May 2009

Did You Know?

CT Scans and War

For the first time in war, CT scans are being used in autopsies according to Denise Grady of the New York Times: "Since 2004, every service man and woman killed in Iraq or Afghanistan has been given a CT scan, and since 2001, when the fighting began in Afghanistan, all have had autopsies, performed by pathologists in the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System. In previous wars, autopsies on people killed in combat were uncommon, and scans were never done." To read the full article from May 25, 2009, please access "Autopsies of War Dead Reveal Ways to Save Others" or Download file.

Announcements: May 28, 2009

Third Annual Cardinal Walk: Friday, May 29, 2009, from 11:30 AM to 1 PM at Roble Field on Santa Teresa Street.

Event Schedule
11:30--Free t-shirts for first 1,500 walkers and free music and refreshments (No registration required!).

11:35--Spirit Contestants must check-in.

11:45--Spirit Contest judging on creativity and enthusiasm (trophies awarded)

12:05--Provost Welcome

12:10 to 1 PM--Campus Walk

For more information, please access http://stanford.wellsphere.com/3rd-annual-cardinal-walk-community/249295.

Awards and Honors: May 26, 2009

Andrei Iagaru, MD, instructor of nuclear medicine, received the Alavi-Mandell Award from the Society of Nuclear Medicine for his paper "90Y-Ibritumomab Therapy in Refractory Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Observations from 111In-Ibritumomab Pretreatment Imaging." Dr. Iagaru's article is featured on the cover of and published in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine (2008 Nov;49(11):1809-12. Epub 2008 Oct 16). The Alavi-Mandell Award "honors the work of a young investigator who is pursuing a career in nuclear medicine" and will be presented to Dr. Iagaru at the 2009 SNM Annual Meeting in Toronto.

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. He is currently an Instructor in the Department of Radiology and his current research interests include whole-Body MRI and PET/CT for early cancer detection; Zevalin/Bexxar radioimmunotherapy; optical imaging of breast cancer; clinical translation of novel PET radiopharmaceuticals; and PET-CT imaging for thyroid/breast cancers, melanoma, lymphoma, and sarcoma.

For his prior blog posting, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/07/awards_and_hono_47.html.

Awards and Honors: May 21, 2009

Roland Bammer, PhD, along with his collaborators Drs. Fischbein, and Moseley, has received R01 grant funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for his project, "Novel Acquisition Methods for Diffusion MRI." This is one of the first ARRA awards in the School of Medicine. The goal of Dr. Bammer's research project is to improve pediatric imaging by developing diffusion-weighted 3D spiral projection imaging for high-resolution 3D SSFP and SE DTI at 3T, reducing distortions related to motion and susceptibility differences. This past winter 2009, Dr. Bammer, along with his collaborators Drs. Atlas, Barnes, and Moseley, also received R01 funding for his project "Short Axis EPI for Diffusion Tensor MRI at High Field," which focuses on developing new types of EPI sequences for high resolution, low SAR, diffusion tensor imaging at 3T and 7T using parallel receive and parallel transmit technology. The success of his research projects will significantly improve MR exams in both children and adult patients by reducing the overall scan time; improving the diagnostic capacity of the images; and providing an alternative contrast mechanism and the means to understand more clearly the underlying tissue microstructure, particularly in terms of how it is composed and how the brain is anatomically/functionally connected with different regions.

For his prior blog posting, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/09/awards_and_hono_2.html.

Awards and Honors: May 20, 2009

Natesh Parashurama, MD, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab, received a Young Investigator Award at the International Society for Cellular Therapy 2009 Annual Meeting for his presentation "Stably Expressed Multimodality Fusion Reporter Genes For Tracking Mesenchymal Stem Cell Status in Hearts of Living Subjects." These merit-based Awards are offered to select Young Investigators submitting abstracts.

Dr. Parashurama received his BS in chemical engineering from MIT and his medical degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Subsequently, he completed his PhD in chemical bioengineering at Rutgers University. While earning his PhD, he completed a three and a half-year graduate fellowship at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Parashurama's research interests include using multimodality imaging of stem cell functions for both enhanced understanding of the biology of stem cells and for translating these techniques to the clinic. These functions include cell homing and differentiation; the application of quantitative molecular imaging tools to study cell proliferation and differentiation; cell function; the cellular micro-environment; cell trafficking; the immune response; and cell-mediated gene therapy. For his prior blog posting, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2009/01/awards_and_hono_74.html and http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/02/awards_and_hono_28.html.

Announcements: May 20, 2009

Stanford Blood Center's Grateful Life Tour, May 22nd, 23rd, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, and 30th; June 26th, 27th, 29th, and 30th; and July 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th at all Stanford Blood Center locations: For the fifth consecutive year, the Stanford Blood Center is sponsoring the "Grateful Life Tour" blood drive ("Grateful Life Tour V") in which blood donors will get to choose either the traditional tie dye t-shirt with the "Giving is Groovy Grateful Life Tour V" design or a brand new design featuring "recylce life. give blood" on a 100% organic cotton t-shirt. The Grateful Life Tour will take place on May 22nd, 23rd, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, and 30th; June 26th, 27th, 29th, and 30th; and July 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th. For more information please access http://bloodcenter.stanford.edu/news/special_events.html#GLT. For maps and directions for all Stanford Blood Centers, please access http://bloodcenter.stanford.edu/bcinfo/maps.html.

Awards and Honors: May 18, 2009

Kim Butts Pauly, PhD, associate professor of radiology and of bioengineering (by courtesy), was recently recognized as Fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) at the 20009 annual meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dr. Butts Pauly was made a Fellow of the ISMRM for her "significant and substantial contributions to research" in her field.

Dr. Butts Pauly received her PhD in biophysical sciences from Mayo Graduate School. She was a postdoctoral research fellow in our Department, becoming an assistant professor of radiology in 1996. Dr. Butts Pauly's current research interests are focused on image-guided minimally invasive therapies, including MR-guided high intensity focused ultrasound and MR-guided cryoablation. She has published her work in over 75 peer-reviewed publications. When Dr. Butts Pauly is not working, she enjoys gardening, traveling with her family, and reading with her kids.

Did You Know?

Glimpse of Radiologists in 1938
(from "The Economics of the Practice of Radiology" in JAMA, V. 113, N. 10; 1939:943-948)

--The total number of radiologists in the United States had grown by 118%, increasing from 1,005 in 1931 to 2,191 in 1938.

(According to a survey of 876 radiologists in "The Economics of the Practice of Radiology":)

--The average age of the surveyed radiologists was 49 years old and the mean number of years of specialization was 18.

--In 102 hospitals, "roentgenologic interpretations" were made by someone other than the radiologist while in 1,148 hospitals, the "roentgenologic interpretations" were made "only by specialists in radiology."

--25% of the radiologists who also practiced in some other field were likely to have chosen (in order of frequency) general practice, surgery, internal medicine, or pathology.

--There were proportionately more radiologists in the Mid-Atlantic (704) and Pacific (192) sections than in the North West Central (172) and East South Central (86) states.

--Most radiologists (640 or 73%) worked part-time in one or more hospitals, and most fees for the services of radiologists were included in the hospital bills sent to patients.

Dr. Vasanawala and Colleagues Receive the Prestigious Caffey Award

Dr. Shreyas Vasanawala, assistant professor of pediatric radiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine and co-director of pediatric MRI at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, was awarded the Caffey Award for Outstanding Basic Science Research Paper at the annual meeting of the Society for Pediatric Radiology in Carlsbad, California, on April 24, 2009. The award was in recognition of his scientific paper "Faster Pediatric MRI Via Compressed Sensing."
His collaborators included . . .

Marcus Alley, PhD; Richard A. Barth, MD; Brian Hargreaves, PhD; John Pauly, PhD; and Michael Lustig, PhD. Please find short biographies of some of his collaborators below.

The Caffey Research Award is presented annually for the best original research to advance the care of children via imaging. The highly regarded Caffey Award recognizes Dr. Vasanawala's work for exploring a novel MRI method that is faster and permits higher resolution imaging with less motion-related blurring. This is highly relevant to the pediatric population as it holds tremendous promise for performing MRI either without or with substantially reduced sedation or anesthesia.

Dr. Vasanawala joined the Department of Radiology faculty in July of 2007, after receiving his degree and a PhD in biophysics from Stanford University, followed by residency training in radiology at Stanford University Medical Center and a pediatric radiology fellowship at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (LPCH). During his fellowship, Dr. Vasanawala received specialty training in pediatric musculoskeletal imaging at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and in pediatric cardiovascular imaging at Sick Kids in Toronto. At Stanford, Dr. Vasanawala's research aims to improve magnetic resonance imaging techniques for evaluating pediatric disease.

The Caffey Awards, established in 1969 as the "John Caffey Award Paper," are named in honor of John P. Caffey, MD, who is widely recognized as the father of pediatric radiology. He defined pediatric radiology as a specialty by writing the seminal text book, Pediatric X-Ray Diagnosis. First published in 1945, the book has remained in print continuously since then. The 11th edition was recently published (2008) as Caffey's Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging, 30 years after Dr. Caffey's death. John Caffey's enormous contributions to radiology and pediatrics improved the well being of children and are gratefully acknowledged through the recognition of excellent scientific and clinical work in the specialty he engendered.

(Text above is from the Packard Media Group, for release on April 27, 2009.)

Marcus Alley, PhD, senior research scientist, received his BA in physics from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and his MS (physics) and PhD (nuclear physics) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he completed his thesis entitled "An Effective Range Determination of Phase Shifts for the Elastic Proton Helium-3 Reaction between the Energies of 0 and 12 MeV." Dr. Alley has been a member of the Stanford Department of Radiology since 1994, when he began as a postdoctoral fellow mentored by Norbert Pelc, ScD. After completing his postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Alley worked as an MR applications and software developer, and, in May of 2005, he became a senior research scientist in our Department. His current research involves developing MRI with compressed sensing for body and pediatric imaging. His past awards include a third place Scientific Paper Award for his paper entitled "Measurement of T1 of Flowing Blood, Extraction Fraction of Gd-DTPA and Single-Kidney GFR Using Interleaved Spiral Acquisition" from the Society of Uroradiology, Twenty-Fifth Scientific Assembly, in 2000. Dr. Alley also has over 35 publications and 7 patents.

Brian Hargreaves, PhD, assistant professor of radiology, completed his doctoral degree in electrical engineering at Stanford University. In 2005, 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. To view Dr. Hargreaves' pior blog postings, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2009/02/drs_gold_and_ha_2.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2009/01/drs_gold_and_ha.html; and http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/04/awards_and_hono_31.html.

Michael Lustig, PhD, engineering research associate, received his BSc in 2001 from the Department of Electrical Engineering, in Technion-IIT, Haifa, Israel. He completed his PhD in 2008 from the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, where his doctoral research focused on the application of compressed sensing to rapid MRI. Currently, he is a research associate in the Magnetic Resonance Systems Research Lab (MRSRL) in the Stanford Department of Engineering, where his research interests include medical imaging reconstruction, MR pulse sequence design, convex optimization, and inverse problems.

Awards and Honors: May 6, 2009

Zheng Miao, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in the Cancer Molecular Imaging Chemistry Laboratory, has been granted the First Prize in Basic Science Award for his abstract entitled "A Protein Scaffold Based Molecule for EGFR PET Imaging" from the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM). He will receive his award at the SNM Annual Meeting, which will be held in Toronto, Canada, on June 14-17, 2009.

As a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford, his research focuses on the application of scaffold protein in molecular imaging. Dr. Miao's other areas of specialization include protein engineering; the synthesis of synthesis of bifunctional metal chelates and of peptides and analogs, with solid phase resin; and the conjugation of proteins and peptides to solid surface resin as well as the cross-linking of proteins. Most recently, he published a research article in Bioconjugate Chemistry: "Cysteinylated Protein as Reactive Disulfide: An Alternative Route to Affinity-Labeling" (2008;19;15-19).

Dr. Miao received his PhD in biophysical chemistry from the University of California, Davis, where he completed his dissertation entitled "Synthesis and Medical Application of Bifunctional Metal Chelates." When he's not working, Dr. Miao enjoys hiking, rafting, and sports. One of his other favorite activities, he commented, is "spending time with my lovely family."

National Nurses Week, May 6-12, 2009, "Nurses: Building a Healthy America"

Sponsored by the American Nurses Association, National Nurses Week 2009, "Nurses: Building a Healthy America," is celebrated each year from May 6th to May 12th. The American Nurses Association characterizes the importance of this week as follows: "Often described as an art and a science, nursing is a profession that embraces dedicated people with varied interests, strengths and passions because of the many opportunities the profession offers. As nurses, we work in emergency rooms, school based clinics, and homeless shelters, to name a few. We have many roles--from staff nurse to educator to nurse practitioner and nurse researcher--and serve all of them with passion for the profession and with a strong commitment to patient safety."

The week of May 6th to 12th was chosen because of its special significance to nursing. May 12th is the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing; May 6th is also known as National Nurses Day; May 8th was designated in 1998 as National Student Nurses Day, which is also celebrated annually; and in 2003, the Wednesday within National Nurses Week (May 6th-12th) was designated as National School Nurse Day. For more information on the history and significance of National Nurses Week, please access http://www.nursingworld.org/FunctionalMenuCategories/MediaResources/
NationalNursesWeek/NNWHistory.aspx.

Our radiologic nurses at Stanford Hospital and Clinics are dedicated professionals, building a healthy America one patient at a time. During National Nurses Week 2009, our nurses will be honored by a special lunch and dessert. In recognition of National Nurses Week, some of our nurses have created posters that are on display in the SHC atrium. Please stop by to view them.

Announcements: May 5, 2009

Organizational Meeting (5/6) for Kids Day at Clark: Wednesday, May 6, 2009, from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM in Clark, S360. Bring your planning ideas to the meeting as we organize the Friday, June 12th, "Kids Day at Clark." Join us to discuss how to make an impact for the next generation of scientists and engineers! If you want to get involved, but you can't make it to the meeting, please write to: Jill Sakata.

Announcements: May 1, 2009

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer: Saturday and Sunday, July 11-12, 2009, from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Sausalito waterfront and back again. Registrants will walk up to 26.2 miles on Saturday and 13.1 miles on Sunday. For information on how to register, please access http://walk.avonfoundation.org/site/PageServer?pagename=sanf_home_2k8.

Stanford Routs UCSF in Flag Football

(Images courtesy of Pat Basu, MD)

With veteran leaders Sandip "notorious Biz" Biswal and Gary "the Grid-Iron" Glazer on the injured reserve, there were questions about whether #1 ranked Stanford could beat revenge-minded and #2 ranked UCSF on their home field (for the full story, please see the July 19, 2008, "Stanford-UCSF Softball Challenge" at http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/07/stanforducsf_so_1.html). However, Stanford just had too much firepower as the Cardinal left no doubt in their 42-12 rout in front of a sell-out crowd. The Cardinal Radiologists racked up over 600 yards of offense and . . .

45:13 in time of possession to go with their 7 touchdowns.

A sign of things to come, captain and quarterback Pat "Peanut Butta" Basu took the opening kick-off deep inside UCSF territory. Subsequently, Andy "gimme the dang ball" Mcbride caught a touchdown in the corner of the endzone setting up Cam Tran's 1-point conversion catch to take an early 7-0 lead, and the Cardinal never looked back. Deep threats Mcbride, Ray Hsu, and Cam Tran were complemented by sure-handed receivers Chris Bealieu and Ivan Petrovich. With the hurry-up offense in action, an audible at-the-line-isolated Petrovich on UCSF's dual sport star Ron Aronson for a 13-0 lead, and Beaulieu's "Jack Clark"-like catch for the PAT made it 14-0. Beaulieu, who was picked up as a free agent from the 49ers, said "Hey, I just want the niners to see what they lost by not protecting me as their franchise player. In football, there are BMWs and there are yugos, I see us as a BMW."

Basu completed passes to 8 different receivers and finished the game 25-36, passing for 492 yards completing 4 touchdowns passing, 2 touchdowns running, and with no interceptions or sacks. After the game, Basu added, "they have a great team, we just wanted to come out and compete. I just want to credit my offensive line and our defense for setting the tone out there today. Those guys deserve the game ball. There is no 'I' in team . . . ." Unfortunately, our recorder ran out of memory for his 8-minute quote.

An Andy Mcbride 30-yard reception and a Craig "still has wheels" McCormick's 20-yard end around set up another score early in the second half that put the game out of reach. Justus Roos caught the conversion in the flat and dove rugby style into the back of the endzone punctuating the dominating performance. Mcbride, fueled by a pre-game debate over who the better Mcbride is, him or his fiance, Andrea, solidified his #1 household ranking with 11 catches for 197 yards and 2 TDs.

An opportunisitic and stingy Stanford defense held the overmatched UCSF squad scoreless until less than 10 minutes left in the game. The Scottish connection of Mcbride and McCormick had two key interceptions in the first half while the game was still close. The aggressive defensive line showed flashes of brilliance from the future of the Cardinal squad--rookies Jared Narvid, Mike Kim, and the Twindian Terrors Srihari and Srinath Sampath who harassed and confused the UCSF quarterback into several interceptions. Sampath said after the game, "We'll play them anytime, anywhere--we'll even play them in the lab. I don't care whose field this is; as far as I'm concerned it's always OUR house."

Seena "Big D" Dehkargani, Ray "Lewis" Hsu, and Cam "the train" Tran racked up tackles for the staunch Stanford defense. In the end, the UCSF players were gracious and their captain vowed to recruit some better athletes in this week's upcoming NFL Match Day. In any case, they will try to avoid the season sweep when the two teams collide in sand volleyball later this year. Until then, the Stanford Radiology Department retains its undefeated record against their rivals from the North with thrashings in both softball and flag football.