She has presented at various national and international veterinary conferences, showcasing her expertise. As Senior Technical Officer at the Hybrid Theatre, Lisa facilitates the execution of research projects, drawing upon her extensive experience and dedication to advancing veterinary care through meticulous research practices.
Wick Lakshantha, Hybrid Theatre Senior Technical Officer
Wick Lakshantha is an imaging scientist with extensive experience in preclinical and large-animal research. At SAHMRI, he supported multimodal PET/CT and MRI studies and played a key role in LARIF’s large-animal imaging program, contributing to protocol design, workflow optimisation, and image analysis. Then he worked across translational imaging projects at the Centenary Institute, integrating advanced imaging methods with multidisciplinary research teams to accelerate the development of next-generation radiopharmaceutical technologies.
Dr Georgios (Yorgos) Angelis, Total Body PET NIF Fellow
georgios.angelis@sydney.edu.au
Dr Georgios (Yorgos) Angelis obtained a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Manchester developing novel spatiotemporal 4D image reconstruction algorithms for neuroscience applications. He specialises in image reconstruction and optimisation algorithms for Positron Emission Tomography, as well as quantitative analysis of imaging data. Georgios oversees and coordinates human research studies at the University of Sydney’s flagship Australian National Total Body PET Facility, offering strategic guidance to imaging and non-imaging scientists on protocols and experimental design.
Dr Tom Close, NIF Informatics Fellow
Dr Thomas Close specialises in neuroinformatics and computational neuroscience. He obtained a PhD investigating advanced techniques in diffusion MRI tractography of cerebral white matter and has completed a post-doctoral position in the Computational Neuroscience Unit of Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University in Japan. Tom provides support for the imaging operations at Sydney Imaging. Tom is actively collaborating with other NIF Informatics Fellows on the national Trusted Data Repositories Project and has developed a deployed exemplar utilising the XNAT platform.
Dr Arkiev D’Souza, Neuroimaging Analysis NIF Fellow
Dr Arkiev D’Souza is a specialist in pipeline development, automation, and implementation with a focus on neuroimaging. He earned his PhD by leveraging advanced MRI techniques to quantitatively assess skeletal muscle structure in individuals affected by muscle contracture, a condition commonly seen in stroke survivors and children living with cerebral palsy. Following his graduation, Arkiev continued to contribute to the field of neuroimaging as a research officer and post-doctoral research associate. In these roles, he successfully implemented advanced diffusion analysis pipelines in both healthy and patient cohorts. As a neuroimaging analysis fellow, Arkiev is dedicated to ensuring that cutting-edge neuroimaging analysis pipelines are readily available to MRI users within the NIF network.
Dr Yaser Hadi Gholami, Preclinical Imaging NIF Fellow
Dr. Yaser Hadi Gholami is a physicist specialising in applied physics in nuclear medicine. His research spans nanomedicine, radionuclide therapy and imaging, radiation physics and biology, nuclear chemistry, and Monte Carlo simulation. During 2019, he was a visiting research associate at Harvard University/Massachusetts General Hospital, where he developed a theory on positron annihilation localisation. Winner of the 2020 Physics Grand Challenges at USYD, he aims to establish a quantum-medicine-platform for studying cancer cells using positronium lifetime spectroscopy. Collaborating with Harvard Medical School/MGH, he developed a chelate-free nanoparticle radiolabeling technique for PET/MR imaging and therapy. He contributed to OncoSil Medical Company's personalised 32P microparticle therapy achieving FDA approval and collaborated with Varian on a radiobiological modelling platform utilising FDG PET/CT and 90Y PET/CT for radionuclide therapy. Dr. Gholami is currently the pre-clinical NIF fellow focusing on the utilisation of PET-MR and PET/CT imaging for a variety of research fields, including brain studies, cancer research, and engineering applications. Additionally, he leads the NIF pre-clinical PET Network and chairs the radiation safety committee at the USYD.
Dr Krishant Deo, NIF Radiochemist
Dr Krishant Deo completed his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry at Western Sydney University, where his work on the development of novel platinum-based chemotherapeutics formed the basis of a patent. He then went on to join ANSTO as a Radiochemist, where he worked across commercial and research projects, contributing to the development of both therapeutic and diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals, and medical devices. His expertise includes manual and automated radiolabelling techniques, with a strong emphasis on method optimisation to enhance process efficiency and reproducibility. Now at the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre (BMC), Krishant is leading initiatives to expand the BMC’s radiochemistry platform by enhancing infrastructure, streamlining workflows and supporting collaborative research across multiple disciplines. He aims to facilitate the transition of radiopharmaceuticals from research to preclinical and clinical applications, supporting advancements in theranostics within nuclear medicine.
Administrative Staff
Sophie Curran, Project Integration Officer
Sophie Curran brings over five years of expertise spanning healthcare, administration, and management, complemented by over three years of dedicated project management experience. As a Project Integration Officer, Sophie plays a pivotal role at the Australian National Total Body PET Facility, providing administrative support for research initiatives. Her responsibilities include contract facilitation, governance support, budget management, and schedule coordination. Sophie's professional background extends across both American and Australian healthcare systems, encompassing both private and public sectors, adding a valuable dimension to her comprehensive understanding of the intricacies within the global healthcare landscape.
Clea Schmidt, Administrative Officer
Clea graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Arts in 2007. Over the next 15 years, she built a strong foundation in administration and operations across the agricultural and not-for-profit sectors. During that time, she found herself increasingly drawn back to the dynamic environment of the university sector. In 2022, Clea joined Sydney Imaging as an Administration Officer—a role that has allowed her to reconnect with her passion for learning and collaboration. She has found the team and culture at Sydney Imaging to be everything she hoped for, and more, and is proud to contribute her skills to an environment that values curiosity, innovation, and excellence.