Scan Times
Weblog of the Department of Radiology
Patient Care
Japanese Society of Radiological Technologists Visits Stanford
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
By Mike Moseley, PhD
From July 21-25, Stanford Radiology held its third annual Japanese Technologist Summer Training Program. We have developed this joint educational program in partnership with the Japanese Society of Radiological Technologists (JSRT). As in previous years, we had 24 JSRT participants visit for the week, with technical lectures in the morning; tours and workshops in the afternoon; and social activities such as Giants baseball, jazz concerts, shopping, and tennis in the evenings. The lectures were well received (many thanks to everyone who participated!). The highlight of the week was the reception at the new Stanford Medicine Imaging Center, Palo Alto, which gave the JSRT members an opportunity to meet and speak with many of our technologists. The Summer Training Program is a great way to introduce ourselves to the international radiology community, while building strong collaborations and more efficient practices in radiology worldwide. Many thanks again to everyone who spent so much time and effort to make this an ongoing success.
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 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."
Announcements: June 26, 2008
The Grand Opening of our new Stanford Medicine Imaging Center, Palo Alto, (451 Sherman Avenue) will be this Friday, June 27th, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. Please come to our evening reception and take a tour of our new facility to celebrate our Grand Opening!
Date: Friday, June 27th
Time: 5-7 PM
Location : 451 Sherman Avenue
Light Fare, Wine, Music
Sherman Avenue is located one block south of Palo Alto's California Avenue business district, adjacent to the Olive Garden Restaurant, and just a half block east of El Camino Real. Public parking is available in lots located along Sherman Avenue.
RSVP to: cestades@stanfordmed.org or (650) 723-4527
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?
These are just a few of the things that are special about SHC's ultrasound section, which has grown tremendously. Eighteen years ago, there were three technologists; today, there are eight technologists, including those who work evening and weekend shifts. Depending on the time of year, there are also one to four travelers working in our section as well. Travelers are contracted agency staff who come from all over the United States; they work in one place for thirteen weeks up to one year. Each of our technologists is registered with the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS).
In addition to the increasing number of staff, the technology has advanced in our section as well. Eighteen years ago, there were only three ultrasound machines. We now have one Siemens Syngo Dynamics System, for image interpretation and archiving, and six ultrasound machines--all Siemens Sequoias--along with a portable ultrasound ATL machine.
Our section is very busy and handles about 20 to 25 outpatients per day and 23 to 30 inpatients per day; the ultrasound technologists at Blake Wilbur scan about 8 to 10 patients per day. Many of our inpatients are fit into the schedule the same day they request a scan, so our technologists have to be very flexible. The ultrasound staff is thriving under the leadership of their Section Chief Brooke Jeffrey, MD, who has designed special bimonthly learning conferences that he holds on his own time, which allow the technologists to review the most interesting ultrasound cases with other physicians, residents, and body fellows.
Please meet our ultrasound section technologists:
Sarah Brandon, ARDMS, RVT, sonographer, is a graduate from the Foothill College Sonography Program. Ms. Brandon works part time in the Department; she has been here for almost two years and enjoys the challenging work. She decided last year to take her vascular board exams, and she now has that additional license.
Shirley Furuichi, ARDMS, RVT, senior sonographer, has worked in ultrasound at SHC for 18 years. She initially attended Foothill College and earned her degree in radiologic technology after becoming interested in radiology during a career day at her high school. After being hired at Stanford, she worked in X-ray for seven years and was asked to learn sonography. Consequently, Ms. Furuichi attended Foothill College and earned a degree and became registered in diagnostic medical sonography while continuing to work at SHC. The greatest changes Ms. Furuichi has seen over the years have been the innovations in ultrasound equipment: "We are always learning, which is the great part about being at a teaching institute. Dr. Jeffrey has been very active in trying out new software and equipment from Siemens' beta test site in Mountain View. Some of the software we get to test is confidential because it has not yet been released. It keeps our work on the cutting-edge." She has found it challenging to have the latest equipment housed in an older facility, which has not been remodeled in over 20 years: "While the ultrasound section has grown by adding new computers, machines, technologists, patients, etc., the space for the section has not."
However, Ms. Furuichi added, "I have really enjoyed working here. Dr. Jeffrey has been fabulous to work with, and he is the main reason why I have stayed here. Twice a month, he holds learning conferences on his own time for all of us to attend along with the other physicians, residents, and body fellows. We go over the most interesting cases, which gives us a chance to see what our colleagues are doing. The conferences are great teaching tools and provide a wonderful opportunity for us to learn and to improve." Another facet of her work that Ms. Furuichi enjoys is patient care and helping with diagnoses.
Amber Gee, ARDMS, traveler sonographer, was completing her associate of arts degree (AA) in X-ray when she did a rotation in sonography. Ms. Gee found ultrasound quite interesting, and she was relieved that it did not require the heavy lifting of X-ray cassettes. After talking with a friend who was also interested in ultrasound, she enrolled in Weeber State University in Utah and acquired a bachelor's degree in diagnostic medical sonography. Her first job in ultrasound was at a small hospital in Hamilton, Montana. Because she wanted to gain more experience in larger hospital settings, Ms. Gee became a traveler, and she has worked all over the United States for the past three years. This is her second time working at Stanford; she has been back since September 2007. Of all the places she has worked, Ms. Gee enjoys working at Stanford Hospital and Clinics the most: "I feel that when I work at other hospitals, I'm losing skills; when I work at Stanford Hospital and Clinics, I know I'm gaining skills. I really like working with the staff, patients, and physicians at Stanford. I feel like we are all part of a team. The physicians listen to my input, and they teach me new things so I'm always learning." The most challenging part of her day is dealing with difficult patients, but she views these instances as opportunities to gain new skills: "We do really thorough exams here, and the pathology we see is amazing."
Marianne Johnson, ARDMS, RVT, weekend senior sonographer, is well versed in X-ray and ultrasound. Prior to coming to SHC, she worked as the lead sonographer and radiology supervisor at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (LPCH l). Because of her versatility and positive work attitude, she recently won the SHC Wingspread Award for her outstanding work in ultrasound. Ms. Johnson was chosen as a "super user" for the EPIC Project. Along with Rebecca Wong, she is one of the "go to people" for questions about EPIC.
Alex Karanany, ARDMS, RVT, senior sonographer, has a medical degree from Egypt, where he was a medical doctor of general surgery. After immigrating to the U.S., he worked as the medical director for several physical therapy offices, and he considered becoming a physical therapist but decided against it. Mr. Karanany found sonography more interesting, so he attended the two-year accredited ultrasound program at Orange Coast College in Los Angeles and graduated in May of 2005. Six months after graduation, he passed the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) exams and was registered in abdomen, obstetric-gynecological, and vascular ultrasound. After working at more than 20 different hospitals and as a traveler, Mr. Karanany was hired in the ultrasound section of Stanford Hospital and Clinics in December of 2007. "Stanford Hospital and Clinics," Mr. Karanany commented, "is by far the best hospital at which I've worked. People here are very professional and knowledgeable, and I'm learning so much in the ultrasound section."
Amanda Nelson, RVT, ARDMS, senior sonographer, was a case worker for Child Protective Services in Texas before coming to Stanford. Although she considered getting her master's degree in social work, she did not find the work intellectually challenging enough. Because she loved animals, she began to take classes for veterinary school and worked in clinics. Mrs. Nelson found the medical parts of her classes and clinics exciting. After listening to her friends describe their experiences working in sonography, she decided to observe a sonographer at Parkland Memorial Hospital. Sonography was not only intellectually challenging but very interesting to Mrs. Nelson. So, she attended El Centro College in Dallas, Texas; passed the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) exams; and was registered in diagnostic medical sonography. She worked at Baylor Medical Center for two years. After working as a traveler, Mrs. Nelson came to Stanford in April of 2007 and became a permanent SHC employee in March of 2008.
The most satisfying part of her work is caring for her patients: "I enjoy working on cases where you can really make a difference in a patient's care, like when you find a DVT or cancer that you catch early. It feels good to be involved in helping to save someone's life. I also like explaining procedures to patients so that they understand what's happening to them and why, and they become more willing to cooperate." The most challenging part of her work is doing portable exams because there is not a lot of room for the large ultrasound machines.
Diane Orluck, ARDMS, RVT, sonography supervisor, will celebrate 18 years at SHC in July of 2008. She originally began in X-ray, worked for a while in CT and cath angio, and then pursued sonography. After acquiring a lot of experience in scanning, Ms. Orluck was recruited to the SHC sonography section; she was later awarded the SHC Wingspread Award for her outstanding work in ultrasound. She has found that the most substantial change in ultrasound has been the advances in technology: "You can see so much more now on each imaging exam, and you can see it so much more clearly." One thing that has remained the same for Ms. Orluck is the direct contact with patients that ultrasound provides: "Most people pursue ultrasound because they like the direct contact with patients. As sonographers, we are not just pushing buttons; we have to know the pathology and anatomy of the body. While the procedures used during each exam are the same, each patient is always different, so each exam is unique." In addition to the patients, Ms. Orluck explained, the hard work of their section chief, Dr. Jeffrey, makes the atmosphere in the ultrasound section special: "Dr. Jeffrey is the driving force behind ultrasound. His attitude is infectious, and he has created a very positive learning atmosphere that has inspired our section so that we are very enthusiastic about coming to work and about working towards the correct diagnosis."
Rebecca Wong, ARDMS, senior sonographer, has been at SHC for about six years. She works with many of the residents on the evening shift. Recently, she was chosen as a "super user" for the EPIC Project. Along with Marianne Johnson, she is one of the "go to people" for questions about EPIC. Ms. Wong already had her bachelor of arts degree when she decided to go into ultrasound. She completed the Foothill College Sonography Program, and she was hired at SHC to work full-time during the weekdays. When she started her family, Ms. Wong began working the evening shift to better accommodate her busy schedule.
Xin Yuan, ARDMS, sonographer, has a medical degree in general medicine from China. When she came to the United States, she first completed a respiratory program and earned an associate's degree. Subsequently, Ms. Yuan applied to Foothill College and earned a degree in diagnostic medical sonography. Her last rotation for her internship was at Stanford Hospital and Clinics, where she was hired after completing her rotation and becoming registered with the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS). "Utrasound is an art," Ms. Yuan commented. "I love the images and the anatomy and pathology of the field. I also love helping patients and working with Stanford physicians. Every day is challenging and, everyday, I learn something new and discuss new cases. Getting the correct diagnosis is also a challenge, and it's something I look forward to each day."
Lan Zhang, ARDMS, sonographer, has a medical degree in pediatrics from China. After obtaining her degree in diagnostic medical sonography from Foothill College, she rotated through SHC, and she was hired after completing her internship and becoming registered with the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS). She has been in the ultrasound section for over a year.
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)
Stanford Hospital and Clinics Computed Tomography Section
From left to right: Reuben Brown, Michele Thomas, Kim Piter, James Soriano, Amy Wu, and Monglan Duong.
By Julie Ruiz, PhD
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
As a former member of the Enterprise Access Team, CT Supervisor Michele Thomas is helping to transform patient care at Stanford Hospital and Clinics (SHC) by changing the way health care is delivered. Along with the other groups that comprise the Epic Design Parameters Teams, the Enterprise Access Team met for over five months to analyze current state workflows throughout SHC, including scheduling, discharging, and documenting. As the representative for Radiology, Ms. Thomas and her team discovered that patients need better access to radiological services.
Over the years, the CT section has been working to improve health care at SHC. When Ms. Thomas first began working as a part-time staff technologist in the CT section in May of 1989, there were only two GE 9800 CT scanners at SHC. There was no helical scanning, only axial. Around 1991, the section added their first Siemens Somatom helical scanner, which was located in the mobile building in the parking lot for 18 months until Blake Wilbur was built.
Shortly after Ms. Thomas became the CT supervisor in 2001, SHC added a 16-slice GE scanner, bringing the total number in the hospital to three by 2002. By April of 2008, SHC will have replaced its oldest single-slice scanner with a new GE 64-slice scanner. Until this replacement is complete, the CT section is using a 16-slice multidetector-row CT mobile scanner. Once the installation of the 64-slice scanner is complete, the CT section will be able to perform cardiac scanning on inpatients for the first time ever. Currently, this procedure is only available to outpatients at Blake Wilbur. These advances in technology also require more complicated protocols, and the CT section now does many more protocols than before such as CT IVPs, CT enterography, CT angiography, as well as biphasic pancreas and biphasic liver scans.
Alongside the rapid technological growth, the CT section has experienced an increase in staff. In 1989, the CT section had about two to three CT technologists working the day shift and two technologists staffing the evening shift. Now, they have four to five technologists during the day shift and three to four in the evenings. Most of the hiring is done within Stanford and most of the technologists are diagnostic technologists who have been cross trained in CT. Ms. Thomas described her staff as "energetic multitaskers" who work closely with the fellows and residents in a very busy and fast-paced section. The dedicated staff of the CT section have won various awards such as the Wingspread Award, which is given by one employee to another who has proven that he or she is a "special performer" by demonstrating exemplary job performance. Michele Thomas, Monglang Duong, and Mark Donnelly have all been awarded a Wingspread Award for their outstanding contributions to CT.
In the future, Ms. Thomas hopes that the opening of Palo Alto Imaging and the Stanford Medicine Outpatient Center (Redwood City) will help to decrease the number of outpatients scheduled at the hospital so that they can respond more quickly to the needs of their inpatients.
Dr. Lawrence "Rusty" Hofmann Featured in AuntMinnie.com
Rusty Hofmann, MD, chief of interventional radiology, was recently featured in an AuntMinnie.com article by Edward Susman, "Imaging Set to Play Pivotal Role for Delivering Molecular Therapeutics." The article is based on Dr. Hofmann's presentation at the 2008 International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy (ISET) meeting in which he highlighted the importance of imaging in molecular therapeutics: "In human trials, there is no way to monitor the appropriate site to inject the drugs, to monitor delivery of the drugs, to monitor how the drugs traffic in the body, and no way to monitor how those drugs engraft." The injection of molecular agents in combination with imaging guidance can help resolve these problems by improving drug delivery. For the full text of "Imaging Set to Play Pivotal Role for Delivering Molecular Therapeutics," please access http://www.auntminnie.com/print/print.asp?sec=sup&sub=adv&pag=dis&ItemId=79852&d=1.
ISET celebrated its 20th anniversary at the 2008 conference in Hollywood, Florida. Attended by leaders in interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, and vascular specialties, this conference provides the most current noninvasive techniques for the diagnosis and treatment of vascular diseases through live case demonstrations. Conference presentations included ground-breaking research on topics such as gender differences in the endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms; outpatient uterine fibroid embolizations; the benefits of treating pregnant women who have DVT; and the use of anti-platelet therapy to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in PAD patients.
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
New Faculty Hires and Promotions: January 23, 2008
Zhen Cheng, PhD, became an assistant professor (research) of radiology and member of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS) in September of 2007. He was an undergraduate at Sichuan University, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. Dr. Cheng also holds an MS from the National Research Center of Isotope Engineering and Technology & China Institute of Atomic Energy and a PhD from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Missouri-Columbia. From 2001 to 2003, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Radiology at Harvard Medical School. His awards include a Young Investigator Travel Scholarship to attend the 2005 Academy of Molecular Imaging Annual Conference and a 1997-1998 graduate fellowship at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Dr. Cheng is currently a member of the Cancer Molecular Imaging Chemistry Laboratory (CMICL) of MIPS where he is developing novel molecular imaging probes and non-invasive techniques for the early detection of cancer and its metastasis. He is also researching the molecular, metabolic, and physiological characteristics of cancers and their responses to therapy by identifying novel cancer biomarkers with significant clinical relevance; by devising new chemistry for the preparation of probes; and by validating new strategies for probes by using high-throughput screening.
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
New Faculty Hires and Promotions: January 23, 2008
Aya Kamaya, MD, was appointed as an assistant professor in the abdominal imaging section of the Radiology Department on October 1, 2007. Since the completion of her fellowship in body imaging at Stanford in 2005, she has been a clinical instructor and clinical assistant professor in the abdominal imaging section at Stanford. During this time, she was given two teaching awards for her outstanding contributions to resident education, compassionate patient care, and research. She is currently the assistant fellowship director of the Stanford Body Imaging Fellowship. Prior to coming to Stanford for her fellowship, she completed her residency in diagnostic radiology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she was awarded the Executive Council Award from the American Roentgen Ray Society for her work on "Color Doppler Twinkling Artifact" and the Laurence A. Mack Research Award from the Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound for her work on "Linear Streak Artifact." She completed medical school at the University of Utah in her hometown of Salt Lake City. As an undergraduate, she double majored in engineering sciences and Asian Studies, securing her two bachelor's degrees at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Her research interests include investigating new ultrasound technologies such as photoacoustic ultrasound, in conjunction with the Electrical Engineering Department at Stanford; liver imaging; and women's imaging. Outside of work, her favorite activities include skiing and snowboarding through powder (her favorite ski resort is Snowbird, UT), as well as running at the Stanford Dish, surfing, and traveling.
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
New Faculty Hires and Promotions: January 23, 2008
Lewis Shin, MD, will be starting as an assistant professor of diagnostic radiology in February 2008. He has been a clinical instructor in our Department since August of 2007 after completing a body imaging fellowship from 2005 to 2007 through our Advanced Techniques for Cancer Imaging Program, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute. Prior to coming to Stanford, he attended Brown University where he received his BS in neuroscience in 1996 and his medical degree in 2000. Dr. Shin completed his internship and residency in diagnostic radiology at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, New York. His research interests include real time MRI airway imaging and body imaging, specifically diffusion-weighted imaging and virtual colonoscopy with CT and MR. Born and raised in New York, his hobbies
include ice hockey and golf.
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
Visiting Faculty: January 18, 2008
Myeong Sub Lee, MD, PhD, and Sun Mi Kim, MD, have been visiting professors of radiology since March of 2007; they will be visiting our Department for one year. Dr. Lee received his PhD from the Department of Anatomy at Korea University of Seoul, Korea, and his MD from Yonsei University, where he is an associate professor in the Department of Radiology at Yonsei Wonju Medical School. His specialty is interventional neuroradiology, and he works with Dr. Marks in the division of interventional neuroradiology at Stanford. After completing her residency and a fellowship at the Asan Medical Center in Seoul, Dr Kim became an assistant professor of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital where she specializes in breast imaging, particularly mammography and ultrasound. Working as a visiting professor at Stanford, Dr. Kim has had the opportunity to interpret breast MRI cases and conduct research with Dr. Bruce Daniel. When they are not working, Drs. Lee and Kim enjoy spending time with their little boy, Jaewon.
Quick Stats: Fastest Growing Modalities (SHC)
Thanks to Darryl Costales, reimbursement manager, for compiling these statistics. Please note that the CT, MR, and mammography exam volumes from 2001 to 2006 were compiled using IDX Rad while the 2007 exam volumes for each of these modalities were compiled using Web Focus.
CT and MR are the two fastest growing modalities at SHC. In 2007, we completed 53,363 CT studies and 18,661 MR exams at SHC, which represent a 62.54%% and 42.88% change in growth, respectively, from 2001.
Digital Portablemania
By John Picard, FACHE, MPA, BSHA, RT(R)
During the month of September 2007, the SHC Radiology Department received delivery of two digital portable x-ray units courtesy of the SHC Emergency Department. These digital units have a screen integrated into the control panel that permits the viewing of images immediately after exposure. While the learning curve for this cutting-edge technology was longer than anticipated, the machines are now in full use. These machines are the first of their kind at SHC and will be used primarily to expedite patient care in the SHC ER. The SHC Radiology Department is very thankful and proud of the partnership with the SHC ER that enabled the acquisition of this technology.
New Faculty Hires and Promotions: January 10, 2008
John MacKenzie, MD, MS, became an acting assistant professor of pediatric radiology and chief of pediatric musculoskeletal imaging at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (LPCH) in September of 2007. At LPCH, he is helping to expand the options for imaging and image-guided interventions for children, and he is excited to be back on the Farm. After completing his Bachelor of Science degree at Stanford with honors in computer science and the biological sciences, Dr. MacKenzie left Stanford for medical school at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, which was initially a culture shock for him. However, Dr. MacKenzie enjoyed the East Coast enough to complete his residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital and two fellowships: a musculoskeletal and body MRI fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and a pediatric radiology fellowship at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. His research interests include molecular imaging applications for bone and joint disorders, and he is currently developing a research program in hyperpolarized carbon-13 imaging with members of Stanford Radiology (Drs. Dan Spielman, Shreyas Vasanawala, and Dirk Mayer) and General Electric (Ralph Hurd and Yi-Fen Yen). When he's not working, you may see him riding his green bike around campus reliving his undergraduate days as well as commuting to and from Caltrain. Dr. MacKenzie lives in San Francisco and enjoys hiking and carpentry; both his father and grandfather were carpenters. A native of Colorado, Dr. MacKenzie is currently teaching his seven-year-old daughter how to ice skate.
Announcements I: January 10, 2008
Special Seminar Series on Radiological Informatics: As part of a special series on radiological informatics, we are offering seminars on Jan. 14th, 23rd, and 28th. Each seminar is at 12 noon in Alway M104 unless otherwise indicated. Please watch future announcements for each seminar's title and abstract. In addition to the three seminars listed below, there will be at least two more talks, which are being scheduled now and will be posted shortly. Please contact Dr. Sandy Napel for more information.
1) Monday, Jan 14th:
James Z. Wang, PhD
Carnegie Mellon University and Pennsylvania State University
Title:
"A Data-Driven Approach Toward Knowledge Discovery and Improving Healthcare"
Abstract:
Radiology and biomedical informatics are revolutionizing healthcare. It has been predicted that a shortage of trained radiologists will continue in the next three decades. Effective computerized tools will therefore be in great demand. Radiology departments today generate an incredibly massive amount of digital medical images and metadata. Conventional PACS search methods allow physicians to locate images using metadata stored in relational databases. Much more can be done to leverage this wealth of data. Using massively parallel computers, we can mine millions of electronic medical records and millions of high-resolution, high-dimensional, multi-spectrum medical images to draw conclusions statistically based on past cases. We need to invent computational methods to harness the breathtaking quantity of digital information effectively and to generate biomedical knowledge at a pace we could not have imagined. In the last decade, my research group attempted to reduce the significant gap between low-level features extracted from images and high-level semantic concepts. Machine learning, statistical modeling, and mathematical tools have been utilized. I will introduce some of our past research results of relevance to the radiology community. Specifically, the talk will cover the SIMPLIcity visual similarity search, the 3-D hidden Markov models for analyzing volume images, the Automatic Linguistic Indexing of Pictures system, and the ontology-based annotation and retrieval of histological images and quantitative phenotypes. In the coming years, I plan to collaborate with radiologists, physicians, and biologists in order to develop indexing, retrieval, and mining algorithms and systems for large amounts of radiological images and patient-specific data.
Biography:
James Z. Wang is currently a visiting professor at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. He is also a tenured faculty member at Pennsylvania State University. He received a summa cum laude bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Minnesota. From Stanford University, Dr. Wang has received an MS in mathematics, an MS in computer science, and a PhD degree in medical information sciences. He has been a recipient of a National Science Foundation (NSF) Career award and the endowed PNC Technologies Career Development Professorship. Research interests of his group include automatic image tagging, semantics-sensitive image retrieval, image security, biomedical informatics, computational aesthetics, story picturing, art image retrieval, and computer vision. The group has published two monographs and more than 20 journal articles. Science media including Discovery News, Scientific American, National Public Radio, and MIT Technology Review, as well as wired news agencies, have reported his research.
2) Wednesday, January 23rd:
Julia Patriarche, PhD
Mayo Clinic
3) Monday, January 28th:
Jianming Liang, PhD
Siemens Medical Solutions
Awards and Honors: January 3, 2008
Yvonne Casillas, RT, RIS/PACS system analyst, received the October Wingspread Award from the former recipient, Linn Dee Barrientos, CRT. The Wingspread Award gives employees the opportunity to recognize who among them has gone above and beyond the fulfillment of his or her usual duties. Wingspread awardees can keep the award for as long as they wish or until they discover another "special performer." Monthly awarding of the Wingspread honor is encouraged as part of the SHC departmental staff meetings. Ms. Casillas grew up in Chicago, the youngest of five children. She graduated from a hospital-based RT program at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, which is not only one of the most recognized trauma departments in the country, but is also the model upon which the fictional hospital of County General Hospital from the NBC serial medical drama "ER" is based. Ms. Casillas added that her experience at Cook County Hospital in Chicago "was truly one of the best experiences I ever had. There was never a dull moment." She also worked for the University of Illinois at Chicago Hospital and Northwestern Memorial Hospital as a CT technologist. She moved to San Francisco from Chicago two years ago and is currently living in Pacifica, which she enjoys because of its proximity to the beach. At Stanford, she has worked as a CT technologist performing CT examinations; assisted physicians during special procedures; and supervised staff. She is currently working in radiology administration as a systems analyst on the newly upgraded RIS/PACS system. She was originally brought on the team to help train users and to build and test the system before its implementation, and she continues to remain as a support for both RIS/PACS applications. Because of her outstanding work in radiology, Ms. Casillas was awarded the Wingspread Award, which is given by one employee to another who has proven that he or she is a "special performer" by demonstrating exemplary performance in areas such as job knowledge; work ethics; communication skills; inter- and intradepartmental relationships; versatility; and judgment. When she is not working, her hobbies include dance, specifically Hula Hoop dance. Her motto is "Think Green!"
A Notable 40th Anniversary
In "Chronic Lung Disease after Premature Birth" from The New England Journal of Medicine (2007 Nov. 8;357(19):1946-1955), Drs. Eugenio Baraldi and Marco Filippone begin their article as follows:
"In 1967, Northway et al. first described a new chronic respiratory disease, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, that developed in premature infants exposed to mechanical ventilation and oxygen supplementation. Two decades later, the same authors found that clinically significant respiratory symptoms and functional abnormalities persisted into adolescence and early adulthood in a cohort of survivors of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, suggesting that lung injuries early in life may have lifelong consequences. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia is now the most common chronic lung disease of infancy in the United States."
For those of you who may not know, Northway is our Bill Northway who did this pioneering work as a junior faculty member in the new Stanford Hospital during the first eight years after it had moved to the campus from San Francisco. His laboratory was at the back end of the basement corridor of the Grant building where I think members of the Siemens group now have their offices. The studies in newborn animals were tedious and difficult, and the animals had to be tended to twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The newborns were exposed to various oxygen concentrations in plastic chambers built by our departmental shop. Henry Kaplan, MD, was chair of radiology, which consisted of the Divisions of Diagnosis, Radiation Therapy, Nuclear Medicine, Radiobiology, and Radiation Physics. Herb Abrams, MD, was chief of diagnosis until the summer of 1967 when he left to become the first tenured chair of radiology at Harvard, leaving me as acting chief for about six months until Frank Zboralske, MD, was hired.
Bill's remarkable work was truly landmark work by a diagnostic radiologist who saw a problem in the infants whose films he reported, took the problem to the laboratory, worked out the cause and the pathology with colleagues in Pathology, and established a new disease entity, which has held up with modification for 40 years. I can not think of a similar contribution by another diagnostic radiologist, but I may be biased by having known him since he was a resident. To read more about Dr. Northway's accomplishments, please see an earlier article on our blog at http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/06/during_his_firs.html. To access the NEJM article by Drs. Eugenio Baraldi and Marco Filippone, please see http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/19/1946.
Stanford Radiology Welcomes Chief Quality and Safety Officer David Hovsepian, MD
Dr. Hovsepian joined our interventional radiology faculty in July of 2007 as an acting professor of radiology and the chief quality and safety officer for our Department. He brings a considerable amount of experience and new ideas in leading our efforts to offer the highest quality of service to our patients and referring physicians.
In 1982, he graduated cum laude from Columbia University in New York, where he received his BA in computer science. He attended medical school at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed his residency at Presbyterian Hospital. Following a two-year fellowship in vascular and interventional radiology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he joined the faculty at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology where he remained for 14 years, rising to the rank of professor of radiology and surgery. During his career, he has participated in the training of over 200 residents and 70 fellows, and he served on his hospital's performance review committee.
Dr. Hovsepian's research interests over the years have included the development of stent-graft technology for the treatment of aortic aneurysms; gynecological interventional radiology, with a current focus on uterine fibroid embolization; the treatment of vascular malformations in children and adults; and the emerging practices of evidence-based and patient-centered radiology. He has received numerous awards, including being named among "Best Doctors in St. Louis," "Best Doctors in America," and "America's Top Doctors."
Dr. Hovsepian has also served on the editorial boards of Radiology and the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, and he is the deputy editor of RSNA News. In addition, he is the past co-chairman of the ACR-RNSA Public Information Website Committee, and he continues to serve on a number of committees for the Society of Interventional Radiology and the Radiological Society of North America. In particular, Dr. Hovsepian's dedication to quality and safety in radiology has grown through his membership on the RSNA Continuous Quality Improvement Initiative Committee, which is charged with developing educational programs and internet-based resources to help radiologists nationwide develop quality and safety programs at their institutions. He will be leading two roundtable discussions on quality at the upcoming annual meeting of the RSNA on Wednesday, November 28th.
As part of his efforts to ensure the highest standards of quality and safety programs in our Department, Dr. Hovsepian has formed the Quality Leadership Committee, which is guiding three pilot projects: improving report turnaround time; ensuring the timely reporting of critical results; and evaluating the impact that the discordance between preliminary and final reports may have on patient care. The committee's next steps include failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), which involves a lengthy series of process review sessions that analyze every step of the workflow to create standard operating procedures (SOP) and to provide education and training. Dr. Hovsepian will be reporting regularly on our quality and safety progress at our faculty meetings.
(Image of Dr. Hovsepian provided by Mark Riesenberger)
Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr. Henry H. Jones
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
"My greatest achievement is that I survived," Dr. Jones said to me after I spoke with him about our "Lifetime Achievement Award." In his 68 years of serving Stanford Radiology, Dr. Henry H. Jones, professor emeritus, has done much more than survive. He has left a long legacy of achievements and a lasting impression on those who have had the opportunity to interact with him.
Born on June 9, 1917, in Altoona, Pennsylvania, he was the second son of Henry O. and Euphemia Heilman Jones. His older brother, Howard, died in infancy. His father was a urologist, and his mother was the superintendent of music for the Altoona school system and, later, was a writer of style reviews and producer of fashion shows for the William F. Gable Department Store. "She was so successful," Dr. Jones told me, "that department stores as far away as Pittsburgh wanted to hire her to produce their style reviews."
After graduating from Haverford College in 1939 with a BA in chemistry, Dr. Jones attended the graduate chemistry program at Harvard. "I spent a year pretending to be a chemist at Harvard and learned that I wasn't really going to be the kind of chemist I wanted to be because I didn't fully comprehend the application of partial differential equations." In 1940, he applied and was accepted to medical school at Yale. In medical school, he was reminded that medicine requires a life time of learning, which is something he had observed throughout his childhood because both his father and grandfather were physicians. "In your first- and second-years of medical school, you realize that what you are learning today you will use for the rest of your life," Dr. Jones remarked. Because of his interest in chemistry and mathematics, Dr. Jones felt a natural affinity for radiology.
At the end of 1941, he was inducted into the army to serve in World War II, but he was assigned back to finish his medical studies. After completing a rotating internship in 1943 at Metropolitan Hospital in New York City and a residency in radiology at Yale in 1946, he served in the army as an instructor at the Army School of Roentgenology at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, where he trained physicians to be radiologists or "90-day wonders," as they were commonly called. "That was a great experience," he told me. "I had just finished my residency in radiology and now I was teaching what I had learned. If you want to learn something, teach it!" After three cycles of training, he was assigned as head of radiology in Bad Constadt, Germany, which was the orthopedic center for the army of occupation.
After his discharge from the army in 1948, he went to speak with the chair of the Radiology Department at Yale, Henry Kaplan, MD, who had taught him during residency and who had recently been hired to head the Stanford Radiology Department. Dr. Jones' reputation preceded him, and it was the impression he had left on Dr. Henry Kaplan that led to his hire at Stanford. "After I was discharged from the army, I was looking for a position as an academic radiologist so I went to talk to Henry Kaplan. I asked him, 'Do you know of any available academic jobs in radiology?' He answered, 'Why? You already have one at Stanford.' It's the only job application I've ever done in my life! It was very inexpensive; I didn't fill out any forms or anything." So, Dr. Jones came to Stanford at the end of June 1948. Because Dr. Kaplan did not leave Yale for Stanford until September, Dr. Jones ran the Department until his arrival. As the only senior, full-time faculty member, he worked 7 days a week for 14 to 16 hours a day, and he taught all the radiology courses until Kaplan arrived in September of 1948.
After 68 years in our Department, he has left an enduring legacy and the results of his life time of learning are reflected in the plaques that line the walls of his office, such as the Robert Reid Newell Memorial Award and the Broad Street Pump Award. Conferred by Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), the Broad Street Pump Award is bestowed upon physicians who apply their medical knowledge in socially responsible ways. Dr. Jones was a founding member of PSR and a leader in the movement to eliminate nuclear war and weapons of mass destruction. "I was very surprised and extremely pleased. I'm delighted to have this award," he commented. Dr. Jones was also the first chief of the radiology service at the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Hospital, and he earned the moniker "Bones Jones" in recognition of his subspecialty regarding the skeletal system. His research focused on the mechanisms governing the growth and modeling of the skeletal system.
Dr. Jones has accumulated a great number of roentgenograms throughout his career, and he has donated them to our departmental resident and medical student teaching library: "I used to teach the bone and joint part of the radiology clerkship, and I have bequeathed the set of films I accumulated through my teaching to the library for use by the medical students and residents. I think it's useful, and it's organized so that people can teach themselves. People do very well teaching themselves by the time they get to medical school. If you can't teach yourself by then you're in deep trouble." The Stanford University Medical Media and Information Technologies (SUMMIT) is compiling his extensive collection of radiographs. For more information on this project, please see http://summit.stanford.edu/pdfs/mediaserver_ts.pdf and http://summit.stanford.edu/pdfs/meadiaserver_tearsheet.pdf. His collection is also featured in Dr. Amy Ladd's Paget's Disease E-Book, which can be viewed at http://paget.stanford.edu/, and he has given several detailed and informative online lectures on bone disease, including one on osteomyelitis (http://osteomyelitis.stanford.edu/pages/hjones.html) and one on osteosarcoma (http://osteosarcoma.stanford.edu/pages/EbookInfo.html).
After retiring on December 31, 2006, he worked part-time until January of 2007. I asked him how he spends his time, and he told me, "I'm reorganizing my film collection, and I'm cleaning my desk, which could take a while. I make a little progress on it, and I come back to find it's grown back again; I don't understand how it piles up, but it does." He also enjoys spending time with his grandchildren, Emmerson (age 11) and Elliott (age 6).
To read more about what our Department was like when Dr. Jones began at Stanford, please see his first-author publication, "A History of the Department of Radiology at Stanford University" published in the American Journal of Roentgenology 1995 Mar;164(3):753-60 (http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/reprint/164/3/753).
"HAPPY DAY!"
Radiology Interest Group at Stanford (RIGS) Initiates Website
The Radiology Interest Group at Stanford (RIGS), along with the Radiology Department and Residency Program, is proud to announce the launch of the RIGS website: http://rigs.stanford.edu.
According to the RIGS website, the Radiology Interest Group at Stanford "is a group of Stanford medical students organized to foster interest in the field of radiology and provide advice to those who wish to pursue radiology as a career. RIGS holds events to provide medical students a better idea of what radiology is and what the various imaging specialties are, to guide those applying to residencies in this field, and to encourage women and minorities to consider a career in radiology; these events also allow medical students the opportunity to meet radiology physicians and residents. In addition, RIGS is a resource for those interested in research opportunities in the field of radiology."
For more information, please contact one of the group's officers: Rebecca Rakow-Penner (rakow@stanford.edu), Bhargav Raman (ramanb@stanford.edu), or Cece Chen (qcece@stanford.edu).
Awards and Honors: November 6, 2007
Linn Dee Barrientos, CRT, clinical instructor of radiology, received the September Stanford Hospital and Clinics Radiology Wingspread Award from the former recipient, Suzanne Campanile, CRT, ARRT, R, M, BS. Because of her outstanding work in diagnostic radiology, Ms. Barrientos was awarded the Wingspread Award, which is given by one employee to another who has proven that he or she is a "special performer" by demonstrating exemplary performance in areas such as job knowledge; work ethics; communication skills; inter- and intradepartmental relationships; versatility; and judgment. The Wingspread Award gives employees the opportunity to recognize who among them has gone above and beyond the fulfillment of his or her usual duties. Wingspread awardees can keep the award for as long as they wish or until they discover another "special performer." Monthly awarding of the Wingspread honor is encouraged as part of the SHC departmental staff meetings.
Ms. Barrientos graduated from Mt. San Antonio College in 1999 with an AA in liberal arts and an AS in radiological sciences after making the Dean's list. In 2007, she graduated cum laude with a BS in Business Management from Menlo College, where she was a member of the Delta Mu Delta International Honor Society of Business Administration. For over four years, Ms. Barrientos has been a full-time radiology technologist at Stanford Hospital and Clinics, where she had the privilege to serve as the day-shift lead technologist and clinical instructor for the Foothill Radiologic Student Program at Stanford. As the lead technologist, she managed the day shift for the diagnostic department, operating room, gastroenterology clinic, emergency department, Blake Wilbur Clinic, orthopedic outpatient clinic for Stanford Hospital, and the Cancer Center. Currently, she is working as a RIS analyst with the Informatics Radiology Team to implement the RIS-IC ImageCast system and to maintain and build support for the database. She has been working on this project for the last 14 months and comments that it is "by far the best opportunity Stanford has offered me. I enjoy the excitement, challenges, and learning opportunities Radiology has to offer." During her free time, she enjoys playing the piano, eating desserts, and tasting full-bodied red wines. Her best friend of seven years is her dog, Rusty.
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
Awards and Honors: October 23, 2007
Garry E. Gold, MD, associate professor of radiology, was recently awarded the President's Medal for Outstanding Research in Bone and Joint Disease at the 2007 meeting of the International Skeletal Society. The President's Medal is given to members of the International Skeletal Society in honor of their outstanding scientific achievements on an international level. Recipients also receive a monetary award to support their research efforts.
The Vol Guy: A Conversation with Volney Van Dalsem, MD, Director of Outpatient Imaging at Sherman Avenue
Dr. Volney Van Dalsem and his wife, Jeanine
Chatting with Dr. Volney Van Dalsem was historical--we were sitting just a few feet away from where he had received his inspiration to become a radiologist 30 years earlier. In S-084 of the Grant building, the site of our staff lunches, Dr. Van Dalsem took his first medical school radiology class from Drs. Henry Jones and Norm Blank to prepare for his first surgery rotation so that he could become a surgeon like his father. And a few months later in an office down the hall, he remembered viewing an arteriogram of a rat kidney with what he characterized as "a geekish longing," and, at that moment, he realized that he wanted to be a radiologist. "What is so wonderful about radiology are the images," he told me. "I love the pictures! So when I saw the X-ray of the rat kidney, I thought 'Oh God, this is so cool; this is really fun!' I think I was the only guy who wanted to go into radiology in my class, but now it's very popular."
I could tell that he liked images because he emailed me several during our chat to show me other famous "Shermans" over the course of time; our center is in good company. As he pointed out to me, one of the earlier "Shermans" was the cartoon character "my boy Sherman" of "The Bullwinkle Show" (1961), which had a talking dog genius named Mister Peabody who had a pet boy named Sherman (http://www.toonopedia.com/peabody.htm). Sherman Avenue is also the namesake for the famous General William Tecumseh Sherman, who was criticized for his "scorched earth" policies (http://ngeorgia.com/ang/William_Tecumseh_Sherman). General Sherman fought in the Civil War and led his troops on the "March to the Sea," in which they basically burned Atlanta to the ground and burned and pillaged their way to Savannah, Georgia. Dr. Van Dalsem assured me that currently, "arson of our competitors doesn't figure prominently in our business plan, but that's only currently. If push comes to shove, we have a model in place." I know he was only kidding, but he did reveal to me that he was the chairman of the bonfire committee when he was an undergraduate at Stanford.
While he contemplated hanging pictures of these two famous "Shermans" in the lobby of Sherman, I asked him about his experience as a resident at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where so many of our faculty were his peers. He told me that when he was at UCSF 30 years ago, the chairman, Alex Margulis, MD, "who is a wonderful person and one of the really great figures in radiology, gathered a group of people around him who were brilliant but still personable, human, and fun. Now, it's 30 years later and it's the same thing. Gary [Glazer] has recruited some wonderful people to Stanford who had been at UCSF with me: Brooke Jeffrey, Bob Herfkens, Graham Sommer, and Rich Barth. So it's been a very comfortable transition for me and everyone has been so very welcoming."
Practicing for 27 years at El Camino, 11 of those as medical director, Dr. Van Dalsem fostered a close relationship with Stanford by working collaboratively on the interpretation of radiology examinations. While he really enjoyed working at El Camino Hospital, Dr. Van Dalsem could not turn down such a great opportunity to lead our Sherman Avenue outpatient imaging center at Stanford. Serving at El Camino has prepared him well for leading our center, and he brings exceptional clinical skills, local knowledge, and administrative expertise to our unique, new efforts in outpatient imaging: "I've had experience with the outside community by trying to provide for the consumers, not just the patients, but also for the physicians and the physicians' offices." While everyone at Stanford has made the transition very smooth and enjoyable for him, Dr. Van Dalsem did note that there were some adjustments he had to make: "I used to go to work in my dockers and scrub shirts, what I call my 'blood and barium' clothes. But here, I have to look vaguely professorial, so I had to go buy Oxford shirts and ties again." He pointed to his shirt and tie, which I noticed had small images of baseball fields that no longer exist.
I asked Dr. Van Dalsem about his goals for developing patient-centered radiology at Sherman. "When you are able to sit down with patients and go over their findings," he said, "it's really very helpful; people can take charge of their care. As radiologists, we have been willing to be very passive by not talking directly to the patient. Obviously, there are caveats. I think you need to be somewhat selective in the information that you give, whom you give it to, and what kind of follow-up you suggest. While we're part of the healthcare team and we share in the care of all patients, you have to remember that there is a bond and trust between a physician and his or her patients that has been built over time, and you don't want to intrude on this trust, so you need to be selective, and you have to tailor the consultation."
At the Sherman Avenue outpatient imaging center, Dr. Van Dalsem does envision direct communication between radiologists and their patients: "It may be possible to have a menu that a patient can choose from so that patients can receive their results by email, or email with a follow-up telephone conversation, or a consultation where they can come in and look at their images and discuss them with one of the radiologists." Toward this goal of developing more patient-centered care, Dr. Van Dalsem has worked locally on the healthcare arm of the Smart Valley Initiative by trying to establish a regional health information organization (RHIO) so that patients can transfer healthcare information among their healthcare providers.
Dr. Van Dalsem would also like to improve patient scheduling at our Sherman center. "I'd really like to try to implement some online system of scheduling so that patients can choose a time that works for them and not the other way around. I know there are scheduling issues, and Radiology is very complex. I think that Sherman will be fairly simple. There are only two modalities, so I think it's going to be easier for us to do something about scheduling. I'd like it to be a pilot for what scheduling in the rest of the Department could become."
In addition to patient care, volunteerism is also very important to Dr. Van Dalsem. He is currently the president of the California Radiological Society (CRS), and he is very involved in the American College of Radiology (ACR). His commitment is a way of "ensuring the quality and viability of the specialty," he told me. "I'm just so impressed with the leadership of the ACR and the physicians who care enough about the specialty that they are willing to put in extra time to maintain the quality and integrity of diagnostic imaging. I feel very privileged to be involved in the CRS and the ACR."
Given his commitment to volunteerism, it's fitting that he has a picture of "The Vol Guy" taped to his office door. "The Vol Guy" is the Vols (or "Volunteers") quarterback from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville football team. As a former Cal graduate, I couldn't resist asking about the Cal-Stanford Big Game, and I knew that he would probably appreciate, and maybe even welcome, a question about the Big Game because he was a former Stanford rugby player (he broke his left ulna in a rugby match weeks before his San Francisco General Hospital [SFGH] internship). Here's the X-ray of his fracture that he gave me to include with this article. 
"Last year, they [Cal] kicked us around, but that's okay because every year, we have a couple more Nobel Prize winners, and we kicked Cal's XXXX in rugby routinely when I played for Stanford," he told me. "Even though I went to Cal's radiology program [UCSF], I still bleed Cardinal red, but I hate the tree. I do enjoy the band, though."
He met his wife of 33 years, Jeanine, at Stanford when she was a psychology major. She now does interior design. Although neither his son, Matt, nor his daughter, Kate, went to Stanford, Kate works at Stanford in travel/study in the Alumni Department. She is a University of California, Santa Barbara, graduate who may return to school for her degree in landscape architecture. His son, Matt, went to the University of California, Los Angeles, and then to Pepperdine for his MBA. He currently works in media marketing.
At the end of the interview, Dr. Van Dalsem did leave me with some words of wisdom, the same wisdom he shared with his children many times when they were growing up: "There is always going to be someone who is better, stronger, smarter, faster, and funnier than you, but don't ever let anyone outwork you or be nicer than you. Besides, if you're nice, you can get away with almost anything."
New Faculty Hires and Promotions: October 8, 2007
Patrick Barnes, MD, became a professor of radiology on September 1, 2007. Dr. Barnes received his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where he was also a resident. After completing his residency, he became a fellow in pediatric neuroradiology and cardiovascular radiology at Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in Boston, Massachusetts. Before coming to Stanford in 2000, he was an associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School and director of neuroradiology and MRI at the Boston Children's Hospital. At Stanford, he has been the section chief of pediatric neuroradiology and the medical director, MRI/CT, at Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital since 2002. He was chosen as the Senior Faculty of the Year for 2002-2003, 2004-2005, and 2005-2006 for his outstanding contributions to resident education, compassionate patient care, and research. Dr. Barnes has provided outstanding clinical, educational, and administrative leadership for the Neuroradiology and Pediatric Radiology Programs in the Department of Radiology, and he continues to help build the Developmental Neuroscience Program in the Department and at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
New Staff Hires and Promotions: October 3, 2007
Pam Hertz, RVT, joined our Department on August 6, 2007, as the new research veterinary nurse. She earned her certificate and diploma as a licensed registered veterinary technician in June of 1999 from Foothill College. Prior to coming to Stanford, she had been working in small animal veterinary practices since 1996. Her immediate supervisor will be Wendy Baumgardner, RVT, LATg, who will train her in the various areas of animal research and policy. Ms. Hertz says that she looks "forward to working with and learning from Wendy; she has been a great teacher." In her time off, she enjoys snow skiing, day hikes, golfing (she still needs lots of practice), and spending time with family and friends. Although she does not have any pets of her own now, she enjoys spending time with her friends' pets.
Celebrating 15 Years of Service: Keshni Kumar
Keshni Kumar, CRT, has worked at Stanford University for 15 years. At seventeen years of age, she began volunteering at Stanford Hospital and Clinics (SHC), when Dr. Rubin was a resident, to get exposure to the hospital environment. She attended Foothill College and Santa Clara University, and she graduated as a radiologic technologist. She has been working for Stanford Hospital and Clinics since 1992. Soon after, she was the lead technologist at Cowell Student Health Center (currently the Vaden Health Clinic) for two years and then served as the senior CT technologist at SHC for seven years. During Technologist Week, she won the Employee of the Year Award, which was a trip to Hawaii. She is now one of the top producers of the 3D lab, where she has been a radiologist assistant for three years. Ms. Kumar takes pride in her work: "I am very proud of how I contribute to patient care, which is why I still work at the Hospital as a relief CT technologist twice a month. I love challenging and intriguing new technologies." Her hobbies include teaching, running, hiking, and cooking.
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
Mobile CT
By John Picard, FACHE, MPA, BSHA, RT(R)
On August 8, 2007, a mobile CT scanner located in the Stanford Hospital and Clinics (SHC) emergency room parking lot scanned its first patient. The scanner, a GE 16-detector Lightspeed from Mobile Interim Solutions, has since scanned over 450 patients within its first 30 days of operation.
The mobile scanner was brought in to provide supplemental outpatient-only scanning capacity while the Hospital replaces the CT Room 2 scanner with a 64-detector scanner. This replacement project will take approximately 15 weeks with an end date of mid-December 2007. The scanner is run by a registered technologist, registered nurse, and a dedicated technologist assistant. The hours of operation are 8 AM to 8 PM, Monday through Friday.
For more information, please contact John Picard, SHC radiology clinical director, at
(650) 725-6342.
Awards and Honors: September 12, 2007
Suzanne Campanile, CRT, ARRT, R, M, BS, mammography and breast sonography technologist, received the June Stanford Hospital and Clinics Radiology Wingspread Award from the former recipient, Teresa Nelson, CRT. Ms. Campanile was awarded the June Wingspread Award for her outstanding work in mammography and breast sonography. The award is given by one employee to another who has proven that he or she is a "special performer" by demonstrating exemplary performance in areas such as job knowledge; work ethics; communication skills; inter- and intradepartmental relationships; versatility; and judgment. Born in Burlingame, California, Ms. Campanile resides in Belmont with her husband and three children. In 1983, Ms. Campanile graduated with honors, receiving her AS degree from Canada College's Radiology Technology Program where she was awarded the Samuel Elkins Award for academic achievement. Ms. Campanile worked at Kaiser Permanente in Redwood City for four years before beginning her career at Stanford in July of 1987. After working for a brief time in diagnostic radiology, Ms. Campanile became the lead technologist in the gastrointestinal section. She then completed CT training and became the initial X-ray technologist for the Cowell Student Health Center, which is now the Vaden Health Center. After passing her mammography boards in 1994, Ms. Campanile shifted her focus to mammography. She has recently passed the ARRT board exam in breast sonography, and she is currently a mammographer and breast sonographer in the breast imaging section. The Wingspread Award gives employees the opportunity to recognize who among them has gone above and beyond the fulfillment of his or her usual duties. Wingspread awardees can keep the award for as long as they wish or until they discover another "special performer." Monthly awarding of the Wingspread honor is encouraged as part of the SHC departmental staff meetings.
Identity of Former Exorcist Movie Star, Dr. X, Revealed
Thank you for your patience and your guesses regarding Dr. X's identity in our previous article, "Former Exorcist Movie Star, Dr. X, Tells All"
(http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/05/former_exorcist.html).
Yes, it is our own Dr. Barton Lane, chief of neuroradiology at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Palo Alto, California, who played the anonymous role of Regan's radiologist in The Exorcist (1973). Please find more pictures from his movie debut below! You can also view a short clip from his angiography scene by clicking on the following link: http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog_exorcist/.
Dr. Barton Lane (l) with Dr. Norman Chase (r), the chief of New York University (NYU) Medical Center when Dr. Lane was a neuroradiology fellow
Dr. Barton Lane (l) with his twin brother, Clinton (r)
Inside Terrorism: the X-ray Project
"The idea for 'Inside Terrorism' began to coalesce in my mind in 2002 as a personal response to terrorism and to my discomfort with the way terrorism has been justified in some circles. This is a documentary of survivors of terrorism," remarked Diane Covert, the artist who created "Inside Terrorism: the X-ray Project." Sponsored by the Radiology Interest Group at Stanford (RIGS) along with various co-sponsors, this exhibit will be showing at the Fairchild Auditorium from September 4-15.
The images of "Inside Terrorism: the X-ray Project" are striking and emotional but, at the same time, are devoid of graphic imagery such as that depicted in Francisco Goya's images of war or Mathew Brady's photographs of the Civil War. We are shown pieces of survivors in CT scans and X-rays with titles like "Smashed Arm," "Damaged Leg," and "Broken Foot." The medium of X-ray and CT, however, makes the horror seem a step removed from the truly gritty and bloody reality of war wounds.
The mundane is made bizarre with images such as "Hex Nut in Brain," "Nail in Arm," and "Watch in Neck." Terrorists often create bombs using common objects, such as hex bolts, nuts, nails, and watches, that were meant for peaceful, utilitarian purposes. These unusual images are the by-products of terrorism's war on civilians.
The images of "Inside Terrorism: the X-ray Project" are displayed on four-sided kiosks, illuminated from the inside, and as standard wall-hung pieces. The CT and X-ray images are of victims of terrorist attacks from the two largest hospitals in Jerusalem, but they could be from anywhere--London, Madrid, New York, Lebanon, etc.
The artist, Diane Covert, described her choice of this unusual medium as follows: "Photography is a way of making an image by drawing with the very light that the objects reflect, so when we look at photographs from the Civil War battlefield of Antietam, we see something very close to the horror of the scenes as they appeared to the photographer. We see records of actual events. Modern medicine draws not with the visible light spectrum used in photography, but with electromagnetic radiation--X-rays and CT scans--and with this we can see inside the human body."
The opening reception for the exhibit is on September 4 from 5:30 PM-7:30 PM. To view the exhibit online, please go to http://www.x-rayproject.org.
Awards and Honors: August 13, 2007
Pat Basu, MD, MBA, diagnostic radiology resident, has received two honors: the American Medical Association (AMA) Jordan Fieldman, MD, Resident and Fellow Section Award and election to the Graduate Medical Education Committee. The Jordan Fieldman, MD, Award is named after Dr. Jordan Fieldman, who was an active voice for physicians during his residency and who passed away prematurely in 2004. Each year, the Fieldman Award is bestowed upon one resident physician who has demonstrated efforts in health advocacy and in improving the medical environment for physicians and their patients. The award winner receives funding to attend the two national annual AMA meetings and to give a presentation on the importance of health advocacy and an update on his/her own efforts. Dr. Basu was also one of five residents to be elected by residents and fellows to the Graduate Medical Education Committee for a one-year term. Along with attending physician representatives from each department in the School of Medicine, the Committee reviews and votes on all aspects of residency education such as resident/fellow benefits, hours, and education.
Quick Stats: New 2008 Project Updates
Thanks to Rich Barth, MD; Ann Leung, MD; and John Picard, CHE, MPA, BSHA, RT(R) for these updates.
Quick Stats: New 2007 Project Updates
Thanks to Susan Eaton; Deb Ikeda, MD; Ann Leung, MD; John Picard, CHE, MPA, BSHA, RT(R); and Linda Rodriguez for these updates.
Nobel Symposium, "Watching Life through Molecular Imaging," Co-Hosted by Drs. Gambhir and Ringertz
The first Nobel Symposium to focus exclusively on molecular imaging was held at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, from May 6 to 9, 2007. The conference featured world-renowned experts who addressed the increasing importance of molecular imaging for visualizing the biological processes in living organisms at the cellular and molecular levels. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, a pioneer in the field of molecular imaging, was selected to coordinate and host "Watching Life through Molecular Imaging" along with Hans Ringertz, MD, PhD, visiting professor of radiology at Stanford and professor emeritus of radiology at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Dr. Ringertz has been a member of the Nobel Assembly for Medicine and Physiology since 1986, and he was chair of the Nobel Assembly in 2003.
Drs. Gambhir (left) and Schwaiger (right)
"Watching Life through Molecular Imaging" featured an impressive list of speakers including Elias Zerhouni, MD, director of the National Institutes of Health, who delivered the opening address on the role of imaging in transforming medicine. The keynote speaker was the original inventor of positron emission tomography (PET), Michael E. Phelps, PhD, professor and chair of molecular and medical pharmacology as well as director of the Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Phelps addressed molecular imaging with PET in molecular diagnostics and molecular therapies.
Dr. Zerhouni delivers the opening address.
Other distinguished speakers included one of the co-developers of the combined PET/CT scanner, David W. Townsend, PhD, professor of medicine and radiology as well as director of the Cancer Imaging and Tracer Development Research Program at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Along with Dr. Ronald Nutt, president of CPS Innovations, Dr. Townsend developed the combined PET/CT scanner, which was named by Time magazine as the medical invention of the year 2000. Also among the conference presenters were Stanford scientists Craig Levin, PhD, associate professor of radiology (nuclear medicine), and Christopher Contag, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics (neonatology), associate professor of microbiology & immunology, and associate professor of radiology.
Drs. Townsend, Levin, and Contag
In his closing remarks, Dr. Gambhir noted the rapid development and immense promise of molecular imaging to provide tools for the far earlier detection of cancer and the assessment of therapy response. Specifically, he praised the interesting results in hyperpolarized MRI; the improvements in imaging agents; the importance of nanotechnology; and the increase in signal amplification. His closing remarks also addressed a myriad of new breakthroughs made possible by molecular imaging such as an increased understanding of brain biology, particularly in the areas of addiction and Alzheimer's disease.
Simultaneously, Dr. Gambhir stressed that the field needs molecular imaging and "morphologic and anatomical imaging to advance" together. A main theme of his closing remarks and the conference was the importance of unifying across multiple modalities and disciplines to encourage drug development; consortium activities for sharing imaging biomarkers; and clinical translation. "We need to start unifying principles even in the complex environment of tumor biology," Dr. Gambhir asserted, "by looking at the relationships between components of a system."
Dr. Norbert Pelc's Research Featured in AuntMinnie.com
Our Department's innovative research on volumetric inverse geometry CT (IGCT), directed by Dr. Pelc, ScD, was recently featured in an AuntMinnie.com article, "Inverse-Geometry CT Project Promises Higher Image Quality, Fewer Artifacts," by Eric Barnes (http://www.auntminnie.com/index.asp?Sec=sup&Sub=cto&Pag=dis&ItemId=76261).
Current multi-detector-row CT systems are unable to acquire volumes thicker than 4 cm in a single rotation, which impedes the imaging of larger organs, such as the heart, in a single rotation. The extension of this technology to image thick volumes has fundamental limitations. By using