Adam Saunders

I am a PhD student at Vanderbilt University researching brain MRI and AI.

Summary

An electrical engineering PhD student studying medical imaging research focused on applying artificial intelligence tools to impute missing information from imperfect data. Strengths in analytical skills and scientific communication.

Education

  • Vanderbilt University
    August 2023 - Present
    • PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • University of Dayton
    August 2019 - May 2023
    • Bachelor of Electrical Engineering, minor in Mathematics, summa cum laude

Experience

  • Research Assistant
    July 2023 - Present

    Vanderbilt University
    • Performed medical imaging research in the Medical-image Analysis and Statistical Interpretation Lab and Vanderbilt Lab for Immersive AI Translation
    • Collaborated with scientists and clinicians to communicate published scientific findings
  • Undergraduate Music Minister
    August 2019 - June 2023

    University of Dayton
    • Planned and composed weekly hymns for campus Masses
    • Led vocalists and instrumentalists by accompanying on piano
  • SULI Intern
    June 2022 - August 2022

    Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    • Explored deep learning algorithms on an internationally-ranked supercomputer
    • Performed and presented medical image processing research
  • Physics Teaching Assistant
    January 2021 - May 2021
    January 2022 - May 2022

    University of Dayton
    • Empowered over 50 students to learn calculus-based mechanics
    • Assisted in the development of testing materials and led weekly office hours
  • Computer Engineering Intern
    May 2021 - August 2021

    Defense Research Associates, Inc.
    • Designed and implemented digital hardware interfaces for sensors
    • Presented technical results and documentation for future deployment
  • Physics Grader
    January 2020 - May 2020

    University of Dayton
    • Evaluated exams and group work for over 50 students
    • Led weekly homework help sessions in a challenging, fast-paced class

Journal Publications

  • Aravind R. Krishnan, Thomas Z. Li, Lucas W. Remedios, Michael E. Kim, Chenyu Gao, Gaurav Rudravaram, Elyssa M. McMaster, Adam M. Saunders, Shunxing Bao, Kaiwen Xu, Lianrui Zuo, Kim L. Sandler, Fabien Maldonado, Yuankai Huo, and Bennett A. Landman. Multipath CycleGAN for harmonization of paired and unpaired low-dose lung computed tomography reconstruction kernels. Medical Physics, 5(11), 2025. [doi:10.1002/mp.70120]

  • Elyssa M. McMaster, Nancy R. Newlin, Chloe Cho, Gaurav Rudravaram, Adam M. Saunders, Aravind R. Krishnan, Lucas W. Remedios, Michael E. Kim, Hanliang Xu, Kurt G. Schilling, François Rheault, Laurie E. Cutting, and Bennett A. Landman. Sensitivity of quantitative diffusion MRI tractography and microstructure to anisotropic spatial sampling. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 124, 2025. [doi:10.1016/j.mri.2025.110539]

  • Elyssa M. McMaster, Nancy R. Newlin, Gaurav Rudravaram, Adam M. Saunders, Aravind R. Krishnan, Lucas W. Remedios, Michael E. Kim, Hanliang Xu, Derek B. Archer, Kurt G. Schilling, François Rheault, Laurie E. Cutting and Bennett A. Landman. Harmonized connectome resampling for variance in voxel sizes. Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 121, 2025. [doi:10.1016/j.mri.2025.110424]

  • Chenyu Gao, Michael E. Kim, Karthik Ramadass, Praitayini Kanakaraj, Aravind R. Krishnan, Adam M. Saunders, Nancy R. Newlin, Ho Hin Lee, Qi Yang, Warren D. Taylor, Brian D. Boyd, Lori L. Beason-Held, Susan M. Resnick, Lisa L. Barnes, David A. Bennett, Katherine D. Van Schaik, Derek B. Archer, Timothy J. Hohman, Angela L. Jefferson, Ivana Išgum, Daniel Moyer, Yuankai Huo, Kurt G. Schilling, Lianrui Zuo, Shunxing Bao, Nazirah Mohd Khairi, Zhiyuan Li, Christos Davatzikos, Bennett A. Landman for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative and the BIOCARD Study team. Brain age identification from diffusion MRI synergistically predicts neurodegenerative disease. Imaging Neuroscience, 3, 2025. [doi:10.1162/imag_a_00552]

  • Adam M. Saunders, Michael E. Kim, Chenyu Gao, Lucas W. Remedios, Aravind R. Krishnan, Kurt G. Schilling, Kristin P. O’Grady, Seth A. Smith, and Bennett A. Landman. Comparison and calibration of MP2RAGE quantitative T1 values to multi-TI inversion recovery T1 values. Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 117, 2025. [doi:10.1016/j.mri.2025.110322].

  • Lucas W. Remedios, Han Liu, Samuel W. Remedios, Lianrui Zuo, Adam M. Saunders, Shunxing Bao, Yuankai Huo, Alvin C. Powers, John Virostko, and Bennett A. Landman. Influence of early through late fusion on pancreas segmentation from imperfectly registered multimodal MRI. Journal of Medical Imaging, 12(2), 2025. [doi:10.1117/1.JMI.12.2.024008].

  • Ho Hin Lee*, Adam M. Saunders*, Michael E. Kim, Samuel W. Remedios, Lucas W. Remedios, Yucheng Tang, Qi Yang, Xin Yu, Shunxing Bao, Chloe Cho, Louise A. Mawn, Tonia S. Rex, Kevin L. Schey, Blake E. Dewey, Jeffrey M. Spraggins, Jerry L. Prince, Yuankai Huo, Bennett A. Landman, Super-resolution multi-contrast unbiased eye atlases with deep probabilistic refinement. Journal of Medical Imaging, 11(6), 2024. *Equal contribution. [doi:10.1117/1.JMI.11.6.064004]

  • Lucas W. Remedios, Shunxing Bao, Samuel W. Remedios, Ho Hin Lee, Leon Y. Cai, Thomas Li, Ruining Deng, Nancy R. Newlin, Adam M. Saunders, Can Cui, Jia Li, Qi Liu, Ken S. Lau, Joseph T. Roland, Mary K Washington, Lori A. Coburn, Keith T. Wilson, Yuankai Huo, Bennett A. Landman. Data-driven nucleus subclassification on colon H&E using style-transferred digital pathology. Journal of Medical Imaging, 11(6), 2024. [doi:10.1117/1.JMI.11.6.067501]

  • Lucas W. Remedios, Chloe Cho, Trent M. Schwartz, Dingjie Su, Gaurav Rudravaram, Chenyu Gao, Aravind R. Krishnan, Adam M. Saunders, Michael E. Kim, Shunxing Bao, Alvin C. Powers, Bennett A. Landman, and John Virostko. Data-driven abdominal phenotypes of type 2 diabetes in lean, overweight, and obese cohorts. Accepted to Journal of Medical Imaging. [arXiv:2508.11063]

  • Lucas W. Remedios, Chloe Cho, Trent M. Schwartz, Dingjie Su, Gaurav Rudravaram, Chenyu Gao, Aravind R. Krishnan, Adam M. Saunders, Michael E. Kim, Shunxing Bao, Thomas A. Lasko, Alvin C. Powers, Bennett A. Landman, and John Virostko. Lifespan pancreas morphology for control vs. type 2 diabetes using AI on largescale clinical imaging. Submitted to Clinical Anatomy. [arXiv:2508.14878]

Conference Papers

  • Adam M. Saunders, Michael E. Kim, Kurt G. Schilling, John C. Gore, Bennett A. Landman, and Yurui Gao. Vasculature-informed spatial smoothing of white matter functional magnetic resonance imaging. SPIE Medical Imaging: Image Processing, February 2025. [doi: 10.1117/12.3047240]. Robert F. Wagner All-Conference Best Student Paper Finalist.

  • Adam M. Saunders, Gaurav Rudravaram, Nancy R. Newlin, Michael E. Kim, John C. Gore, Bennett A. Landman, and Yurui Gao. A 4D atlas of diffusion-informed spatial smoothing windows for BOLD signal in white matter. SPIE Medical Imaging: Image Processing, February 2025. [doi:10.1117/12.3047240].

  • Elyssa McMaster, Lemuel Puglisi, Chenyu Gao, Aravind R. Krishnan, Adam M. Saunders, Daniele Ravi, Lori L. Beason-Held, Susan M. Resnick, Lianrui Zuo, Daniel Moyer, and Bennett A. Landman. A technical assessment of latent diffusion for Alzheimer’s Disease progression. SPIE Medical Imaging: Image Processing, February 2025. [doi: 10.1117/12.3047135].

  • Gaurav Rudravaram, Shunxing Bao, Aravind R. Krishnan, Lucas W. Remedios, Michael E. Kim, Adam M. Saunders, Qi Liu, Ken S. Lau, Joseph T. Roland, Mary K. Washington, Lori A. Coburn, Keith T. Wilson, Yuankai Huo, and Bennett A. Landman. Identifying cellular neighborhood phenotypes differentiating normal and quiescent Crohn’s disease via MxIF. SPIE Medical Imaging: Digital and Computational Pathology, February 2025. [doi: 10.1117/12.3047121].

  • Jessica Samir, Karthik Ramadass, Adam M. Saunders, Aravind Krishnan, Lucas Remedios, Elyssa McMaster, and Bennett A. Landman. The Medical Segmentation Decathlon without a doctorate. SPIE Medical Imaging: Clinical and Biomedical Imaging, February 2025. [doi: 10.1117/12.3047076].

  • Aravind R. Krishnan, Yihao Liu, Kaiwen Xu, Michael E. Kim, Lucas W. Remedios, Gaurav Rudravaram, Adam M. Saunders, Bradley W. Richmond, Kim L. Sandler, Fabien Maldonado, Bennett A. Landman and Lianrui Zuo. Investigating the impact of kernel harmonization and deformable registration on inspiratory and expiratory chest CT images for people with COPD. SPIE Medical Imaging: Clinical and Biomedical Imaging, February 2025. [doi: 10.1117/12.3048827].

  • Adam Saunders, Sajal Dash, Aristeidis Tsaris, and Hong-Jun Yoon. A comparison of histopathology imaging comprehension algorithms based on multiple instance learning. SPIE Medical Imaging: Digital and Computational Pathology, February 2023. [doi:10.1117/12.2654265]

  • Adam M. Saunders, Lucas W. Remedios, Elyssa M. McMaster, Jongyeon Yoon, Gaurav Rudravaram, Adam Sadriddinov, Praitayini Kanakaraj, Bennett A. Landman, and Adam W. Anderson. DeepFixel: Crossing white matter fiber identification through spherical convolutional neural networks. Accepted to SPIE Medical Imaging: Clinical and Biomedical Imaging, February 2026. [arXiv:2511.03893]

  • Adam M. Saunders, Michael E. Kim, Gaurav Rudravaram, Lucas W. Remedios, Chloe Cho, Elyssa M. McMaster, Daniel R. Gillis, Yihao Liu, Lianrui Zuo, Bennett A. Landman, and Tonia S. Rex. Phenotype discovery of traumatic brain injury segmentations from heterogeneous multi-site data. Accepted to SPIE Medical Imaging: Image Processing, February 2026. [arXiv:2511.03767]

  • Michael E. Kim, Gaurav Rudravaram, Adam M. Saunders, Chenyu Gao, Karthik Ramadass, Nancy R. Newlin, Praitayini Kanakaraj, Sam Bogdanov, Derek Archer, Timothy J. Hohman, Angela L. Jefferson, Victoria L. Morgan, Alexandra Roche, Dario J. Englot, Susan M. Resnick, Lori L. Beason Held, Murat Bilgel, Laurie E. Cutting, Laura A. Barquero, Micah A. D’Archangel, Tin Q. Nguyen, Kathryn L. Humphreys, Yanbin Niu, Sophia Vinci-Booher, Carissa J. Cascio, Kimberly R. Pechman, Niranjana Shashikumar, The HABS-HD Study Team, Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, The BIOCARD Study Team, Zhiyuan Li, Simon N. Vandekar, Panpan Zhang, John C. Gore, Yihao Liu, Lianrui Zuo, Kurt G. Schilling, Daniel C. Moyer, and Bennett A. Landman. Analytic bounds on GAMLSS model variability of normative white matter brain charts. Accepted to SPIE Medical Imaging: Image Processing, February 2026.

  • Chloe Cho, Andrew J. McNeil, Bohan Jiang, Adam M. Saunders, Gaurav Rudravaram, Yihao Liu, Daniel Moyer, Benoit M. Dawant, Bennett A. Landman, and Eric R. Tkaczyk. DermIDS: Dermatology imaging data structure for scalable and interoperable AI systems. Accepted to SPIE Medical Imaging: Imaging Informatics, February 2026.

  • Elyssa M. McMaster, Michael E. Kim, Nancy R. Newlin, Gaurav Rudravaram, Adam M. Saunders, Aravind R. Krishnan, Jongyeon Yoon, Ji S. Kim, Bryce L. Geeraert, Meaghan V. Perdue, Catherine Lebel, Daniel Moyer, Kurt G. Schilling, Laurie E. Cutting, and Bennett A. Landman. Personalized white matter bundle segmentation for early childhood. Accepted to SPIE Medical Imaging: Image Processing, February 2026.

  • Gaurav Rudravaram, Lianrui Zuo, Michael E. Kim, Adam M. Saunders, Praitayini Kanakaraj, Nancy R. Newlin, Aravind R. Krishnan, Elyssa M. McMaster, Chloe Cho, Susan M. Resnick, Lori L. Beason Held, Derek Archer, Timothy J. Hohman, Daniel C. Moyer, and Bennett A. Landman. Characterizing continuous and discrete hybrid latent spaces for structural connectomes. Accepted to SPIE Medical Imaging: Image Processing, February 2026. [arXiv:2512.02032]

  • Praitayini Kanakaraj, Lianrui Zuo, Gaurav Rudravaram, Tianyuan Yao, Zhiyuan Li, Yihao Liu, Nancy R. Newlin, Aravind Krishnan, Adam M. Saunders, Michael E. Kim, Baxter P. Rogers, L. Taylor Davis, Derek Archer, Kurt G. Schilling, Daniel Moyer, Bennett A. Landman, and Adam Anderson. DETERMINATOR: Determinant gradient field estimation for accurate b-value correction in diffusion MRI. Accepted to SPIE Medical Imaging: Image Processing, Februrary 2026.

  • Andre T.S. Hucke, Elyssa M. McMaster, Karthik Ramadass, Adam M. Saunders, Trent Schwartz, Tin Nguyen, Steven A. Wernke, Thomas A. Lasko, Veronique V. Belzil, Laurie E. Cutting, and Bennett A. Landman. A GIS-based analysis of exposures and brain volume metrics in neurofibromatosis type 1 and reading difficulties. Submitted to IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging, April 2026.

  • Adam M. Saunders, Michael E. Kim, Gaurav Rudravaram, Elyssa M. McMaster, Chloe Scholten, Simon Vandekar, Tonia S. Rex, François Rheault, Bennett A. Landman. Quality assurance of the Federal Interagency Traumatic Brain Injury Research (FITBIR) MRI database to enable integrated multi-site analysis. Submitted to IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging, April 2026.

  • Elyssa M. McMaster, Gaurav Rudravaram, Michael E. Kim, Trent M. Schwartz, Chloe Scholten, Adam M. Saunders, Andre T. S. Hucke, Karthik Ramadass, Emily M. Harriott, Steven L. Meisler, Simon N. Vandekar, Allen Newton, Seth A. Smith, Saikat Sengupta, Kathryn L. Humphreys, Sarah Osmundson, Daniel Moyer, Laurie E. Cutting, and Bennett A. Landman. Harmonization mitigates diffusion MRI scanner effects in infancy: insights from the HEALthy Brains and Child Development (HBCD) Study. Submitted to IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging, April 2026.

  • Chloe Scholten*, Elyssa M. McMaster*, Adam M. Saunders, Michael E. Kim, Gaurav Rudravaram, Elias Levy, Bryce Geeraert, Lianrui Zuo, Simon Vandekar, Catherine Lebel, and Bennett A. Landman. Evaluation of neuroCombat and deep learning harmonization for multi-site MR neuroimaging in a pediatric population with prenatal alcohol exposure. Submitted to IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging, April 2026. *Equal contribution.

Abstracts and Short Papers

  • Adam M. Saunders, Elyssa M. McMaster, Chris Rorden, Johaan Kathilankal Jis, Minyi Sun, Adam Sadriddinov, Lukas VanTilburg, Michael Eugene Kim, Bennett Allan Landman, Kurt Schilling. OpenDIVE: Streamlining Tractography Visualization. Medical Imaging with Deep Learning, July 2025.

  • Elyssa M. McMaster, Nancy Newlin, Trent Schwartz, Adam M. Saunders, Gaurav Rudravaram, Yehyun Suh, Jongyeon Yoon, Michael Eugene Kim, Chloe Cho, Karthik Ramadass, Yihao Liu, Lianrui Zuo, Eleftherios Garyfallidis, Talia M. Nir, Neda Jahanshad, Kurt Schilling, Daniel Moyer, Bennett Allan Landman. Introducing Beyond FA: Crowdsourcing imaging biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease. Medical Imaging with Deep Learning, July 2025.

  • Adam M. Saunders, Kurt G. Schilling, Kristin P. O’Grady, Seth Smith, and Bennett A. Landman. A maximum a posteriori method for quantitative T1 mapping with uncertainty using MP2RAGE. International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, May 2024.

  • Hong-Jun Yoon, Adam Saunders, Folami Alamudun, Sajal Dash, Jacob Hinkle, and Aristeidis Tsaris. Ensemble learning of attention-based models for whole-slide imaging comprehension. Computational Approaches for Cancer Workshop, November 2022.

Talks

  • DeepN4: Learning ITKN4 bias field correction for T1-weighted images. DIPY Workshop, March 2025.

  • A 4D atlas of diffusion-informed spatial smoothing windows for BOLD signal in white matter. SPIE Medical Imaging: Image Processing, February 2025.

  • Vasculature-informed spatial smoothing of white matter functional magnetic resonance imaging. Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science Retreat, October 2024.

  • Deep learning for a healthier world: Detecting and grading diabetic retinopathy. University of Dayton Honors Thesis Signature Talks at Stander Symposium, April 2023.

Professional Outreach

  • Reviewer, Medical Image Analysis (1 paper)
  • Reviewer, Journal of Medical Imaging (1 paper)
  • Reviewer, Scientific Reports (1 paper)
  • Secretary of VALIANT Attempt, Vanderbilt University, 2024 - Present

Honors and Awards

  • Third Place, 3-minute Poster Competition, SPIE Medical Imaging, February 2026
  • Robert F. Wagner All-Conference Best Student Paper Finalist, SPIE Medical Imaging, February 2025
  • Second Place, 3-minute Poster Competition, SPIE Medical Imaging, February 2025
  • Graduate School Travel Grant, Vanderbilt University, November 2024
  • University Graduate Fellowship, Vanderbilt University, July 2024
  • Thomas R. Armstrong Award of Excellence for Outstanding Electrical Engineering Achievement, University of Dayton Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, May 2023
  • Outstanding Collaborative Pianist, University of Dayton Department of Music, May 2023
  • Dean’s List, University of Dayton, August 2019 - May 2023
  • SPIE Travel Grant, February 2023
  • Best Poster in Directorate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Summer Intern Symposium, August 2022
  • Honors Thesis Fellowship, University of Dayton, April 2022
  • Finalist, International Science and Engineering Fair, May 2018

Skills

  • Deep learning for medical imaging and data imputation using Python/PyTorch
  • Adept at statistical analysis and interpretation
  • Technical writing and typesetting using Microsoft Office
  • Effective scientific communication and visual aid preparation
  • Strong critical thinking and analytical skills