Bradley Foerster, MD, PhD: Neuroradiologist, Physician-Scientist, and Neuroimaging Researcher
Dr. Bradley Foerster is a board-certified radiologist and fellowship-trained neuroradiologist whose career has combined medical imaging, neuroscience, translational research, and clinical practice. Dr. Foerster’s research has focused particularly on advanced neuroimaging in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), chronic pain, and other neurologic disorders.
Education and Medical Training
Dr. Foerster began at the University of Michigan as an undergraduate in chemical engineering, earning a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in 1992. Dr. Foerster subsequently attended the University of Michigan Medical School and completed additional clinical training before returning to the University of Michigan for a diagnostic radiology residency from 2003 through 2007.
Following residency, Dr. Foerster completed a neuroradiology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 2007 through 2009. During the Johns Hopkins period, Dr. Foerster also pursued graduate training in clinical investigation at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and later earned a PhD through the Graduate Training Programs in Clinical Investigation.
University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor VA
After a brief tenure-track faculty appointment at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Foerster returned to Ann Arbor in 2009 as an Assistant Professor of Radiology on the tenure track at the University of Michigan. Dr. Foerster simultaneously joined the Ann Arbor VA as a staff physician.
The University of Michigan years combined clinical neuroradiology with development of an externally funded translational neuroimaging research program. Dr. Foerster’s research used advanced MRI, MR spectroscopy, diffusion imaging, functional imaging, and other methods to study ALS, chronic pain, and other neurologic conditions.
Dr. Foerster received a VA Merit Award supporting research into excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters in chronic pain, funding from the ALS Association, and support for additional imaging research. In 2014, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke awarded NIH Grant R01NS082304, a multi-principal-investigator grant supporting development of multimodal neuroimaging biomarkers for ALS, with approximately $2.84 million in funding.
ALS and Neuroimaging Research
ALS became a major focus of Dr. Foerster’s research program. Dr. Foerster and collaborators studied changes in excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters in ALS, evaluated diffusion imaging and MR spectroscopy as potential diagnostic tools, developed multimodal MRI approaches to ALS biomarkers, and examined the evolving role of neuroimaging in understanding ALS.
The resulting scholarship included publications in Neurology, JAMA Neurology, Nature Reviews Neurology, Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, Academic Radiology, and other medical and imaging journals. Representative work addressed reduced motor-cortex GABA in ALS, excitatory-inhibitory neurotransmitter imbalance, multimodal MRI biomarkers, and the broader development of ALS neuroimaging.
Dr. Foerster presented ALS imaging research at institutions including Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, the University of Oxford, University College London’s Queen Square Institute of Neurology, the University of California Davis, NIH/NINDS, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of California Irvine.
Academic Recognition and Tenure
Academic recognition accompanied the developing research program. Dr. Foerster received the American Roentgen Ray Scholar Award in 2009, was named an Emerging Taubman Scholar in 2013, and received the Western Neuroradiological Society Gabriel Wilson Award in 2015. Dr. Foerster also served as a peer reviewer for multiple radiology, imaging, nuclear-medicine, and neurology journals.
In September 2016, the University of Michigan promoted Dr. Foerster to Associate Professor of Radiology with tenure.
The tenure decision followed the professional trajectory documented one year earlier by a University of Michigan Career Development Committee, which described Dr. Foerster as a “rising star translational researcher” and recorded unanimity that Dr. Foerster was on an “excellent trajectory to receive a promotion with tenure.”
Clinical Career After the University of Michigan
Dr. Foerster’s University of Michigan faculty appointment ended in 2019. Dr. Foerster subsequently continued clinical radiology practice through private and federal positions, including service as a staff physician at the Iowa City VA.
In 2022, Dr. Foerster joined Community Radiology Associates in Maryland. In 2024, Dr. Foerster became a partner and shareholder in the practice.
Documentary Archive
The broader documentary archive on this site separately examines the University of Michigan proceedings and investigations that followed portions of the academic career described above. The Case Index organizes source documents, testimony, correspondence, public-record productions, and subsequent records by institutional and investigative track.
Selected Reporting
- Bradley Foerster Submits 140-Exhibit, 1,121-Page Documentary Chronology to FBI for Supervisory Review of the Investigation Involving Dr. Bradley Foerster, Dr. Myria Petrou, and Duaa Altaee
- From One FBI File to a Legislative Proposal: Peter and Maria Foerster Ask Senator Van Hollen's Office and Congressman Jamie Raskin to Consider a Uniform Administrative Framework for Federal Investigations
- Eva Feldman Documentary Chronology: 139 Exhibits on NIH R01NS082304, University Proceedings, and Federal Investigation — No Response Received
- Bradley Foerster and Myria Petrou Send Ann Arbor Officials Documentary Chronology on AAPD and Related Federal Investigations — No Response Received
- Timothy Lynch Documentary Chronology: 63 Exhibits on University of Michigan Office of General Counsel, University Investigations, and Law Enforcement — No Response Received
- Bradley Foerster and Myria Petrou Documentary Chronology: 8 Exhibits Document More Than Two Years of Efforts to Trace Bank of Ann Arbor's $1.4 Million Sheriff's Sale Credit Bid — No Response Received
Brad Foerster, MD PhD
Brad Foerster is a FOIA advocate documenting requests, transparency disputes, and accountability investigations involving public agencies, universities, police oversight, and Russia-Gate related inquiries. His work compiles original documents, timelines, and analysis of public records and institutional responses. Brad is also a board-certified radiologist, author of Town & Gown, and has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles. Brad lives in Potomac, Maryland with his family and is a member of the Montgomery County Medical Society and the Takoma Park U.S. & World History Book Club.