Uran Ferizi has a background in finance and scientific research. His first professional appointment was in the private sector, working for a multi-national engineering firm. Later he worked on the Bear Stearns trading desk in London, modelling fixed-income structured products.
 
Uran studied mathematics at Oxford University. For his Neuroscience PhD at University College London, he compared mathematical models for the brain, collaborating with MIT-Harvard MGH Hospital. He later moved to New York University to carry out post-doctoral research on arthritis and osteoporosis. Most recently, at Stanford University, one of his projects was to find early biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease, while another involved adolescents with alcohol and drug addiction issues.
 
A detailed CV follows below:
 
 

Uran FERIZI, PhD
 
EMPLOYMENT
Jan 2024 – present
Embassy of Albania, London, United Kingdom
Ambassador to the UK and Ireland

• Representing the interests of the Albanian state in the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as the International Maritime Organisation.

Oct 2020 – Dec 2022
Stanford University School of Medicine, USA
Research Scientist, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

• The application of computational models to diffusion MRI brain data, specifically, modelling and characterization of brain changes in adolescents because of alcohol and drug addiction.

Jan 2017 – Apr 2020
New York University School of Medicine, USA
Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology

• Application of Artificial Intelligence tools (Machine Learning) to osteoporosis data, creating models that evaluate the risk of osteoporotic bone fracture.

Dec 2019 – Mar 2020
Modern Meadow, New Jersey, USA
Part-Time Bioinformatician, Cell Engineering and Biotechnology

• Database management and genetic sequencing of fermentation data.

Dec 2014 – Sept 2016
New York University School of Medicine, USA
Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology

• Established a mechanical injury model for articular cartilage to assess the sensitivity of diffusion-MRI in detecting early cartilage damage during osteoarthritis. This pioneering project involved the successful coordination of time-sensitive experiments and theoretical modeling.

Aug 2007 – Nov 2008
JP Morgan / Bear Stearns, UK
Analyst (2007), Fixed Income Trading Desk

• Modeled and updated Asset Backed Securities for the bank's trading desk; updated Collateralized Debt portfolios of loans, corporate and structured bonds; provided traders and clients with cash-flow predictions; booked trades.

Sept 2002 – Sept 2003
Halcrow Engineering Consultancy, UK
Economics Analyst, Business Consulting Group

• Mined data and wrote appraisal reports commissioned by UK’s Department for Trade and Corporate Investors. These were on the feasibility of, among others, the building of London Heathrow's T5, and the expansion of Singapore's Changi Airport.

 
EDUCATION
Oct 2011 – Nov 2014
PhD in Engineering, University College London, UK
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Department of Computer Science & Institute of Neurology

• Thesis: “Model selection for in-vivo diffusion-MRI of human brain data”

Oct 2010 – Oct 2011
Master’s in Biomedical Engineering, University College London, UK
Masters by Research, Department of Biomedical Engineering

• A program of graduate courses with a 6-month project in Medical Physics

Oct 2003 – Jun 2007
Bachelor’s and Master’s in Mathematics, University of Oxford, UK
Master of Mathematics (MMath), Department of Mathematics

• An integrated undergraduate and graduate course in Pure and Applied Mathematics

Oct 1995 – Oct 1998
“Ismail Qemali” High School, Tirana, Albania
Gymnasium / Matura

• A Baccalaureate-like pre-University education in Sciences and the Humanities

 
PUBLICATIONS
Peer-Reviewed Scientific Journals

1. DJ Piekarski, NM Zahr, Q Zhao, U Ferizi, KM Pohl, EV Sullivan et al. White matter microstructural integrity continues to develop from adolescence to young adulthood in mice and humans: Same phenotype, different mechanism. Neuroimage: Reports 3 (3), 100179
2. Ferizi U, Müller-Oehring EM, Peterson ET, Pohl KM. The distortions of the free water model for diffusion MRI data when assuming single compartment relaxometry and proton density. Phys Med Biol. 2023 Jan
3. Ferizi U, Honig S, Chang G. Artificial Intelligence, Osteoporosis and Fragility Fractures. Curr Opin Rheumatol. 2019 Jul.
4. Johnston EW, Bonet-Carne E, Ferizi U, ..., Alexander D, Panagiotaki E, Punwani S. VERDICT MRI for Prostate Cancer: Intracellular Volume Fraction versus Apparent Diffusion Coefficient. Radiology. 2019 Apr.
5. Duarte A, Ruiz A, Ferizi U, Bencardino J, Raya JG. Diffusion tensor imaging of articular cartilage using a navigated radial imaging spin-echo diffusion (RAISED) sequence. Eur Radiol. 2019 May.
6. Ferizi U, Besser H, Hysi P, Jacobs J, Rajapakse CS, Chen C, Saha PK, Honig S, Chang G. Artificial Intelligence Applied to Osteoporosis: A Performance Comparison of Machine Learning Algorithms in Predicting Fragility Fractures from MRI Data. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2019 Apr.
7. Ferizi U, Scherrer B, Schneider T, ... Wheeler-Kingshott C, Warfield SK, Witzel T, Wald LL, Raya JG, Alexander DC. Diffusion MRI microstructure models with in vivo human brain Connectome data: results from a multi-group comparison. NMR Biomed. 2017 Sep.
8. Ferizi U, Ruiz A, Rossi I, Bencardino J, Raya JG. A robust diffusion tensor model for clinical applications of MRI to cartilage. Magn Reson Med. 2018 Feb.
9. Ferizi U, Rossi I, Lee Y, Lendhey M, Teplensky J, Kennedy OD, Kirsch T, Bencardino J, Raya JG. Diffusion tensor imaging of articular cartilage at 3T correlates with histology and biomechanics in a mechanical injury model. Magn Reson Med. 2017 Jul.
10. Ferizi U, Schneider T, Witzel T, Wald LL, Zhang H, Wheeler-Kingshott CA, Alexander DC. White matter compartment models for in vivo diffusion MRI at 300mT/m. Neuroimage. 2015 Sep.
11. Ferizi U, Schneider T, Tariq M, Wheeler-Kingshott CA, Zhang H, Alexander DC. The importance of being dispersed: A ranking of diffusion MRI models for fibre dispersion using in vivo human brain data. Med Image Comput Comput Assist Interv (MICCAI). 2013;16(Pt 1):74-81.
12. Ferizi U, Schneider T, Panagiotaki E, Nedjati-Gilani G, Zhang H, Wheeler-Kingshott CA, Alexander DC. A ranking of diffusion MRI compartment models with in vivo human brain data. Magn Reson Med. 2014 Dec.

Book Chapters

• Rowe M, Siow B, Alexander DC, Ferizi U, Richardson S, 2016. Concepts of Diffusion in MRI. In Diffusion Tensor Imaging (pp. 23-35). Springer, New York, NY.
• Raya JG, Ferizi U, 2016. Quantitative MRI for detection of cartilage damage. In Biophysics and Biochemistry of Cartilage by NMR and MRI. Royal Society of Chemistry, London, UK; pp. 575-627.

Doctoral Thesis (Department of Computer Science, University College London, UK, 2014)

• Title: Compartment models and model selection for in-vivo diffusion-MRI of human brain white matter.
• Supervisors: Prof. Daniel Alexander, Dept. of Computer Science, and Prof. Claudia Wheeler-Kingshott, Institute of Neurology.
• The data for this project was acquired in two imaging centers, the UCL Institute of Neurology (3T 60mT/m Philips scanner) and Harvard Medical School / MGH (3T 300mT/m Connectom).

Conference Proceedings (Five were oral presentations. All as first author, unless indicated otherwise.)

1. Complex-valued dMRI data processing: Application to neural soma imaging. ISMRM, 2019. (not first author)
2. Measure for Measure: Machine Learning Models for Osteoporosis MRI data. ISMRM, 2018.
3. Revisiting the experimental base of compositional biomarkers. ISMRM, 2017. (not first author)
4. Changes in collagen and proteoglycan in cartilage with OA severity. ISMRM, 2017. (not first author)
5. Diffusion MRI models for cartilage: beyond the diffusion tensor. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, 2016.
6. DTI monitors changes in articular cartilage after induced injury, Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, 2016.
7. DTI can detect early cartilage degeneration following injury. Society of Skeletal Radiology, 2016.
8. Diffusion MRI models for cartilage: beyond the diffusion tensor, ISMRM, 2016.
9. DTI can monitor changes in articular cartilage after a mechanically induced injury, ISMRM, 2016.
10. Time-dependent diffusion on human brain white matter, ISMRM, 2015.
11. Statistical inference in diffusion compartment models, ISMRM, 2014.
12. Orientation dispersion models for dMRI, ISMRM, 2014.
13. Model selection for in-vivo dMRI of human brain white matter, MICCAI, 2013.
14. A ranking of diffusion MRI models with in-vivo human brain data, ISMRM, 2013.
15. Modelling Orientation Dispersion in Diffusion MRI, ISBI, 2012.
16. Orientation Dispersion Models for dMRI of Human Brain White Matter, MICCAI, 2012.
17. Model selection for dMRI of human brain white matter, MICCAI, 2012.