Rate My Professor Jim Wild

Professor Jim Wild is Professor of Magnetic Resonance Physics and Executive Director of the Insigneo Institute in the School of Medicine and Population Health at the University of Sheffield. He joined the University of Sheffield in 2000 to establish the technology for hyperpolarised gas lung magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Prior to this, he was a postdoctoral researcher in the NMR group at the University of Alberta from 1998 to 2000, focusing on high field strength imaging and spectroscopy methods. He completed his PhD in 1H MR spectroscopy at the University of Edinburgh between 1995 and 1998.

His research centres on the physics, engineering, and clinical applications of hyperpolarised gas (3He and 129Xe) and proton MRI for the lungs and pulmonary vasculature. This includes rapid acquisition methods, simultaneous multi-nuclear imaging, RF coil hardware, spin exchange optical pumping, and modelling of gas flow and diffusion. These developments have enabled the first UK clinical studies using hyperpolarised gas MRI and demonstrated applications in asthma, COPD, cystic fibrosis, interstitial lung disease, lung cancer, and pulmonary hypertension. The methods support evaluation of novel therapies and contribute to patient-specific in-silico models through Insigneo. Professor Wild has received recognition including the 2025 Institute of Physics Peter Mansfield Prize and election as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2024.