Ubuntu Stories from Our MR Community
Ubuntu, “I am because we are” is more than our 2026 meeting theme; it’s a lived experience across our MR field. Here, we share real stories from colleagues around the world who have seen the power of collaboration in MRI.
Enjoy these stories of how working together shapes discoveries, builds connections, and strengthens our community.
James Armo – Ghana
I’m James, a radiographer and ISMRM-GATES fellow from Ghana. My story spans around when I first started my fellowship at the Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, King’s College London. I could imagine how collective and collaborative the members of the UNITY team are despite the variations in their academics. The team consists of multidisciplinary individuals but they are all come together, teach one another and work towards the common goal.
There’s a saying that goes, “if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.”
Harry Hu – USA
In March of 2025, 145 attendees convened at the Hub for Clinical Collaboration of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for the inaugural International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Body MRI Study Group workshop entitled “Body MRI: Unsolved Problems and Unmet Needs.” This event was the cumulative and passionate work of the study group leadership since the study group’s formation in 2023.
Approximately 24% of the attendees were M.D. or M.D./Ph.D.’s, 45% were Ph.D.’s, and 30% were early-career trainees and postdoctoral associates. Amongst the invited speakers and moderators, 28% were from outside the United States of America, with a 40:60% female-to-male ratio.
The 2.5-day program brought together a multidisciplinary group of scientists, radiologists, technologists, and trainees to identify high-priority unsolved problems and unmet needs in body MRI. A major theme of the event echoed the philosophy of Ubuntu – and highlighted successful translational research and team science.
