Brain Imaging Center Faculty

 

JOSEPH C. WU, M.D.

Associate Professor in Residence, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Clinical Director, UCI Brain Imaging Center

Room 109, Irvine Hall University of California, Irvine- College of Medicine (UCI-COM) Irvine, CA 92697-3960

Telephone (949) 824-7867 Fax (949) 824-9650

email: jcwu@uci.edu

CV/Biosketch:

Dr. Wu's Biosketch

PET is short for positron emission tomography. PET scans are a way of visualizing brain function or activity which are much more sensitive than structural imaging approaches such as CAT or MRI scans for assessing conditions such as brain injuries. There are multiple peer-reviewed journal articles which have documented the greater sensitivity of PET than other modalities such as CAT or MRI for detecting brain injuries. PET scans utilize the fact that brain function is dependent on sugar metabolism. Sugar is the main fuel for brain activity. A radioactively labeled sugar molecule is used to measure sugar metabolism in different brain regions. Certain clinical conditions such as brain injuries due to trauma or hypoxia can result in abnormal level of brain function in regions such as the frontal cortex or subcortical regions which can be seen with PET scans. These abnormal brain conditions which result in altered brain function often have no structural changes and can be missed by CAT or MRI scans.

UCI is one of the leading centers in the US for performing PET scans for brain injuries. UCI has the highest resolution PET scanner in the world with a resolution of 2.5 mm. There are only five such scanners in the US. Most scanners currently utilized in the US have a resolution of 5 to 6 mm. A resolution of 2.5 mm is approximately an order of magnitude greater resolution. Higher resolution results in greater ability to detect smaller lesions than conventional PET scanners. Dr. Wu has published multiple articles on PET scans of neuropsychiatric conditions such as traumatic brain injury, hypoxic brain injuries (such as carbon monoxide poisoning), and toxic encephalopathies. Dr. Wu’s work has been described in Science magazine, ABC news, CNN, CourtTV, the LA times, and the Associated press. Dr. Wu has written over 50 peer reviewed articles on PET scans and neuropsychiatry. Dr. Wu has received over a millions dollar worth of funding from the NIH. He has served as a reviewer for a number of journals including Nature magazine. He has written the chapter in functional brain imaging in the leading textbook of psychiatry, Kaplan and Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry.

BIC Faculty

• Steven G. Potkin, MD
• Joseph Wu, MD
• Jogeshwar Mukherjee, PhD
• David Keator, MCS
• Ben Vivatpattanakul, PhD
• James Fallon, PhD
• Jessica Turner PhD

 

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