Steve H. Fung, MD

Dr. Steve H. Fung is a neuroradiologist at the Houston Methodist Hospital, Assistant Professor of Radiology at Weill Cornell Medical College, and Medical Director of the MRI Core at the Houston Methodist Research Institute. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with B.S., Highest Honors in Electrical Engineering and B.S., Highest Honors in Zoology (Neuroscience) with concentrations in mathematics and physics in 1995. He earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School, Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology in 2000. His research includes work in electrophysiology, MRI, optics, ultrasound, signal and image processing. He was a postdoctoral fellow in molecular imaging at the National Institutes of Health, analyzing tumor microvasculature, modulating blood-brain barrier for enhanced drug delivery, refining and understanding limitations of various kinetic models used for estimating perfusion and permeability with dynamic contrast imaging. He was also a clinical fellow in neuroradiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, where he worked in stroke-related research, including application of DTI in acute and chronic ischemic stroke and multivariate logistic model using CT perfusion to predict functional deficits and outcome, and clinical application of fMRI and DTI for presurgical planning. As a member of the Houston Methodist Research Institute, his research interests are in advanced MRI applications that can be applied broadly to a wide spectrum of CNS diseases, including cerebrovascular, neoplastic, and neurodegenerative diseases. He is a regular reviewer for several radiology and neuroradiology journals, including AJNR American Journal of Neuroradiology since 2008.

-Applying advanced MRI techniques to evaluate diseases of the central nervous system, including brain tumors, cerebrovascular disease/stroke, dementia/neurodegenerative diseases, and epilepsy, to grade severity of disease and predict outcome.

-Using ASL MRI to determine regional variation of cerebral perfusion and cerebrovascular reactivity in disease states and serial changes in perfusion in response to therapeutic intervention.
-Evaluating functional connectivity using task-based and resting state functional MRI in normal and disease states.
-Analyzing tumor microvasculature and modulating the blood brain barrier for enhanced drug delivery.
Understanding limitations of kinetic models for estimating perfusion and permeability.
-Developing techniques for molecular imaging, controlled drug release, and enhanced drug delivery.