A few words for Dr. Sean Marrett, who passed away yesterday, Dec 12, 2023
It is with sadness that I convey the news that Dr. Sean Marrett, a treasured staff scientist for the NIH intramural program’s Functional MRI Facility (FMRIF) for over 20 years, has passed away after a 16 month battle with Mesothelioma. The cruel irony is that it was discovered weeks before his planned retirement. Sean’s “joie de vivre” that he radiated more strongly than anyone I have ever known, has touched so many within the NIH IRP and international brain imaging community.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from McGill University in 1983, Sean started as a system manger and programmer under Dr. Alan Evans in the McConnell Brain Imaging Center (BIC) at the Montreal Neurological Institute. It was immediately obvious that Sean was a brilliant mind with a passion for the scientific side of BIC life. He dived into many aspects of the work there, most notably with Drs. Keith Worsley, Evans and Peter Neelin in their legendary ‘Bunker’ office meetings on the spatial statistics of activation studies with PET and fMRI. Sean later received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from McGill University, supervised by Dr. Albert Gjedde, for studies on oxidative metabolism that were influential in shaping our understanding of fMRI contrast mechanisms. He carried out his post-doc at the Massachusetts General Hospital NMR Center from 1997 to 2000, training under Dr.’s Bruce Rosen, Roger Tootell, and Anders Dale during their seminal fMRI-based research on the human visual system.
In 2000, he joined the nascent, jointly funded NINDS/NIMH FMRIF, as a staff scientist. Sean’s influence permeates the NIH brain imaging community. He forged the positive, open, and helpful culture that defines the FMRIF. Over the course of 20 years, thousands have been helped by Sean. As the de facto FMRIF manger, his multitude of tasks ranged from the mundane to those that required the attention to detail and gritty persistence that Sean had in abundance: balancing the budget, creating the computational and stimulus infrastructure, and troubleshooting innumerable issues as they came up – setting the tone and policy of how the FMRIF is run. He navigated with his defining joyous intensity the purchase, siting, and installation of all five of the FMRIF scanners, including our two recent 7T scanners. Lastly, he collaborated with many groups across several NIH institutes – helping them get the best data possible.
His career spanned the beginnings of functional brain mapping. Nearly every brain imaging scientist from back in the day knew and loved Sean. In Montreal, he was a force of nature, whether engaging in intense scientific debates or carousing with other BICers at the Thompson House student bar. He was also part of OHBM history, one of the driving forces behind the OHBM Hackathons and embodied the field’s energy going forward. At national and international meetings, he would greet new and old colleagues with his radiant smile and cheer – as if they were the primary person that he was looking forward to meet – always knowing what they were working on, and deeply curious to get any updates – personal or professional. His knowledge of the literature was encyclopedic and up to date. This deep grasp of salient information went beyond literature, as he developed a reputation as having a preternatural awareness of what was going on throughout the NMR Center, Clinical Center, IRP, NIH, and brain mapping community worldwide.
His defining traits were his unassuming openness and genuine interest in others as well as a corresponding deep empathy for them. Regarding his work and the people he worked with, he really cared. His relish for his job was inspiring. He would remind us that we were surrounded by amazing technology and brilliant people. What more could one want? When the scanner was open, chances were that he would be there testing a sequence. He also had a healthy work-life balance as he was a deeply devoted husband and a very proud father to his two sons. He was also a proud Canadian – or more precisely – a proud “Québécois.” He was equally ready to delve into an intense science discussion or to share a laugh or a good story. He cherished social gatherings and celebrations, and no matter how trivial or inconsequential they may have been, he always mentioned afterwards, “That was so fun! Just wonderful!” Lastly, anyone who knew Sean also knew, as truth itself, that whenever there was a dance floor, he was ALWAYS out there dancing.
Link to Photos of Sean: https://photos.app.goo.gl/1t8P85LdpzxxG4T29
