Scan Times

Awards and Honors: April 30, 2008

Rebecca Fahrig, PhD, assistant professor of radiology, has been selected as one of sixteen School of Medicine Faculty Fellows for 2008. Over the next year, the Fellows will meet monthly for leadership meetings with invited faculty who will serve as role models. In addition, they will attend small mentoring groups led by senior faculty mentors and will devise a career development plan. The Faculty Fellows were nominated by their departmental chairs and were ranked by the Faculty Fellow Review Committee based on their "leadership potential and demonstrated commitment to building diversity."

Before joining our Department as an assistant professor, Dr. Fahrig completed her PhD in medical biophysics at the University of Western Ontario and a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. She has won numerous awards including the Greenfield Award for the Best Paper (nonradiation dosimetry) published in Medical Physics in 2005; the Fellowship Research Trainee Prize (along with Zhu, PhD, candidate) from the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Physics Subcommittee; and the Faculty Scholar in Translational Research Award from the Baxter Foundation. Dr. Fahrig's research focuses on imaging for guidance of minimally invasive procedures. She works on software and hardware that permit the use of a C-arm system for both fluoroscopy and CT imaging, and she has extended the applications of C-arm CT to retrospectively gated 3D/4D cardiac imaging in the interventional suite. She is also developing an MR-compatible X-ray fluoroscopy system, including a new rotating-anode X-ray tube for use in the fringe fields of 1.5T and 3.0T magnets.

Meet the Ultrasound Section at Stanford Hospital and Clinics

(front row, l to r): Lan Zhang, Xin Yuan, Diane Orluck, and Alex Karanany; (back row, l to r): Amber Gee and Marianne Johnson.

By Julie Ruiz, PhD
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)

There are many things that most people don't know about the ultrasound section at Stanford Hospital and Clinics (SHC). For instance, did you know that at least three of our ultrasound technologists have medical degrees from other countries? Did you know that two members of our ultrasound section have worked at SHC for over 18 years? Do you know which of our ultrasound technologists have won the Wingspread Award?

New Faculty Hires and Promotions: April 24, 2008

Debra Ikeda, MD, director of the Stanford University breast imaging section, has been promoted to full professor of radiology. For 16 years, Dr. Ikeda has served as the director of the breast imaging section. Prior to coming to Stanford, she received her medical degree from the University of Connecticut, Farmington, and completed her internship and residency in radiology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. After completing fellowships at the University of San Francisco Medical Center and Malmo General Hospital in Sweden, Dr. Ikeda came to Stanford to build our breast imaging section into a state-of-the-art center. She has developed and led two of the leading CME courses in the world of breast imaging, each attended by over 300 participants. She has also been very active in teaching our residents and fellows and was awarded "Teacher of the Year" for her efforts. Her achievements include chairing the American College of Radiology (ACR) BIRADS Lexicon Committee, which resulted in the publication of the ACR MRI BIRADS text that is used to report breast MRI throughout the world. Dr. Ikeda's research focuses on the roles and limitations of breast cancer detection and imaging using X-ray methods, ultrasonography, and MRI. New research involves imaging of Asian women, evaluation of breast density, imaging of accelerated partial breast irradiation, optical imaging, and digital mammography with CAD.

(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)

Awards and Honors: April 18, 2008

Sandip Biswal, MD, assistant professor of radiology; Sheen-Woo Lee, MD, MSc, postdoctoral scholar; Shin Kamaya, BSE; Deepak Behera, DNB, postdoctoral fellow; Edward Graves, PhD, assistant professor of radiation oncology (radiation physics); and Garry Gold, MD, associate professor of radiology and, by courtesy, of bioengineering and orthopaedic surgery, were awarded the Moncada Award at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Society of Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance (SCBT/MR) for their outstanding research project "Imaging Pain and Nociception with Manganese-Enhanced MRI (MEMRI)." The Moncada Award was named in honor of Rogelio Moncada, MD, who helped establish the SCBT/MR research awards program. Please find photos and brief biographies of some of our award winners below.

Deepak Behera, diplomate of National Board (DNB), specialized in nuclear medicine from Medwin Hospitals in Hyderabad, India, after receiving his medical degree (MBBS) from MKCG Medical College in Orissa, India. Before coming to Stanford, he served as senior resident in the nuclear medicine clinics at PGIMER in Chandigarh, India. Dr. Behera is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Molecular Imaging of Musculoskeletal Illnesses (MIMI) Laboratory where he is investigating a clinically applicable nociception imaging agent that has applications in both cancerous and noncancerous conditions. Outside the lab, he enjoys traveling, outdoor sports, dancing, and singing.

Sandip Biswal, MD, assistant professor of radiology, received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Division of Health Science and Technology (HST). As a faculty member at Stanford, he was won the Junior Faculty of the Year Resident Teaching Award twice and the RSNA Research Trainee Prize three times: once each in Informatics and Nuclear Medicine with Bao Do, MD, and once in Nuclear Medicine with Brian Kim, MD. Dr. Biswal is the leader of the Molecular Imaging of Musculoskeletal Illnesses (MIMI) Laboratory, where he researches the use of multimodality molecular imaging techniques to study nociception as it relates to bones, joints, the peripheral nervous system, and the spinal cord.

Garry E. Gold, MD, associate professor of radiology and (by courtesy) bioengineering and orthopedics at Stanford University, received a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford in 1988 and his MD from Stanford in 1992. Dr. Gold has authored over 60 journal articles, 170 abstracts, and 5 patents in MRI. He has been the principal investigator or a co-investigator on over 30 funded research projects, and he is the principal investigator on two NIH-funded projects to improve MR imaging of osteoarthritis and the use of real-time MRI for the study of biomechanics. The International Skeletal Society recently awarded Dr. Gold the President's Medal. He is also a five-time winner of the Lauterbur Award for the best MRI paper from the Society for Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance (SCBT/MR). Dr. Gold reviews manuscripts for ten peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (JMRI) and the journal of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (MRM), and he is on the editorial board of several publications. At Stanford, Dr. Gold practices clinical musculoskeletal radiology, teaching medical students, residents, and fellows. He teaches two courses in imaging physics and human anatomy for medical students and graduate students, and he was recently awarded the Kaiser Award for outstanding and innovative contributions to education. He also serves as an advisor and co-advisor for many engineering graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Edward "Ted" Graves, PhD, assistant professor of radiation oncology (radiation physics), received his PhD in bioengineering in 2001 from the University of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital in Charlestown, Massachusetts, he came to Stanford in 2003 as an acting assistant professor of radiation oncology and joined the Department as an assistant professor in 2004. Dr. Graves has received numerous awards, including NIH-postdoctoral training grants and first prize in the student poster competition of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) Cancer Workshop. At Stanford, his research interests focus on developing applications of emerging functional and molecular imaging techniques in the radiation therapy of cancer. Dr. Graves' current research projects include the development and application of techniques for imaging radiobiology, focusing on tumor hypoxia; the engineering of methods for applying clinically-relevant conformal irradiation to small animal models of disease; and the creation of software for multimodality image analysis and quantitation. In his time away from Stanford, Dr. Graves enjoys playing video games and with his dog, Tara, as well as supporting the Chelsea Football Club.

Shin Kamaya, BSE, grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, and received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently a third-year medical student at the University of Colorado-Denver.

Awards and Honors: April 17, 2008

Brian Hargreaves, PhD, assistant professor of radiology; Neal Bangerter, PhD, research associate; Ernesto Staroswiecki, PhD; Paul Gurney, PhD; Thomas Grafendorfer, scientific staff; Anderson Nnewihe, MS; Bruce Daniel, MD, associate professor of radiology; and Garry Gold, MD, associate professor of radiology and, by courtesy, of bioengineering and orthopaedic surgery, were awarded the Lauterbur Award by the Society of Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance (SCBT/MR) for their outstanding research project "Co-Registered Sodium and Proton MRI of Osteoarthritis and Breast Cancer." The Lauterbur Award in MR was named in honor of Paul Lauterbur, PhD, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2003 for his work in MRI. Please find photos and brief biographies of some of our award winners below.

Neal Bangerter, PhD, received his doctoral degree from the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He has held positions in both industry and academia. His academic work has focused on the development of new, fast imaging techniques for MRI and the development of sodium imaging methods for musculoskeletal and other applications. Dr. Bangerter is currently working in industry, developing product strategy for a Silicon Valley start-up.

Garry E. Gold, MD, associate professor of radiology and (by courtesy) bioengineering and orthopedics at Stanford University, received a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford in 1988 and his MD from Stanford in 1992. Dr. Gold has authored over 60 journal articles, 170 abstracts, and 5 patents in MRI. He has been the principal investigator or a co-investigator on over 30 funded research projects, and he is the principal investigator on two NIH-funded projects to improve MR imaging of osteoarthritis and the use of real-time MRI for the study of biomechanics. The International Skeletal Society recently awarded Dr. Gold the President's Medal. He is also a five-time winner of the Lauterbur Award for the best MRI paper from the Society for Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance (SCBT/MR). Dr. Gold reviews manuscripts for ten peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (JMRI) and the journal of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (MRM), and he is on the editorial board of several publications. At Stanford, Dr. Gold practices clinical musculoskeletal radiology, teaching medical students, residents, and fellows. He teaches two courses in imaging physics and human anatomy for medical students and graduate students, and he was recently awarded the Kaiser Award for outstanding and innovative contributions to education. He also serves as an advisor and co-advisor for many engineering graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Paul Gurney, PhD, received his doctoral degree in electrical engineering from Stanford in June of 2007. His research includes work in rapid 3-dimensional MRI and coronary angiography.

Brian Hargreaves, PhD, assistant professor of radiology, completed his doctoral degree in electrical engineering at Stanford University. In 2001, he joined the Stanford Radiology Department faculty. Dr. Hargreaves' research focuses on body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications (including abdominal, vascular, breast, and musculoskeletal imaging) and the development of novel excitation schemes, efficient imaging methods, and reconstruction tools that provide improved diagnostic contrast compared with current methods. Aside from work, he plays ice hockey and soccer, and he is on the volunteer ski patrol at Sugar Bowl ski resort.


Anderson Nnewihe, MS, is working on hardware design for the multinuclear imaging of the breast and the knee. In 2005, he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a BS degree in electrical engineering; in 2007, he received an MS degree in bioengineering at Stanford, where he is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Bioengineering. His goals are to translate his research on multinuclear imaging to the clinical setting to expedite scans, improve image resolution, and facilitate diagnosis. He also has a marked interest in health care for his home country, Nigeria.

Awards and Honors: April 9, 2008

Sandra Rodriguez, RT (R)(MR), MR research technologist, was awarded the Howard S. Stern Scholarship from the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT) Education and Research Foundation. Out of 450 applicants, Ms. Rodriguez was 1 of 8 who were chosen for the award. The Howard S. Stern Scholarship is designed to help radiologic technologists obtain an associate, bachelor's, or graduate degree or to complete additional certification in medical imaging, radiation therapy, or medical dosimetry. Ms. Rodriguez is currently enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Health Administration (BSHA) online program through the University of Phoenix. She anticipates receiving her degree in the 2008/2009 academic year and continuing her education by attaining a master's degree in Health Administration.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr. Lewis Wexler

By Julie Ruiz, PhD

For most of his life, Dr. Wexler has been ahead of his time. He was the first to receive the Gold Medal Award from the North American Society of Cardiac Imaging in 2002; he was one of the first to perform coronary angiography in California and to train radiologists and cardiologists in this procedure. He was one of a few to graduate from high school by the age of fifteen; to begin medical school at the State University of New York, Syracuse, by the age of eighteen; and to meet his life-long love by third grade.

Announcements: April 4, 2008

Lunchtime Barbecue to Celebrate Stanford School of Medicine's 100th Anniversary on April 23, 2008: A birthday BBQ lunch will be held on the Dean's Lawn (Campus Drive and Roth Way) from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM on Wednesday, April 23, 2008. The Stanford School of Medicine (SOM) is celebrating a 100-year birthday, and all faculty, staff, and students are invited! For details, please read the following birthday party invitation from the April 2, 2008 Medical Center Report published by the SOM Office of Communication and Public Affairs:

A Birthday Party Invitation

All faculty, students, and staff are invited to celebrate the School of Medicine's 100th anniversary at a lunchtime barbecue on April 23.

Everyone coming will have a chance to make a contribution to history: attendees are invited to bring a contemporary item that reflects the "spirit of the present" for a time capsule that will be opened in 100 years.

Philip Pizzo, MD, dean of the medical school, will offer some remarks at the lunch, which will also feature music from a ragtime band.

Items for the time capsule don't have to be related to the medical school but simply represent the spirit of our times. Some suggestions include: a Stanford ID badge, a personal statement of "Life at Stanford in 2008," predictions for 2108, photographs or CDs, electronics (such as memory sticks), course catalogues or periodicals. Items may not be perishable or contain liquid and must be no bigger than a cubic foot.

Centennial organizers will also have guest books available to students, staff, and faculty to sign with written memories or predictions for 2108. People are also invited to submit their predictions and memories to the Centennial Web site at http://med.stanford.edu/centennial/guestbook.html.

The lunch will be held on the Dean's Lawn (Campus Drive and Roth Way) from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Shuttle service will be available for transportation from off-site locations. For more details on the lunch and other Centennial events, see the Centennial Web site at http://med.stanford.edu/centennial/events.html.

Awards and Honors: April 3, 2008

William T. Kuo, MD, assistant professor of vascular and interventional radiology, has been elected to Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians (FCCP). Dr. Kuo will be inducted into Fellowship at the convocation ceremony of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) during their annual CHEST meeting in October 2008. To be elected to Fellowship in the ACCP, a physician must be board certified in his or her respective subspecialty and devote a significant amount of clinical and research time to treating and studying cardiopulmonary disease. Dr. Kuo's election to Fellow is a significant achievement in his professional career that also recognizes his expertise in the endovascular treatment of acute pulmonary embolism, as a specialist in vascular and interventional radiology. Following his election to Fellow of the ACCP, Dr. Kuo was also invited to deliver a lecture at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the safety and efficacy of catheter-directed therapy for acute pulmonary embolism. For Dr. Kuo's biography, please access an earlier award posting at http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/02/new_faculty_hir_1.html.

The Movie Sequence at Lucas Presents "La Dolce Vita" (1960)

This Wednesday, April 2nd, at 6 PM, the Movie Sequence at Lucas presents "La Dolce Vita" (1960) in the Lucas Learning Center. "La Dolce Vita" was directed by Federico Fellini. For a movie summary/review, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_dolce_vita. If you like, please bring something to snack on and/or something to share. Also, the movie is in Italian, so bring your glasses if you need them to read subtitles. If you have questions, please contact Erika Rubesova, MD; Chardonnay Vance, MS; or Ulrich Willi, MD.

The Movie Sequence takes place every first and third Wednesday of the month at 6 PM (the film will play at 6:15 PM) in the Lucas Learning Center as a private event and free of charge. Black and white classics of various cultural backgrounds will be shown. Everyone is very welcome.

For the Movie Sequence online calendar, please visit
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=movie.sequence%40gmail.com&ctz=A.