1. An MRI apparatus comprising: a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system having a plurality of gradient coils positioned about a bore of a magnet, and an RF transceiver system and an RF switch controlled by a pulse module to transmit RF signals to an RF coil assembly to acquire MR images; and a computer programmed to: prepare a double inversion recovery (DIR) sequence comprising a pair of inversion pulses and an excitation pulse; execute the DIR sequence to acquire MR data from an imaging subject; and reconstruct an image based on the acquired MR data; and wherein preparation of the DIR sequence comprises optimizing a first inversion time (TI 1 ) between the pair of inversion pulses and a second inversion time (TI 2 ) between one of the pair of inversion pulses and the excitation pulse to cause a first tissue of the imaging subject to be suppressed in the image and to reduce a T1 contrast between a second tissue and a third tissue of the imaging subject in the image.