Centers of Excellence
Established in 2009, the Centers of Excellence program recognizes luminary sites for their excellence in translational and clinical research, training, and patient care. The criteria for becoming a Center of Excellence can be viewed here.
University of Virginia | Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
The Foundation’s first Center of Excellence was established at the University of Virginia (UVA) in September 2009 through a public-private partnership between the Foundation, the Commonwealth of Virginia, UVA, Insightec, and GE. The Center has a strong history in brain research, having pioneered clinical trials for essential tremor and Parkinsonian tremor, as well as technical and preclinical studies for neurological disorders. The UVA team also treats uterine fibroids and bone metastases, conducts cancer research, and is currently spearheading the world’s first clinical trials combining focused ultrasound and immunotherapy.
The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden | London, England
In September 2013, the Foundation and Philips entered an innovative public-private collaboration with the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and The Royal Marsden National Health Service Foundation Trust to create a Center of Excellence in London. The Center created a state-of-the-art resource for clinicians and scientists working on focused ultrasound therapy, developing clinical evidence in oncology, and establishing best practices, treatment standards, and protocols.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital | Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Brigham and Women’s Hospital was named a Center of Excellence in 2015. More than 50 focused ultrasound researchers in three different laboratories span the Boston campus of Brigham and Women’s Hospital where, in conjunction with Harvard Medical School, they are pioneering innovative uses of focused ultrasound and advancing these new approaches from bench to bedside. Read the investigator profile from September 2015 featuring three focused ultrasound leaders at the site.
Stanford University | Stanford, California, USA
The Center of Excellence at Stanford University was established in 2016 and focuses on several clinical and preclinical projects. These include industry-sponsored trials using focused ultrasound to treat bone metastases, uterine fibroids, essential tremor, and prostate cancer, as well as investigator-initiated trials to treat soft tissue tumors. Preclinical projects have included the development of reference less methods for MR thermometry in the brain, as well as respiratory-compensated focused ultrasound in treatment of porcine liver during free-breathing. These clinical and preclinical projects involve close collaboration with clinical colleagues in radiology, obstetrics and gynecology, medical oncology, radiation oncology, neurosurgery, neurology, orthopedic surgery, urology, pathology, immunology, and electrical and mechanical engineering. Learn more about this site.
The University of Maryland | Baltimore, Maryland, USA
The Center of Excellence at the University of Maryland (UMD) was established in 2016. At present, the UMD departments of neurosurgery, radiology, and neurology are collaborating to study treatment of movement disorders, chronic neuropathic pain, brain tumors, and the use of enhanced drug delivery. In addition, their immunomodulation studies range from investigating cell systems to animal models and human clinical trials. Read the site profile from September 2016.
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre | Toronto, Canada
Established as a Center of Excellence in 2016, the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is conducting research for focused ultrasound in neurology, neurosurgery, urology, orthopedics, gynecology, radiation oncology, and biomedical engineering. The Center also has studies underway for Alzheimer’s disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, breast cancer brain metastases, and others. Read the site profile from November 2016.
INSERM – LabTAU | Lyon, France
In February 2017, INSERM Unit 1032, the Laboratory of Therapeutic Applications of Ultrasound (LabTAU) at the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) was named a Focused Ultrasound Center of Excellence. LabTAU conducts significant translational and clinical research with a multidisciplinary, highly qualified, and complementary team of physicians and scientists. The Center has special expertise in commercializing technology and creating strategic interfaces between engineering and medicine. Read the site profile from February 2017.
Physics for Medicine Paris | Paris, France
In December 2019, Physics for Medicine Paris became the third Center of Excellence in Europe. The site focuses on accelerating the development of ultrasound-based technologies and translating these innovative technologies to the clinic, with an emphasis on cardiovascular and neurological disorders. Physics for Medicine Paris is a technological hub for new modalities of ultrasound guidance, monitoring, and treatment. The team also plays a pivotal role in educating young researchers with the training of many PhD students. Read the site profile from December 2019.
Children’s National Hospital | Washington, DC, USA
In September 2020, Children’s National Hospital (CNH) in Washington, DC, became the first Center of Excellence focused exclusively on pediatrics. The Center includes a multidisciplinary team of clinicians and investigators from radiology, oncology, surgery, orthopedics, neurosurgery, and urology. In recent years, the CNH team has become a leader in the translation of focused ultrasound for treating pediatric solid tumors. They are currently investigating the treatment of malignant solid tumors with focused ultrasound alone and combined with chemotherapy. Moving forward, the team plans to further explore oncological applications of focused ultrasound, particularly to augment chemotherapy and immunotherapy for hard-to-treat pediatric cancers. Read the research site profile from September 2020.
University Medical Center Utrecht | Utrecht, Netherlands
In January 2021, The University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC Utrecht) became the fourth Center of Excellence in Europe. UMC Utrecht is striving to improve current cancer therapy with MRI-guided focused ultrasound, often in combination with other modalities, such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery, leading to higher efficacy, fewer side effects, and lower costs. The emphasis of the clinical translation, in close collaboration with other nearby medical centers and international consortia, is on breast cancer, bone cancer, immune stimulation, and drug delivery for brain tumor treatment.
University of Oxford | Oxford, United Kingdom
In October 2023, the University of Oxford became Europe’s fifth Center of Excellence and eleventh worldwide. Focused ultrasound research has been a hallmark of the Oxford multidisciplinary ecosystem since 2004. In clinical research, the site is exploring focused ultrasound for ablation of pancreatic tumors and soft tissue sarcomas. Beyond ablation, the team is investigating focused ultrasound as a tool for drug delivery, using thermal mechanisms for mild hyperthermia—triggered drug delivery from thermosensitive liposomes and cavitational mechanisms. The Center of Excellence draws on the expertise of over 23 principal investigators devoted to focused ultrasound research and work in collaboration with industrial partners and other Centers of Excellence around the world to expand the range of novel ultrasound therapies for the benefit of patients.
Virginia Tech | Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
Virginia Tech’s focused ultrasound program spans departments, disciplines, and geography (Roanoke, Blacksburg, and Washington, DC) with the potential to impact human and animal lives in areas of critical unmet need such as neurological disorders and hard-to-treat cancers. Key institutions and departments involved in focused ultrasound research and treatment include the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion (VTC), the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine’s Animal Cancer Care and Research Center, the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics in the College of Engineering, the Department of Internal Medicine in the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, and a collaboration with Children’s National Hospital’s Brain Tumor Institute and its Center for Cancer and Immunology Research. Additionally, Virginia Tech’s strength in technology commercialization is demonstrated by more than 10 ongoing industry collaborations as well as multiple biotechnology spinoff companies from the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute.
Chongqing Haifu Hospital | Chongqing, China
Founded in 2011, Chongqing Haifu Hospital is the first institution in the world solely dedicated to using noninvasive focused ultrasound, integrating clinical applications and care, translational medicine, and research in the management of benign gynecological diseases, benign and malignant tumors, rehabilitation and physical therapy, and new clinical indications. Since its establishment, the hospital has centered a patient-focused practice, performing over 9,800 cases of focused ultrasound ablation treatments for patients from 28 countries and regions as of December 2024. The hospital has trained over 3,000 medical professionals from more than 32 countries and regions. Its focused ultrasound physicians have also provided support to local doctors at focused ultrasound centers based in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America, promoting the global clinical adoption of focused ultrasound.
Columbia University | New York, New York, USA
Columbia University has been at the forefront of focused ultrasound research for more than 20 years. The university’s multidisciplinary team, spanning departments across three campuses, has pioneered groundbreaking studies and clinical trials in blood-brain barrier opening to treat devastating diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), and brain metastases. Additionally, university researchers have made key advances in central and peripheral neuromodulation for pain and carpal tunnel syndrome and developed new approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Columbia University was the first institution in the world to use focused ultrasound in neuronavigation-guided clinical trials for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and DIPG. The institution is also a leader in peripheral neuromodulation with simultaneous electroencephalography for carpal tunnel syndrome.
Aarhus University Hospital | Aarhus, Denmark
Focused ultrasound was first introduced at Aarhus in 2022 as a treatment for essential tremor, making it the first public hospital in Scandinavia to offer the noninvasive therapy. By 2024, more than 170 patients had been treated. In 2023, Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital established a preclinical focused ultrasound platform that now supports multiple projects. Current preclinical research focuses on modulation of Parkinson’s-related dementia, and the program will expand to include neuromodulation and focused ultrasound gene therapy. Future studies at Aarhus will also explore blood-brain barrier opening for targeted drug delivery and neurostimulation, with the potential to transform treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, brain tumors, and psychiatric disorders.
Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust | London, England
In October 2025, Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust were designated as a Center of Excellence, recognizing their pioneering role in applying focused ultrasound in both neurology and obstetrics. The institutions bring together multidisciplinary expertise in neuroscience, fetal medicine, imaging, engineering, and clinical research, positioning it as a leader in advancing noninvasive therapies for some of the most challenging diseases and conditions. Researchers at Imperial College London have achieved several world-firsts in the field, including the first bilateral focused ultrasound treatment for essential tremor, the first clinical trial to treat Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, and the first European study using focused ultrasound for human brain stimulation. Imperial is the UK’s lead center for MR-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy, having treated more than 185 patients and helping secure national NHS commissioning.
Turku University Hospital | Turku, Finland
One of the largest academic medical centers in Northern Europe, Turku University Hospital is a national leader in focused ultrasound, with significant clinical experience and research capabilities. The multidisciplinary team working in high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) includes radiologists, gynecologists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, urologists, oncologists, and medical physicists. Since 2016, Turku has performed more than 700 focused ultrasound treatments across multiple clinical indications, including uterine fibroids, adenomyosis, endometriosis, desmoid tumors, osteoid osteoma, bone metastases, prostate cancer, essential tremor, and tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease. European Union-funded research underway at Turku could result in significant advances supporting increased adoption of focused ultrasound as a standard of care for numerous conditions, including tumor detection and treatment of uterine fibroids, prostate cancer, movement disorders, and bone tumor palliation.
Washington University in St. Louis | St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Through an internationally recognized academic medical center with strengths in biomedical engineering, neuroscience, and translational medicine, Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) has built a robust interdisciplinary network of researchers and clinicians working together to advance many applications of focused ultrasound. More than 30 faculty members across 11 departments contribute to focused ultrasound research at WashU. To date, WashU researchers have secured more than $40 million in external funding, produced over 100 papers, and launched five clinical trials exploring focused ultrasound for patients with brain tumors, chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD), depression, and fibromyalgia. The group also holds 27 granted and pending patent applications, and translation to industry is already underway.
University College London and King’s College London | London, England
University College London (UCL) and King’s College London (KCL) have long been leaders in advancing focused ultrasound for the benefit of patients. The joint designation recognizes their substantial contributions and combined strengths, including aligned therapeutic strategies and collaborative operating models involving clinical research, PhD supervision, resource sharing, and mentorship. As a Center of Excellence, UCL and KCL work together to accelerate translational research, improve patient outcomes, and serve as a global hub for education, collaboration, and innovation. These London sites are advancing focused ultrasound for the treatment of prostate cancer, movement disorders, liver tumors, brain tumors, and more.
Focused Ultrasound Centers of Excellence (COE)