Bruce Balcom, originally from Nova Scotia, attended Mount Allison University from 1981 to 1985, graduating with an honours degree in Chemistry. He pursued a PhD degree in Biophysical Chemistry at the University of Western Ontario from 1985-1990, supported by an NSERC 67 graduate fellowship. He changed his research emphasis in 1990 with an NSERC post-doctoral fellowship at Cambridge University, where he commenced studies on MRI of materials.  

        Dr. Balcom co-founded the UNB MRI Research Centre following his appointment as an Assistant Professor of Physics in 1993. He was promoted to full professor in 2000, the same year he won an NSERC Steacie Fellowship (2000-2002). He recently finished his third term as a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in MRI of Materials. He is the author or co-author of more than 250 peer reviewed papers and has more than 30 patents awarded. His work led to the establishment of Green Imaging Technologies a spin off company in Fredericton NB. He is best known for the SPRITE and SE SPI pulse sequences as well as a series of small permanent magnets for portable MR/MRI.