July 2008

Stanford-UCSF Softball Challenge

By Terry Desser, MD
(Images courtesy of Sandip Biswal, MD; for more game pictures, please access http://www.flickr.com/photos/29982130@N00/sets/72157606428777778/show/.)

Sporting their newly minted "UCSF Rads/Margulis '08" uniforms, the Radiology residents, faculty, and fellows of UCSF trekked down the Peninsula at 10 AM on Saturday, July 19th, to battle Stanford Radiology on the softball field in El Camino Park, opposite the shopping center. But within one inning it was clear that the UC gang's travels had merely taken them from the San Francisco summer fog into the sunlit glare of crushing defeat. With power hitting and outstanding fielding, we trounced our northern rivals by the footballish score of 32-8 in seven innings.

Stanford's forces were led by Pat Basu, who ruled in center field and drove in several Stanford runs. The southpaw power hitting duo of Erik Bekkers and Jared Narvid accounted for a dozen or more runs between them. Andy McBride stole the show in left field, robbing UC of many RBI opportunities and unfurling a dead-on-target throw from deep left-center all the way to home plate.

Residents Riaz Dhanani, David Wang, and Albert Hsiao made key contributions at the plate to the day's blow-out. Neuro Fellow Cam Tran was lured from the basketball court to anchor the infield at shortstop, and joined fellow fellows Stefan Hura (winning pitcher) and Ivan Petrovich in the day's RBI derby.

Not to be outdone, the ladies contingent of Julie Ruiz, Amy White, and Karen's daughters, Layne and Drew, accounted for several key infield outs and scored as many runs as the whole UC team combined. Even our faculty photographer, Sandip Biswal, scored a run in his cameo appearance at the plate, and Ray Hsu flew in from Hawaii to join in today's rout. UCSF alum Peter Moskowitz, donning layered UCSF and Stanford-themed rubgy shirts, insured neutrality by serving as the jovial first base umpire.

Despite the lopsided score, everyone from Dr. Ron Aronson (UC's chair) to ex-Stanford MS, now UC resident Sharon Kwan had a good time. Stanford hosted the event and UC provided a catered Mexican lunch. At game's end, Sharon presented the coveted softball trophy to Stefan and Pat, and we all decided we should do this again (but UC is thinking maybe a different sport would be better).

Thanks to all of you who came and showed your support for our team!

The Movie Sequence at Lucas Presents Ladri di Biciclette (1948)

Wednesday, August 6th, at 6 PM, the Movie Sequence at Lucas presents Ladri di Biciclette (1948) in the Lucas Learning Center. Ladri di Biciclette was directed by Vittorio De Sica and is set in post-World War II Rome. For a movie summary/review, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladri_di_biciclette. The movie is in Italian with English subtitles, so bring your glasses if you need them to read the screen. Chardonnay will provide snacks, drinks, glasses, and plates. If you like, please also bring something to snack on and/or something to share. 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.

Announcements: July 29, 2008

JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge: Wednesday, September 17, 2008, at 6:45 PM at Crissy Field Presidio in San Francisco. The 24th running of San Francisco's JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge is this September and provides an opportunity for companies to put together teams with a minimum of four members and no maximum number. To participate in this 3.5 mile run/walk, you must be part of a corporate team. If you are interested in forming a team from Stanford, please contact Paul Richardson, financial analyst in the SoM Blood and Marrow Transplantation Division, at (650) 725-1745 or paulr77@stanford.edu. For each participant who enters the Corporate Challenge, JP Morgan will make a donation to YMCA's Claire Lilienthal Learning Academy, a Presidio Community YMCA program that provides a safe space for learning for each student attending Claire Lilienthal Alternative School.

Last year, there were 5,340 runners and walkers who completed the 3.5 mile course from 233 companies. A total of 15 companies (5 from the men's division; 5 from the women's division; and 5 from the mixed divisions) will be invited to compete in the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship, on Saturday, October 4th, in New York City.

Stanford University Graduation 2008!

(Images courtesy of Aya Kamaya, MD)

On Sunday, June 15th, several of our radiology faculty (Drs. Gabi Gayer, Aya Kamaya, Justus Roos, and Geoff Rubin), along with Dr. Neetu Ahluwalia from Anesthesia, marched in Stanford University's 117th commencement ceremony in which Oprah Winfrey served as the commencement speaker. In front of 4,666 graduates and a crowd of 25,000, she delivered a 30-minute commencement address centered on "three lessons" dealing "with feelings, with failure, and with finding happiness" that have had the greatest influence over her life. To read the transcript of her address, please access http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/june18/como-061808.html.

The breakdown of degrees for Stanford's Class of 2008 was as follows: 1,702 bachelor's degrees; 49 dual bachelor's degrees; 134 combined bachelor's and master's degrees; 2,017 master's degrees; and 947 doctoral degrees. Of the undergraduates, 90 graduated with multiple majors, and 407 completed minors. In terms of awards and honors, 340 undergraduates received departmental honors and 268 graduated with distinction. 83 of the undergraduates were from 37 different countries, and 940 of the graduate students came from 76 different countries (see "O in '08" by Adam Gorlick http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/june18/com-061808.html).

Awards and Honors: July 25, 2008

Samuel Mazin, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the Radiological Sciences Lab, has been named a JP and Danyele Garnier Fellow for his outstanding contributions to the Stanford Graduate School of Business Summer Institute for Entrepreneurship Program. The fellowship was established by GlaxoSmithKline in honor of former CEO Jean-Pierre Garnier. Only 5 out of 72 participants are given this honor, which is awarded for "exemplary performance throughout the program which greatly enhanced the experience for all who participated--students and faculty--as well as the anticipated impact the individual will have as they move forward in their career." Dr. Mazin's current research focuses on inverse geometry CT as well as improving CT imaging for people with metal implants. For Dr. Mazin's earlier award posting, please see Awards and Honors: March-April 2007.

Stanford Radiology Welcomes New National Cancer Institute (NCI) Fellow, Dr. Moses Darpolor

Moses Darpolor, PhD, is a new postdoctoral scholar in the NCI-funded Advanced Techniques for Cancer Imaging and Detection Program who joined our Department in June of 2008. His research interests include developing and applying multi-parametric magnetic resonance and multimodality imaging techniques to monitor and optimize treatment planning in oncology. Dr. Darpolor's ultimate goal is to provide a catalyst for translational research that can expedite interventions in oncology to improve patient survivorship. Prior to coming to Stanford, he was a research fellow in medical physics at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Dr. Darpolor earned a PhD in functional imaging from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin. His past awards include a Department of Education Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) Fellowship as well as an International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) Educational Stipend. Dr. Darpolor's hobbies include soccer, weight lifting, basketball, cooking, and hiking/long walks, as well as going to movies and clubs.

Awards and Honors II: July 18, 2008

Guillem Pratx, PhD, doctoral candidate in electrical engineering and member of the Molecular Imaging Instrumentation Laboratory, was awarded a Travel Award to attend the 2008 Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) Annual Meeting to present two papers: "Fast Maximum-Likelihood Image Reconstruction without a Line Search via PCG" and "Maximum a Posteriori Event Positioning in High-Resolution PET CZT Detectors." The purpose of the SNM Travel Awards is to provide support to nuclear medicine students for presenting innovative work at the SNM Annual Meeting. Dr. Pratx completed his undergraduate work in engineering at the Ecole Centrale in Paris, France. In the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), he is completing his dissertation research, which centers on the development of practical algorithms that exploit graphics processing units (GPU) for fast medical image reconstruction in ultra-high resolution PET systems under development at Stanford. For more details regarding his biography, please see Dr. Pratx's earlier award postings by accessing "Awards and Honors: August 2, 2007" and "Awards and Honors: December 17, 2007."

Awards and Honors I: July 18, 2008

Qizhen Cao, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in the Molecular Imaging Probe Laboratory, has received a two-year postdoctoral fellowship from the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) for her work on alpha7-nAChR targeted imaging and therapy of lung cancer. Dr. Cao received her PhD in molecular and immunological pharmacology from the Peking University Health Science Center in China, where she specialized in tumor angiogenesis and anti-angiogenesis therapy. In 2005, she joined Dr. Shawn Chen's laboratory, where she develops molecular imaging probes for the treatment monitoring and target therapy of tumor angiogenesis.

Awards and Honors III: July 17, 2008

Zibo Li, PhD, former postdoctoral scholar in the Molecular Imaging Probe Laboratory (MIPL) and current senior scientist at Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., has received a Travel Award to attend the 55th Society of Nuclear Medicine Annual Meeting. The purpose of the SNM Travel Awards is to provide support to nuclear medicine students for presenting innovative work at the SNM Annual Meeting. While at Stanford, Dr. Li's research focused on the development of novel tracers (peptides, proteins, growth factors, antibodies, and antibody fragments-based) for near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence, MRI, SPECT, and PET imaging of small animal tumor xenografts and, potentially, of cancer patients. For Dr. Li's prior blog award announcements, please access "Awards and Honors: June 15, 2007" and "Awards and Honors: February 5, 2008."

Awards and Honors II: July 17, 2008

Yingbing Wang, MD, recently graduated medical student from the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab, has been selected as the winner of the 2008 Department of Radiology Norman Blank Award for the outstanding medical student in radiology. The award was created in memory of longtime faculty member and Director of Admissions Norman Blank, MD. While at Stanford, Dr. Wang's research interests included the use of integrated fluorine-18-deoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in managing lymphoma. In the fall, she will begin an internship in internal medicine at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Clara, which will be followed by a residency in radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Wang's favorite hobbies include eating Krispy Kreme donuts and watching action movies.

Awards and Honors I: July 17, 2008

Kai Chen, PhD, research associate in the Molecular Imaging Probe Laboratory, was awarded a third place Society of Nuclear Medicine Young Professionals Committee (YPC) Best Basic Science Award at the 2008 Annual Convention of the Society of Nuclear Medicine. Dr. Chen received his PhD in biophysics from Peking University in Beijing, China. Prior to coming to Stanford, he first served as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and then at the Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. At Stanford, Dr. Chen's research interests include molecular imaging and cancer cell biology. Outside the lab, he enjoys traveling, reading, swimming, and playing "Go" as well as chess.

The Movie Sequence at Lucas Presents Casablanca (1942)

This Wednesday, July 16th, at 6 PM, the Movie Sequence at Lucas presents Casablanca (1942) in the Lucas Learning Center. Casablanca was directed by Michael Curtiz and is set in the Moroccan city of Casablanca during World War II. For a movie summary/review, please see Wikipedia. Chardonnay will provide snacks, drinks, glasses, and plates. If you like, please also bring something to snack on and/or something to share. 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.

Awards and Honors II: July 15, 2008

Chief Resident Pat Auveek Basu, MD, MBA, has received the J.T. Rutherford Government Relations Fellowship from the American College of Radiology (ACR). Dr. Basu is the first Stanford recipient to receive the fellowship and one of six applicants selected nationally. Founded in 1993, the Fellowship was named after J.T. Rutherford, the first lobbyist of the ACR. By meeting with congressional members as well as representatives of federal regulatory agencies in Washington D.C., Fellows will be exposed to the state and federal legislative and regulatory processes that directly affect the future of radiology. During the one-week fellowship program, Dr. Basu will also attend seminars on the governmental process and its impact on the radiological profession as well as learn about the ACR's Governmental Relations Division and other congressional activities.

Dr. Basu currently serves as a member of Stanford's Graduate Medical Education Committee and as course director of the "Health Economics, Finance, and Policy" course offered to Stanford physicians and medical students. He has been invited to speak both nationally and internationally regarding issues of healthcare policy and finance. Prior to coming to Stanford, Dr. Basu served as chief resident during his transitional year at Resurrection Hospital in Chicago. Dr. Basu graduated with honors from the University of Chicago, where he received his MD and MBA. During this time, he was elected president of his business school cohort and the Dean's Council representative of his medical school class. Dr. Basu earned his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois, where he was elected to the University's Senate and Homecoming Court. When he is not working, Dr. Basu loves to play a variety of sports, and he is a die-hard fan of the Chicago Cubs, Bulls, Bears, and Illinois Fighting Illini.

For prior blog entries regarding Dr. Basu's awards and honors, please access the following postings: Awards and Honors: February 2007; Awards and Honors: August 13, 2007; and "Our New Chief Residents for 2008-2009."

Dr. Kuo Honors His Patients in the LiveStrong Challenge

Along with 3,000 other people including Lance Armstrong, Dr. Will Kuo participated in the San Jose LiveStrong Challenge on Sunday, July 13th. Participants biked, ran, or walked 10 to 100 miles on a course beginning in downtown San Jose continuing to Coyote Valley and looping back through the east foothills. Entrants completed the course not only to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation ($1.5 million to be exact), but to honor those who struggle and have struggled with cancer. A recent San Jose Mercury News article, "Cancer Only Loser in LiveStrong Race" by Sharon Noguchi, highlighted Dr. Kuo's efforts to honor his patients: "For health care providers as well, the race offered a salve and a sense of helping to ease the suffering caused by cancer, which afflicts 12 million Americans. William Kuo, a Stanford Hospital radiologist, bicycled with a card honoring his patients." To read the full article, please click here: "Cancer Only Loser in LiveStrong Race."

Awards and Honors I: July 15, 2008

Andrei Iagaru, MD, instructor of nuclear medicine, has received the following honors: Alavi-Mandell Award from the Society of Nuclear Medicine; two "Best Essay Awards" at the 2008 American College of Nuclear Physicians (ACNP) Annual Meeting; and featured research in both the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) News Highlights and AuntMinnie.com. The Alavi-Mandell Award is bestowed upon nuclear medicine residents and trainees who publish scientific articles as senior authors in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Dr. Iagaru won this award for his paper entitled "Treatment of Thyrotoxicosis," which is published in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine 2007;48(3):379-89. At the ACNP Annual Meeting, Dr. Iagaru received "Best Essay Awards" for "131I-Tositumomab (Bexxar) vs. 90Y-Ibritumomab (Zevalin) in Refractory/Relapsed Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma" and "18F FDG PET/CT in Head and Neck Cancers: What is the Definition of Whole-Body Scanning?" His research is also featured in the 2008 RSNA News Highlights, "PET/CT Effective at Identifying Cervical Cancers, Research Suggests." Most recently, Dr. Iagaru's work appeared twice in AuntMinne.com: "MRI and FDG-PET/CT Recommended for Advanced Breast Cancer" and "PET/CT Shows Its Worth in Cervical Carcinoma."

Dr. Iagaru completed medical school at the Carol Davila University of Medicine, Bucharest, Romania, and an internship at Drexel University College of Medicine, Graduate Hospital, in the Department of Medicine. He began his residency at the University of Southern California (USC) Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, in the Division of Nuclear Medicine, where he was the chief resident. He finished his residency and completed a PET/CT fellowship at Stanford University's School of Medicine in the Division of Nuclear Medicine. His research interests include whole-body MRI and F-18 PET in osseous metastases detection; the comparison of Zevalin/Bexxar therapy; the optical imaging of breast cancer; and PET-CT imaging for thyroid/breast cancer, melanoma, lymphoma, and sarcoma. In addition to the above awards, Dr. Iagaru has also been selected as the 2008 Clinician Educator of the Year by the Stanford Radiology Residency Program.

Awards and Honors: July 14, 2008

Hui Wang, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in the Molecular Imaging Probe Laboratory (MIPL), has been awarded first place from the Society of Nuclear Medicine's Molecular Imaging Center of Excellence for her molecular imaging abstract entitled, "Trafficking the Fate of Mesenchymal Stem Cells In Vivo." Prior to coming to Stanford, Dr. Wang was a postdoctoral fellow at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Dalian, China) where she researched the design and synthesis of p450 enzymes in the Pichia pastoris system. She received her PhD degree for her work in tumor neovasculature targeted TNF at the Fourth Military Medical University in Xi'an, China. At Stanford, her research focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of protein probes for molecular imaging; the ex vivo evolution of VEGF121 protein; the site-specific labeling of tagged proteins; and the trafficking of mesenchymal stem cells by bioluminescence imaging. When Dr. Wang is not working, she enjoys hiking, swimming, and spending time with her family.

Awards and Honors II: July 11, 2008

Zhaofei (Jeff) Liu, a visiting researcher in the Molecular Imaging Probe Laboratory, has been selected for the 2008 Berson-Yalow Award for his abstract, "Analyzing the Recognition Sites of RGD Peptide on U87MG Tumor Cell Using a Competition Binding Assay." Developed by the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM), the Berson-Yalow Award is given to investigators with the most original scientific abstracts who make the most significant contributions to basic or clinical radioassay. Mr. Liu is also a fourth-year PhD candidate at Peking University in Beijing, China, where he studies biophysics. After receiving a joint training scholarship to study at Stanford for one year from the China Scholarship Council (CSC), Mr. Liu took a one-year leave from his PhD program to pursue his research interests in molecular imaging, molecular and cell biology, and immunology under the guidance of Dr. Xiaoyuan Chen in the Molecular Imaging Probe Laboratory. Mr. Liu has also received a Travel Award for the 55th Society of Nuclear Medicine Annual Meeting.

Awards and Honors I: July 11, 2008

John MacKenzie, MD, MS (on left), assistant professor of pediatric radiology and chief of pediatric musculoskeletal imaging at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (LPCH), and Dr. Shreyas Vasanawala (on right), assistant professor of radiology as well as director of body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and co-director of MRI at LPCH, have received a Research and Education Foundation Seed Grant from the Society for Pediatric Radiology for their project entitled "Evaluation of Pediatric Diseases with Hyperpolarized Carbon-13 Magnetic Resonance Imaging." The purpose of their research is to investigate molecular imaging as a new diagnostic tool for childhood disorders. Drs. MacKenzie and Vasanawala will test the feasibility of magnetic resonance imaging using hyperpolarized carbon-13 for the diagnosis and monitoring of childhood musculoskeletal and liver disease.

Dr. MacKenzie's other research interests include molecular imaging applications for bone and joint disorders. Dr. Vasanawala is developing new MRI techniques for body imaging by increasing the speed of MRI and developing novel MR methods for probing metabolism. For more biographical information, please access earlier blog postings on Dr. MacKenzie and Dr. Vasanawala.

Awards and Honors: July 9, 2008

Zongjin Li, PhD, MD, postdoctoral scholar in the Cardiovascular Gene and Cell Therapy Laboratory, is the recipient of five honors: a Travel Award to attend the 2008 International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Annual Meeting; an American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF)/Bristol-Myers Squibb Travel Award from the American College of Cardiology; a finalist for the Young Investigators Awards Competition of the American College of Cardiology; an honorable mention in the Young Investigator of the Year Award Competition from the Stanford University School of Medicine Cardiovascular Institute; and a Mitzi and William Blahd, MD, Pilot Research Grant. Sponsored by the Education and Research Foundation for the Society of Nuclear Medicine, the Mitzi and William Blahd, MD, Pilot Research Grant is designed to support innovative ideas in clinical and basic research and is awarded to the highest-ranked proposal.

Dr. Li received his PhD degree from Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, China, and his MD degree from the Norman Bethune University of Medical Sciences in Changchun, China. At the Rizhao Hygiene College in China, he completed both his internship and residency in internal medicine and served as an attending physician in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine. In September of 2005, Dr. Li joined Dr. Wu's Cardiovascular Gene and Cell Therapy Laboratory, where he researches the molecular imaging of stem cells for cardiovascular applications.

The Movie Sequence at Lucas Presents Grande Illusion (1937) or The Shop on Main Street (1965)

This Wednesday, July 9th, at 6 PM in the Lucas Learning Center, the Movie Sequence at Lucas presents Grande Illusion or The Shop on the Main Street, depending on which is available. Grande Illusion was by directed by Jean Renoir while The Shop on Main Street was directed by Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos. For a movie summary/review, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Grande_Illusion or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shop_on_Main_Street. If you like, please bring something to snack on and/or something to share. Also, both movies have English subtitles, so bring your glasses if you need them to read the screen. 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.

Awards and Honors: July 8, 2008

Adam de la Zerda, PhD candidate in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Laboratory (MMIL), has won two awards in support of his PhD progress: the Bio-X Graduate Student Fellowship and the Department of Defense (DOD) Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) Predoctoral Traineeship Award. The Bio-X Graduate Student Fellowship is intended to support graduate students training in the interdisciplinary biosciences, creating new advances in science and engineering. The fellowship is awarded to promising graduate students based on their talent, potential, and commitment to research. The Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) Predoctoral Traineeship Award supports the training of graduate students studying towards careers in breast cancer research. Mentored by Dr. Gambhir, Mr. de la Zerda researches photoacoustic molecular imaging and its broad applications for breast cancer. He holds a number of publications and patents and is also a professional reviewer for Nature Nanotechnology and Medical Physics.

Prior to coming to Stanford, Mr. de la Zerda received his BScs in computer science, electrical engineering, and physics from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. For Mr. de la Zerda's prior award announcement regarding the Bay Area Entrepreneurship Contest, please access
http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/06/awards_and_hono_6.html.

Awards and Honors: July 3, 2008

Priti Balchandani, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in the Radiological Sciences Laboratory (RSL), was a finalist for the I.I. Rabi Young Investigator Award at the 2008 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) Annual Meeting. Named after Nobel Laureate Isidor I. Rabi, the Rabi Award honors "achievements in basic scientific research, especially focusing on novel technical developments." Out of the 38 abstracts on basic research, Dr. Balchandani's abstract was 1 of 3 chosen as a finalist. Her abstract featured her research in adiabatic RF pulse design. Along with her colleagues, Dr. Balchandani has developed the slice-selective tunable-flip adiabatic low peak-power excitation (STABLE) pulse. To read more about her award and research, please access "Young Investigator Awards Add Luster to MRI's Scientific Stars" featured online in the "Diagnostic Imaging ISMRM Conference Reporter." Dr. Balchandani's research interests include the development of high-field MR anatomic and spectroscopic imaging tools and novel RF pulse design for positive-contrast imaging of cells labeled with SPIO nanoparticles and sodium imaging of the brain at 7T.

Dr. Balchandani received her BS in computer engineering from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada, and completed her MS and PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford.