Charles Sternberg, Associate Editor09.13.23
Employees of Siemens Healthineers Dr. Stephan Biber and Dr. David Grodzki, together with Prof. Michael Uder, MD, Director of the Radiological Institute of Uniklinikum Erlangen, Germany, have been nominated for the German Future Prize for the development and clinical application of the novel MRI platform Magnetom Free.
The Federal President’s Award for Technology and Innovation is one of Germany’s most prestigious awards in this space and will be presented to one of three nominated teams by Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin on November 22.
“We are delighted to have been nominated for the German Future Prize,” said Bernd Montag, CEO of Siemens Healthineers. “Stephan Biber and David Grodzki, in close collaboration with Michael Uder, have developed a completely novel magnetic resonance imaging platform and brought it into clinical use. Magnetom Free.Max and Magnetom Free.Star pave the way for a new, simple type of MRI that can make an even greater contribution to the health of people worldwide by bringing the technology to places it couldn’t reach before. The fourth Future Prize nomination for Siemens Healthineers in just seven years underscores the innovative power of our company.”
Together with their teams, the three nominees have helped make sure that Magnetom Free was brought to market and became established in everyday clinical practice. Stephan Biber, in his role as system architect, was responsible for driving the trend-setting hardware innovations and bringing them together into an overall system.
David Grodzki’s task was the application development and the elaboration of the system specification as well as its implementation as a clinically high-quality imaging system.
Michael Uder conducted the first clinical evaluations of the Magnetom Free.Max system during development and he continued this work at Uniklinikum Erlangen, the world’s first clinical installation. Together with his department, he was responsible for clinical testing and the integration of Magnetom Free.Max into clinical routine.
The Federal President’s Award for Technology and Innovation is one of Germany’s most prestigious awards in this space and will be presented to one of three nominated teams by Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin on November 22.
Simplifying Access to MRI Technology
The cost-effective and energy efficient Magnetom Free greatly simplifies access to MRI technology, which is crucial for the diagnosis of many diseases. A key element is the innovative magnetic cooling system that dramatically reduces helium requirements from up to 1,500 liters to 0.7 liters per system. Furthermore, Magnetom Free comes with a lower field strength of just 0.55 Tesla, and artificial intelligence for high-quality image reconstruction. The platform’s more compact size, larger bore and ease of use also play an important role.“We are delighted to have been nominated for the German Future Prize,” said Bernd Montag, CEO of Siemens Healthineers. “Stephan Biber and David Grodzki, in close collaboration with Michael Uder, have developed a completely novel magnetic resonance imaging platform and brought it into clinical use. Magnetom Free.Max and Magnetom Free.Star pave the way for a new, simple type of MRI that can make an even greater contribution to the health of people worldwide by bringing the technology to places it couldn’t reach before. The fourth Future Prize nomination for Siemens Healthineers in just seven years underscores the innovative power of our company.”
Together with their teams, the three nominees have helped make sure that Magnetom Free was brought to market and became established in everyday clinical practice. Stephan Biber, in his role as system architect, was responsible for driving the trend-setting hardware innovations and bringing them together into an overall system.
David Grodzki’s task was the application development and the elaboration of the system specification as well as its implementation as a clinically high-quality imaging system.
Michael Uder conducted the first clinical evaluations of the Magnetom Free.Max system during development and he continued this work at Uniklinikum Erlangen, the world’s first clinical installation. Together with his department, he was responsible for clinical testing and the integration of Magnetom Free.Max into clinical routine.