Research

National Radiologic Technology Week: Nov. 8-14, 2009

By Stanford Imaging Services

During National Radiologic Technology Week (NRTW), an annual recognition established by the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT), we celebrate the great advances in radiologic technologies that have been made since the discovery of the X-ray on November 8, 1895.

The week of November 8-14th, we proudly celebrate all employees of Stanford's world-renowned Department of Radiology for continually providing outstanding care. Offering the best diagnostic imaging services and expertise while utilizing state-of-the-art technology, this Department never fails to demonstrate extraordinary teamwork by all its dedicated medical professionals. For more than one-hundred years, Stanford Radiology has made a difference in the lives of patients and their families, while continuing to . . .

make important contributions to medical and surgical advances. This hardworking Department, in this ever-growing Stanford community, continues to lead imaging-based research, patient care, and education. This year in particular, the Stanford Radiology Department has pioneered transformations in several areas. These significant advances, along with our teamwork and excellence in patient care, make our Department unique among radiologic service providers and serve as an inspiration to our patients.

Furthering our clinical imaging enterprise, we unveiled two new outpatient centers this year: Stanford Medicine Imaging Center in Palo Alto and Stanford Medicine Outpatient Center in Redwood City. Focused on patient comfort, both of our Centers have been designed to ease the tensions associated with health problems through innovative approaches to reduce anxiety such as promoting a calming environment; utilizing beautiful architecture; and employing a patient-centric approach to healthcare delivery. With the added imaging capacity of both centers, we have accelerated our delivery of outpatient care, while providing imaging services with the most advanced technology available. By constantly innovating, we have placed ourselves in a continual state of technological advancement.

Additionally, we have completely rebuilt our Nuclear Medicine Clinic on the 2nd floor of Stanford Hospital and Clinics (SHC). After years of planning, the anticipated opening of the Clinic is July 2010. In addition to two new state-of-the-art PET/CT 64 slice systems, the design also includes a Radiochemistry Lab and a Health Physics Workshop. The work flow of patients will dramatically improve with the centrally located design and features.

Stanford Radiology Imaging Services by Location:

Blake Wilbur

• CT


• MRI


• Comprehensive Diagnostic Digital Radiography


• PET/CT


• Ultrasound

Stanford Medicine Imaging Center, Palo Alto

• CT


• MRI

Stanford Hospital and Clinics

• CT


• MRI


• Magnetic Resonance Therapy


• Nuclear Medicine


• Comprehensive Diagnostic Digital Radiography


• Ultrasound


• Angiography/Interventional Radiology


• (PET/CT Planned for 2010)

• Comprehensive Diagnostic Digital Radiography


• Full-Field Digital Mammography


• Computer-Aided Detection Program for Screening Mammography


• Stereotactic Core Biopsy Program


• Ultrasound

Stanford Medicine Outpatient Center, Redwood City

• CT


• MRI


• Diagnostic Digital Radiography


• Ultrasound


• Bone Densitometry

Dr. William Kuo and Colleagues Reveal Lifesaving Treatment for Pulmonary Embolism

Dr. William Kuo was recently featured in a Stanford Medicine News article and national press release entitled "Study Reveals Life-Saving Treatment for Pulmonary Embolism." Dr. Kuo discussed the results from his study published in the November 2009 issue of the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (20(11):1431-1440). Analyzing global data regarding the use of catheter-directed therapy for massive PE, he and his colleagues discovered that the therapy was life-saving in 86.5% of the 594 cases they studied. Dr. Kuo published his findings along with co-authors Lawrence Hofmann, MD, associate professor and chief of cardiovascular-interventional radiology; Daniel Sze, MD, associate professor of radiology; John Louie, MD, assistant professor of radiology; Jarrett Rosenberg, PhD, statistician; and Michael Gould, MD, associate professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine. The full Stanford press release can be accessed here: http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2009/october/embolism.html.

Dr. Gary M. Glazer and Colleagues Use Image-Guided Insonification for Tumor Biomarker Detection

Emma Pfeiffer Merner Professor in the Medical Sciences and chair of the Department of Radiology, Gary M. Glazer, MD, led a team of researchers in a ground-breaking study recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), "A Strategy for Blood Biomarker Amplification and Localization Using Ultrasound," in which they apply low-frequency ultrasound directly to tumor cells, causing the release of significant amounts of biomarker measurable in the blood. Simultaneously, they provide a method for the localization of biomarker production by showing that this release of biomarkers is specific to the direct application of ultrasound to the tumor. Their research is featured in a recent Stanford news article by Bruce Goldman, "Researchers Use Ultrasound to Better Detect Tumor Biomarkers."

Dr. Glazer published his study along with co-author, Sanjiv "Sam" Gambhir, MD, PhD, Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Professor of Radiology & Bioengineering; chief of the Nuclear Medicine Division; and director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), as well as first author Aloma D'Souza, PhD, research scientist and member of the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab. Other co-authors include Kim Butts Pauly, PhD, professor of radiology; Samira Guccione, PhD, assistant professor of radiology; and staff scientists Jeffrey Tseng, MD (now at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in California) and Jarrett Rosenberg, PhD, of the radiology department.

Center for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technology Receives a Perfect "10"

The Stanford Radiological Sciences Laboratory (RSL) and the Department of Electrical Engineering's Magnetic Resonance Systems Research Laboratory (MRSRL) received renewal of their NIH P41 Grant for the Center for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technology at Stanford (CAMRT). In its fifteenth year of existence, the CAMRT’s perfect grant score extends its funding through its twentieth year.

Awards and Honors II: October 9, 2009

Kim Butts Pauly, PhD, associate professor of radiology and of Bioengineering (by courtesy), was recently elected to the board of the International Society for Therapeutic Ultrasound (ISTU) for a period of three years. The ISTU is a non-profit organization "founded in 2001 to increase and diffuse knowledge of therapeutic ultrasound to the scientific and medical community, and to facilitate the translation of therapeutic ultrasound techniques into the clinical arena for the benefit of patients worldwide." 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.

Awards and Honors I: October 9, 2009

Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (cardiology) and radiology, was one of four Stanford scientists to receive a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Transformative R01 Award designed to "support exceptionally innovative, high risk, original and/or unconventional research projects that have the potential to create or overturn fundamental paradigms."

According to a recent Office of Communication & Public Affairs article, Dr. Wu's award will support his research regarding "ways to keep the body from rejecting human embryonic stem cells. For many years, researchers assumed that these undifferentiated building blocks would be ignored by the body's defense system. Wu's recent research in mice shows that this is not the case. 'It's getting harder and harder to believe that these cells are immunoprivileged,' said Wu. 'Now we need to know what to do about it.'" He will use his award to devise ways to "coax the immune system to tolerate the foreign cells, allowing them to regenerate or heal damaged tissues" (from "Stanford Nabs 13 Top NIH Awards for High-Stakes Research" by Krista Conger, Erin Digitale, Bruce Goldman, David Orenstein, Ruthann Richter, and Tracie White; download PDF at Stanford Nabs 13 Top NIH Awards for High-Stakes Research.pdf). To learn more about Dr. Wu's research, please access the Cardiovascular Gene and Cell Therapy Lab website at http://mips.stanford.edu/research/lab?lab%5fid=2883.

Oldest Person Scanned at Stanford by Dr. Fahrig

(Images courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)

By Julie Ruiz, PhD

On August 20th, Rebecca Fahrig, PhD, directed the CT scanning of a 2,500-year-old mummy of the Egyptian Priest Iret-net Hor-irw. The high resolution CT scans were taken of the mummy in the AxiomLab and will be used . . .

to construct three-dimensional images of his skeleton to learn more about the mummy's life and death.

To acquire more information about the mummy's amulets, a second scanning procedure was completed at Stanford Medicine Imaging Center, Palo Alto, (SMIC) with a dual-energy CT scanner that differentiates between different materials. Through these scans, scientists hope to learn more about the substances used in the mummification process as well as in the composition of the amulets.

The mummy has been a resident of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco since 1917 and will be part of an upcoming show at the Legion of Honor Museum in an exhibition entitled, "Very Postmortem: Mummies and Medicine," which opens on Oct. 31, 2009. This exhibition is organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco with the cooperation of the Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium, Stanford Radiology, and Stanford Medicine Imaging Center. Additional project assistance has been provided by the Stanford Division of Anatomy, eHuman Inc., and Fovia Inc. To read more about the mummy, please access "The Mummy Speaks: Detailed Scans at Stanford Help Reveal the Secrets of an Ancient Egyptian Priest" and "Mummy to Be Scanned at Stanford at Aug. 20."

This is Dr. Fahrig's second time scanning a mummy. In 2005, she led the team who scanned a 2,000-year-old mummy of a four- or five-year old girl (nicknamed Sherit, or "little one") from the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose. To read more about Dr. Fahrig's work, please access "Radiologists as Artists: Critics Love Mummy Scans"; "Mummy's Inner Secrets Revealed"; "The Latest in X-Rays: A 'Mummogram'?"; and "It's a Girl: Digital Unwrapping Reveals a Little Mummy's Secrets."

Research by Dr. Wu and Colleagues Induces Fat Cells to Become iPS Cells

In a recently published paper, "Feeder-Free Derivation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from Adult Human Adipose Stem Cells," senior author Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (cardiology) and radiology, and his colleagues describe how they reprogrammed fat cells (collected from adults undergoing liposuction) to become pluripotent stem (iPS) cells for use in tissue regeneration and disease research. According to Dr. Wu, "Fibroblasts, or skin cells, must be grown in the lab for three weeks or more before they can be reprogrammed. But these stem cells from fat are ready to go right away"(from "'Liposuction Leftovers' Easily Converted to iPS Cells, Study Shows" by Krista Conger http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2009/september/fat-cells.html or Download file.

Please click here to access the full research article "Feeder-Free Derivation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from Adult Human Adipose Stem Cells," (published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 2009;106(37):15720-15725 http://www.pnas.org/content/106/37/15720.full.pdf) by Dr. Wu and his colleagues, which include co-author Michael Longaker, MD, professor of surgery (plastic/recon surgery) and (by courtesy) of bioengineering and first author Ning Sun, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in the Cardiovascular Gene and Cell Therapy Lab.

Visiting Scholar Ronald M. Summers, MD, PhD

Stanford Radiology welcomes Ronald M. Summers, MD, PhD, who is on sabbatical leave from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Department of Radiology where he serves as chief of the clinical image processing service and directs the Imaging Biomarkers and Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) Laboratory.

Dr. Summers received his BA degree in physics and his MD and PhD degrees in medicine/anatomy & cell biology from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed a medical internship at the Presbyterian-University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, PA; a radiology residency at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI; and an MRI fellowship at Duke University, Durham, NC.

In 1994, he joined the Diagnostic Radiology Department at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD, where he is now a tenured senior investigator and staff radiologist. His clinical areas of specialty are thoracic and gastrointestinal radiology as well as body cross-sectional imaging, and his research interests include virtual colonoscopy, CAD, and the development of large radiologic image databases. Dr. Summers is a co-chair of the Computer-Aided Diagnosis Program and program committee member of the Biomedical Applications Section of the annual Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Medical Imaging Conference. His many awards and honors include the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, which was presented to him in 2000 by Dr. Neal Lane, former President Clinton's science advisor. In addition, Dr. Summers has co-authored over 190 journal publications, review articles, and conference proceedings, and he is a co-inventor on eight patents. In his spare time, Dr. Summers enjoys traveling and photography.

Awards and Honors II: September 23, 2009

Scott W. Atlas, MD, professor and chief of neuroradiology and senior fellow at both the Hoover Institution and Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies, has received an international honor on September 12, 2009, at the Annual Meeting of the Sociedade de Radiologia de Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil, for his "important contributions to radiology and to education in Brazil."

Dr. Atlas is recognized as a world leader in both education and clinical research and has been on the Nominating Committee for the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for several years. His research has centered on advanced applications of new MRI technologies in neurologic diseases, and he has authored more than 120 scientific publications in leading journals. Dr. Atlas is also the editor of the best-selling textbook Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain and Spine, which was recently released in its 4th edition and officially translated from English into Mandarin, Spanish, and Portuguese. He is also editor, associate editor, and an editorial board member of numerous scientific journals, and he has been a member of the boards of many major national and international scientific societies over the past decade. In recognition of his leadership in the field, Dr. Atlas has received many awards and honors. He has been named by his peers in The Best Doctors in America every year since its initial publication, as well as in regional listings, such as The Best Doctors in New York, Silicon Valley's Best Doctors, and other similar publications. He recently received the Alumni 2008 Comeback Award from his alma mater, the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

In addition, Dr. Atlas' work includes investigations into the effects of the changing healthcare marketplace on technology-based innovations in medicine, and he has lectured throughout the world on a variety of topics, most notably advances in MRI of the brain, and the key economic issues related to the future of such technology-based advances. During the 2008 Presidential Campaign, Dr. Atlas was a senior advisor for health care and the coordinator of the Health Policy Team for one of the major U.S. presidential candidates. At the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies, he has particular interests in the evolving healthcare system of emerging economies, and he recently received a Fulbright Award to collaborate with Chinese academic leaders on structuring healthcare solutions for China. Dr. Atlas has also participated with leaders from government and academia on the World Bank's Commission on Growth and Development, and he is an adviser to major industry leaders in medical technology.

To read his prior blog articles, please access "Awards and Honors: March-April 2007"; "Awards and Honors: September 29, 2008"; "Sanford/Atlas: Alternatives to Government Health Takeover"; "Dr. Atlas' Commentary on Our Healthcare System Featured in The Washington Times"; and "Commentary by Dr. Atlas: 'Mr. Health Care: Ted Kennedy's Lifelong Passion' and 'Why Are These Health Care Fixes Ignored?'"

Awards and Honors I: September 23, 2009

Guillem Pratx, PhD, doctoral candidate in electrical engineering and member of the Molecular Imaging Instrumentation Laboratory, recently published an article in Physics in Medicine and Biology entitled "Bayesian Reconstruction of Photon Interaction Sequences for High-Resolution PET Detectors," which has been selected as a Featured Article by the editors of the Institute of Physics Journals. Dr. Pratx's article was chosen for its "novelty, high level of interest and potential impact on future research." To view his article, please access http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/-featured=jnl/0031-9155/54/17/001.

Dr. Pratx completed his undergraduate work in engineering at the Ecole Centrale in Paris, France. At Stanford (MIPS), he is completing his dissertation esearch, which centers on the development of practical algorithms hat exploit graphics processing units (GPU) for fast medical image reconstruction in ultra-high resolution PET systems under development at the University. For more details regarding his biography, please see Dr. Pratx's earlier award postings by accessing "Awards and Honors: August 2, 2007"; " Awards and Honors: December 17, 2007"; "Awards and Honors II: December 5, 2008"; and "Awards and Honors II: July 18, 2008."

Medical Imaging: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Dr. Pat Basu's article "Medical Imaging: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly" was recently featured in Kaiser Health News and addresses the optimization of medical imaging. To read his article, please access http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Columns/2009/August/081309Basu.aspx or Download file.

2009 Fourth Annual Japanese Technologist Summer Training Program

By Mike Moseley, PhD

(photo courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)

From August 3rd-7th, Stanford Radiology held its fourth annual Japanese Technologist Summer Training Program, a joint educational program in partnership with the Japanese Society of Radiological Technology (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, a tour of SMIC, shopping, and biking. For the brave of the bunch, Dr. Deb Ikeda once again led a dawn charge up to the Stanford Dish. 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 our speakers and to everyone who spent so much time and effort to make this an ongoing success.

Awards and Honors: August 11, 2009

Sandra Rodriguez, BS R(RT)(MR), MR research technologist, has been awarded the UPS Foundation Scholarship from the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. This scholarship is awarded on a competitive basis to assist students, who have a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0, in obtaining their educational objectives. Ms. Rodriguez earned her Bachelor of Science in Health Administration (BSHA) in an online program through the University of Phoenix in September of 2008. She is currently enrolled in the Master's Program in Health Administration and will receive her degree in November 2010. As an MRI technologist at the Lucas Center, Ms. Rodriguez helps users set-up for their studies and facilitates their scans, providing support whenever necessary. She also does quality assurance on our three scanners and makes sure they are running smoothly. In her free time, Ms. Rodriguez enjoys cardio kickboxing; reading; and trying to keep up with a teenage girl (her daughter).

For her prior awards listings, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/04/awards_and_hono_35.html and http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/04/awards_and_hono_1.html.

Awards and Honors: July 28, 2009

Avnesh S. Thakor, MA, MB Bchir, PhD, a visiting scholar in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab, has been awarded an American Cancer Society International Fellowship for Beginning Investigators (ACSBI) from the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) for his research on Raman spectroscopy using SERS nanoparticles. One goal of ACSBI fellowships is to foster a bi-directional flow of research knowledge, experience, expertise, and innovation between countries. Dr. Thakor was awarded ACSBI fellowship for his research on Raman spectroscopy using SERS nanoparticles.

Dr. Thakor completed his PhD, in oxidative stress and vascular physiology, and his medical degree at the University of Cambridge. Currently, he is pursuing an MSc in cancer therapeutics at the University of London during his radiology residency. At Stanford, Dr. Thakor is applying his knowledge in oxidative stress and vascular biology to the molecular imaging of tumor biology. He has 20 published articles and over 30 peer-reviewed abstracts. In addition to the American Cancer Society International Fellowship, Dr. Thakor has received numerous other honors, including a 2009 European Association for Cancer Research Fellowship, 2008 British Institute of Radiology Philips Fellowship, and 2008 PEEL Medical Research Award.

Awards and Honors: July 24, 2009

John Ronald, PhD, a post doctoral scholar in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab (MMIL), has received a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Fellowship, which is a three-year award that provides support for highly qualified candidates to complete health research either in Canada or abroad. Dr. Ronald received the Fellowship for his proposal, "Multimodality Cell Trafficking Imaging Using Optical Bioluminescent Imaging, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)."

Dr. Ronald received his BSc in physiology from the University of Western Ontario (UWO), graduating with honors. He remained at UWO to complete his MSc in anatomy and cell biology and his PhD thesis, "Magnetic Resonance Imaging Characterization of a Cholesterol-Fed Rabbit Model of Atherosclerosis and Alzheimer's Disease," in medical biophysics. Prior to coming to Stanford in June of 2009, Dr. Ronald was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Western Ontario in anatomy and cell biology. As a member of the MMIL, Dr. Ronald researches new techniques for improving the ability to non-invasively track cells or cell products in various diseases, particularly atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer.

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Fellowship is just one of his many awards, which include the 2009 Canadian Governor General's Academic Gold Medal. He has also published over 10 peer-reviewed papers and more than 25 peer-reviewed abstracts.

In addition to his research, Dr. Ronald enjoys traveling, reading, poker, movies, golf, soccer, and rollerblading.

Awards and Honors: July 23, 2009

Qizhen Cao, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in the Molecular Imaging Probe Laboratory, received a Travel Award to attend the 56th Society of Nuclear Medicine's Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada from June 13th to June 17th, where she presented her study, "Phage Display Peptide Probes for Imaging Early Response to Antiangiogenic Treatment." Because her project demonstrates novel advances in molecular imaging, Dr. Cao's abstract was also chosen for presentation at the Basic Science Summary Session of the SNM. She received her PhD in molecular and immunological pharmacology from the Peking University Health Science Center in China, where she specialized in tumor angiogenesis and anti-angiogenesis therapy. In 2005, she joined Dr. Shawn Chen's laboratory, where she develops molecular imaging probes for the treatment monitoring and target therapy of tumor angiogenesis.

Awards and Honors: July 21, 2009

Anne Marie Sawyer, BS, RT(R)(MR), manager of the MR Whole Body Research Systems at the Richard M. Lucas Center for Imaging, has been appointed as member of the Food and Drug Administration's Circulatory System Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee. The Circulatory System Devices Panel "reviews and evaluates data concerning the safety and effectiveness of marketed and investigational devices for use in the circulatory and vascular systems and makes appropriate recommendations to the Commissioner of Food and Drugs." Ms. Sawyer was appointed to this panel in recognition of her enduring contributions to the safe and efficient operation of MR systems.

She began her career in magnetic resonance imaging in September of 1985 as . . .

an MR applications specialist for GE Medical Systems providing education on-site for customers with new installations and system upgrades. In 1987 and 1990, respectively, she served as supervisor (MR) and then manager (MR, CT, X-ray, nuclear medicine, and mammography) for applications specialists in the western region of the United States. In 1991, Ms. Sawyer became a member of MR Advanced Applications and Customer Support at GE Medical Systems headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where her primary responsibilities included assistance in the design and implementation of software, hardware, and imaging accessories; support for pre-product clinical evaluations; customer education; organization and direction of educational symposia; and development of educational material and tools.

In 1993, Ms. Sawyer began in the Stanford Department of Radiology as the manager of MR Whole Body Research Systems in the Radiological Sciences Laboratory at the Richard M. Lucas Center for Imaging. For over 16 years, she has provided technical, scientific, and educational consultation to researchers, as well as assistance in the design and direction of research studies conducted at the Lucas Center on the 1.5T, 3.0T#1, 3.0T#2 and 7.0T whole body MR systems. To support Lucas users and distribute MR-specific documentation, she maintains a website of her own design and conducts Stanford MR technologist symposia.

Ms. Sawyer has been a member of the Section for MR Technologists (SMRT) of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) since 1991 and has served as past president as well as chair and member of numerous committees. Because of her dedication to SMRT, she has been honored with elevation to Fellow of the Section and with the prestigious Honorary Membership of the SMRT in recognition of her major achievements in the field of magnetic resonance imaging. She is currently the editor of the SMRT accredited Home Study Program, Educational Seminars. Her published articles include over 50 peer-reviewed publications. In addition, she has delivered more than 50 invited lectures and co-authored three book chapters. Among Ms. Sawyer's numerous awards are the Crues-Kressel Award from the SMRT for her outstanding contributions to MR technologist education and a 3rd Place Poster Award at the 2006 Annual ISMRM Meeting. As manager of our Lucas magnet systems, she is nationally consulted regarding all aspects of MR safety and systems operation.

Awards and Honors: July 20, 2009

Christoph Lee, MD, has been named 1 of only 29 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars for 2010-2012, a highly prestigious and extremely competitive two-year fellowship in health policy. Through the Fellowship, outstanding young physicians "conduct innovative research and work with communities, organizations, practitioners and policymakers on issues important to the health and well-being of all Americans." Dr. Lee is the only radiologist to have been selected this year and is one of very few radiologists selected to participate since the beginning of the program in 1969. To read the press release announcing his award, please access http://rwjcsp.unc.edu/resources/pressreleases/2010-12_CSP_New_Scholars.pdf or Download file.

Dr. Lee earned his BA, graduating cum laude, from Princeton University, and received his MD from Yale University where he also graduated cum laude. He is currently completing his residency in diagnostic radiology at Stanford University. Prior to coming to Stanford, Dr. Lee managed a global tuberculosis initiative for Ralph Nader in Washington, D.C., and was an analyst for the Lewin Group, a national healthcare policy research and consulting firm. He has helped lead more than 10 different service organizations at the community, state, national, and international levels over the last decade. In addition, Dr. Lee is the author of multiple medical board review texts distributed internationally by McGraw-Hill & Co., and he is the first author of several original research articles regarding medical imaging health policy, which are published in leading peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Lee has also served on several national editorial and executive boards and is a recipient of numerous research and leadership awards, including the 2009 American Medical Association Foundation Leadership Award. As a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, Dr. Lee plans to examine diagnostic imaging from the perspectives of cost effectiveness, clinical effectiveness, and resource utilization. For his prior blog award, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2009/03/awards_and_hono_82.html.

Awards and Honors: July 17, 2009

Andrei Iagaru, MD; Erik Mittra, MD, PhD; and Michael Goris, MD, PhD, have received the 2009 Society of Nuclear Medicine Image of the Year Award for their image comprised of two sets of before-and-after PET scans of two patients, one of whom was treated with Iodine-131 tositumomab, and the other, with Yttrium-90 ibritumomab tiuxetan. The scans examine the effectiveness of two radioimmunotherapy agents in treating non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). To view the image, please access http://interactive.snm.org/img/SNM-2009-Image-of-the-Year.jpg. Please see biographies for Drs. Iagaru and Mittra below.

Andrei Iagaru, MD, instructor of nuclear medicine, 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/2009/05/awards_and_hono_91.html and http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/07/awards_and_hono_47.html.

Erik Mittra, MD, PhD, instructor of nuclear medicine, attended Stony Brook University Medical Scientist Training Program where he received his MD and PhD degrees in biomedical engineering as well as a master's degree in the anatomical sciences. After completing his internship in the Department of Internal Medicine at Stony Brook University Hospital, he finished his residency and fellowship in the Division of Nuclear Medicine at Stanford University Hospital and Clinics. In addition to the 2009 Society of Nuclear Medicine Image of the Year Award, Dr. Mittra has received the 2007 Radiological Society of North America Trainee Research Prize (co-author); was awarded 2007 Norman D. Poe Memorial Scholarship Award for Outstanding In-Training Oral Abstract at the 32nd Annual Western Regional Society of Nuclear Medicine Meeting (co-winner); and served as the Chief Nuclear Medicine Resident for 2007-2008. He has also published over 10 published manuscripts and 25 abstracts.

Awards and Honors: July 14, 2009

Laura Sasportas, PhD candidate in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Laboratory, has been awarded a Student Fellowship Award by the Society of Nuclear Medicine . She received this award for her proposal, "In Vivo Molecular Imaging of Circulating Tumor Cells and Early Invasion in a Human Cancer-Stem Cell Based Model of Breast Tumor." SNM Student Fellowship Awards support full-time participation in clinical and basic research activities for students who demonstrate outstanding competence in nuclear medicine and/or molecular imaging research.

A native of Strasbourg, France, Laura Sasportas completed two years of math and physics studies at the bachelor's degree level before entering Ecole Centrale Paris, which is a multidisciplinary engineering school. She was then selected for the Top Industrial Managers for Europe (T.I.M.E.) master's double degree program, Europe's leading network for the training of bi-cultural and bilingual engineers. In 2007, Ms. Sasportas received a Master of Science Engineering Diploma from the Ecole Centrale Paris, and a Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). At ETH Zurich, she specialized in bioimaging, magnetic resonance imaging, and molecular imaging. Dr. Sasportas completed her master's thesis at the Harvard Medical School Center for Molecular Imaging Research (MGH) in Boston, Massachusetts. Her thesis aimed at developing and imaging in vivo an anti-angiogenic therapy for malignant brain tumors using human neural stem cells as a delivery vehicle.

In 2008, Ms. Sasportas worked as a scientific associate at the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research/Center for Proteomics Chemistry on the lead discovery platform in Basel, Switzerland. She was in charge of cell-line engineering and support of the imaging-based cellular assay development for high-throughput drug screening. Later that year, Ms. Sasportas was also awarded an International Fulbright Science and Technology Award grant to pursue a PhD in bioengineering at Stanford University, where she is currently enrolled.

Her hobbies include literature, theater, drawing, painting, swimming, hiking, and traveling.

Stanford Radiology Welcomes Visiting Scholar Dr. Emilio Sacristan

Emilio Sacristan, PhD, has joined the Lucas Center as a visiting professor for the 2009 calendar year. He is on sabbatical leave from the Metropolitan University in Iztapalapa, Mexico City, where he is a professor of biomedical engineering and the director of the Mexican National Center for Medical Instrumentation and Imaging Research. Dr. Sacristan was formerly a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Yale University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he also received his PhD in biomedical engineering. In addition, he is an entrepreneur, having founded Abdeo Medical and Critical Perfusion Inc., two Bay Area companies for which he also serves as a science advisor. While at Stanford, Dr. Sacristan is working with Dr. Dan Spielman's group, using hyperpolarized 13C to study ischemia-reperfusion of the gut in rats.

Dr. Sacristan has two daughters who are visiting the United States along with him and his wife, who is also a visiting scholar at Stanford. She is researching the epidemiology of mental health in adolescents with colleagues in the Psychology Department.

Awards and Honors: July 7, 2009

Francis Blankenberg, MD, associate professor of radiology and associate professor (by courtesy) of pediatrics, has been awarded stimulus funds by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his project, "scVEGF Targeted Radiotherapy of Primary and Metastatic Mammary and Colonic Carcinoma."

Dr. Blankenberg received his medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). After finishing a general surgical intership and his residency at Stanford University Hospital, . . .

he completed a pediatric fellowship at Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital. Dr. Blankenberg left Stanford to become a clinical instructor of computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in the Department of Radiology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). In July of 2001, he returned to Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital as an assistant professor of radiology. Dr. Blankenberg has over 95 publications and 3 U.S. and foreign patents.

Dr. Blankenberg's research grant, "scVEGF Targeted Radiotherapy of Primary and Metastatic Mammary and Colonic Carcinoma," focuses on tumor vasculature, which has a unique set of markers including vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) receptors. Prior efforts to starve tumors by attacking these blood vessels with new, highly selective anti-VEGF drugs as single agents have been largely unsuccessful. Dr. Blankenberg and his colleagues propose to attach radiotherapeutic isotopes to a new form of VEGF known as scVEGF and to use this radiolabeled material to attack not only the tumor blood vessels/supply but also tumor cells. Successful completion of this proposal will be critical in laying the preclinical groundwork for a new class of tumor vessel radiotherapeutic agents that, by attacking a tumor on two fronts, will be more effective than current anti-VEGF drugs.

The grant will support the hiring of Helen D'Arceuil, PhD, visiting assistant professor from Harvard and former researcher at the Lucas Center, who has expertise in small animal imaging with MRI of ischemic injury and brain development. Dr. D'Arceuil will now be assisting with the current award by employing her over twenty years experience in small animal modeling and imaging. The grant will also support the continued work of Zoia Levashova, PhD, who has over twenty years of experience in biochemical and animal model work at NIH. Dr. Levashova has spent the last four years with Dr. Blankenberg in the Nuclear Medicine Imaging Laboratory, and she has performed most of the pilot work for the current grant application and will play a major role in the successful execution of our proposal.

To read more about the award, please access "First Round of NIH Stimulus Funds Includes 18 Projects at Stanford School of Medicine."

Awards and Honors: June 25, 2009

Jin Xie, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the Molecular Imaging Probe Laboratory (MIPL), has been awarded a Travel Award from the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM). The purpose of the SNM Travel Awards is to provide support to nuclear medicine scientists for presenting innovative work at the SNM Annual Meeting. Dr. Xie will use his award to attend the 56th Society of Nuclear Medicine Annual Meeting from June 13 to June 17 in Toronto, Canada.

In June 2008, Dr. Xie received his PhD from Brown University, where his research centered on magnetic nanoparticle synthesis, characterization, and surface modification as well as the magnetic nanoparticle interplay with biomolecules and their applications in molecular imaging and drug delivery. Moving to Stanford in July 2009, he joined Dr. Xiaoyuan Chen's group as a Stanford postdoctoral fellow in the Molecular Imaging Probe Laboratory (MIPL), where he has been working on the development of magnetic nanoparticle-based probes for MRI. Since then, Dr. Xie has extended his research interests to many other areas, such as NIRF, PET, stem cell, etc., and he is currently working on developing nanoparticle-based activatable probe development and on creating probes that are suitable for multi-modality purposes. When he is not in the lab, Dr. Xie enjoys electronic games. He is also a fan of soccer and karaoke.

Awards and Honors: June 22, 2009

Sri-Rajasekhar (Raj) Kothapalli, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab, has been appointed to a Hamalainen Pelican Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Sir Peter and Lady Michael Foundation. This postdoctoral fellowship supports innovative research, clinical trials, and applied methods for improving the detection, management, and non-invasive treatment of prostate cancer, with a particular focus on the development of multimodal (photoacoustic, optical, and ultrasound) molecular imaging techniques for obtaining rigorous and comprehensive information about early stage prostate cancer.

Dr. Kothapalli received his bachelor of science degree in mathematics, physics, & chemistry from Nagarujuna University, India, followed by his master of science degree in nuclear physics from Andhra University, India, and his master of technology degree in applied optics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Before receiving his master of science in applied physics from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, Dr. Kothapalli worked for an Indian defense organization developing optical pattern recognition techniques. While at the University of Massachusetts, he applied these pattern recognition techniques to medical imaging processing in areas such as mammography. His master's work piqued his interest in medical imaging, so he attained his PhD in biomedical engineering at Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri, where he focused on developing a hybrid imaging modality that combines the advantages of both optics (high contrast) and ultrasound (excellent resolution and penetration depth). Working under the mentorship of Dr. Sanjiv Gambhir, Dr. Kothapalli plans to apply his background in physics and engineering to develop multimodal molecular imaging techniques for the early detection of cancer, with a particular emphasis on prostate cancer.

In his spare time, he enjoys playing tennis in the summer; squash in the winter; and listening to inspirational music.

Awards and Honors: June 15, 2009

Keren Ziv, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab, has received a Life Sciences Research Foundation Fellowship (LSRF), which is bestowed upon young scientists who perform the highest quality of research.

Prior to joining Dr. Gambhir's Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab, Dr. Ziv was a postdoctoral scholar in Professor Michal Neeman's lab at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel. She received both her PhD and master's degrees from the Department of Biological Regulation of the Feinberg Graduate School at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. Her PhD research focused on the functional and molecular imaging of gene expression.

Dr. Ziv is the coauthor of seven publications as well as the recipient of many honors including the 2007 Auto Swartz Award and the 2008 AFLACAACR International Scholar-in-Training Award supported by Aflac, Inc.

Awards and Honors: June 10, 2009

Gang Niu, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in the Molecular Imaging Probe Laboratory (MIPL), has been awarded a Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) Travel Award to attend the 56th Society of Nuclear Medicine Annual Meeting from June 13 to June 17 in Toronto, Canada. The purpose of the SNM Travel Awards is to provide support to nuclear medicine scientists for presenting innovative work at the SNM Annual Meeting. Dr. Niu received his PhD in free radical radiation biology from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, where his research focused on molecular imaging and tumor gene therapy, mediated by the human sodium iodide symporter (hNIS), to investigate the role of hNIS as a reporter gene monitoring gene transfer and expression. After arriving at Stanford in 2006, he began working in the MIPL under the supervision of Dr. Xiaoyuan Chen. Dr. Niu's current research interests include the investigation of tumor initiation and the progress and response to various therapies with non-invasive molecular imaging strategies, including optical and radiological modalities.

Awards and Honors: June 9, 2009

Jeremy Pearl, Stanford medical student and member of the Cardiovascular Gene and Cell Therapy Group, has been awarded a second-year fellowship to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Fellowship recipients are selected because they have shown "the greatest promise for future achievement in biomedical research" and "have demonstrated superior scholarship." Mentored by Joe Wu, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (cardiology) and radiology, and Mark M. Davis, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology, Mr. Pearl was initially awarded a first-year HHMI Fellowship in 2008. In 2009, he was one of a few select fellows who was given a second-year HHMI fellowship because of his outstanding biomedical research on the immunogenic properties of human embryonic stem cells.

Before beginning medical school at Stanford, Mr. Pearl graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, San Diego, with a BS in human biology. In addition to the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Medical Student Fellowships, he was acquired numerous honors, including the 2007 Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation Research Fellowship. Mr. Pearl is also the first named inventor on the patent "Methods for the Control of Macrophage-Associated Inflammation" (S07-398 (STAN-593) 12/397, 925), and the co-author of over 15 abstracts, posters, and oral presentations as well as 5 publications, including "Seeing Is Believing: Tracking Cells to Determine the Effects of Cell Transplantation" (Pearl J, Wu JC) in Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (2008;20(2):102-109). When he is not working, Mr. Pearl enjoys playing and watching all sports, particularly basketball.

Awards and Honors: June 3, 2009

Amelie Lutz, MD, PhD, clinical instructor of Radiology and research scientist in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab, has received the Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research Scholar Award for her project "Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer Using Targeted Microbubble-Enhanced Ultrasound." To promote career development, the Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research Scholar Award is bestowed upon young researchers in the field of ovarian cancer, whose projects have translational potential.

Before becoming a CE and research scientist, Dr. Lutz was a postdoctoral fellow in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Laboratory at Stanford. She received her medical degree from the University of Freiburg, Germany, and completed her internship in internal medicine in the Department of Gastroenterology and Endocrinology at the University Hospital in Freiburg, Germany. Dr. Lutz did her training in diagnostic radiology at the University Hospital in Zurich and at the Institute of Diagnostic Radiology, Kantonal Hospital, in Frauenfeld, Switzerland.

In addition to the Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research Scholar Award, Dr. Lutz has received numerous honors, including the 2008 Bronze Award from the European Society of Gastrointestinal Radiology (co-author) and the 2004 Swiss Society of Radiology Research Award for her paper "Ultra Small Superparamagnetic Oxide (USPIO) Enhanced MR Imaging for Detection of Macrophage Activity in an Experimental Model of Antigen-Induced Arthritis," which is one of her 27 peer-reviewed publications. Her clinical and research interests include: musculoskeletal radiology and interventions; body imaging with computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging; molecular imaging in oncology; cellular imaging of musculoskeletal inflammatory diseases; and kinematic musculoskeletal imaging. When she is not working, Dr. Lutz enjoys life as a new mom with her family.

For her prior blog award posting, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/02/awards_and_hono_18.html.

Awards and Honors: June 2, 2009

Juergen K. Willmann, MD, assistant professor of radiology (abdominal imaging) and head of the Translational Molecular Imaging Laboratory, has received the highly prestigious Walter Friedrich Award at the 90th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Radiology in Berlin. The award was named in honor of Dr. Walter Friedrich, a 1914 Nobel Laureate. Awarded only once each year, the Walter Friedrich Award was bestowed upon Dr. Juergen K. Willmann for his outstanding research in the field of radiology.

Prior to becoming an assistant professor at Stanford, Dr. Willmann was a research fellow in the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS) while concurrently an assistant professor of diagnostic radiology at the Institute of Diagnostic Radiology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. He received his MD from the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany, and was the chief resident of diagnostic radiology at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. Under his leadership, the Translational Molecular Imaging Lab focuses on multimodality molecular imaging of angiogenesis and stem cell therapy as well as the development of multi-modality imaging approaches for the early detection of cancer. When he is not working, Dr. Willmann enjoys his life as a new Dad and plays the piano. To read Dr. Willmann's prior award postings, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2009/04/awards_and_hono_79.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2009/01/awards_and_hono_73.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/11/awards_and_hono_61.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/05/awards_and_hono_38.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/12/awards_and_hono_21.html; and
http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/02/awards_and_hono_18.html.

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.

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.

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.

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."

Awards and Honors: April 22, 2009

Dr. Shreyas Vasanawala, assistant professor of radiology, has received the Morgridge Scholar Grant, which is awarded to scientists whose research promises to "create a novel design, solve a specific problem, challenge an existing paradigm or clinical practice, address a critical barrier to progress in the field, or develop new technology." 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 focus includes testing the feasibility of magnetic resonance imaging techniques for evaluating pediatric and abdominal disease. His proposal focuses on reducing sedation or anesthesia for pediatric MRI. For his prior blog postings, please access
http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2009/03/awards_and_hono_78.html;
http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2009/02/awards_and_hono_76.html;
http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/07/awards_and_hono_43.html;
and
http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/07/new_faculty_hir.html.

Awards and Honors I: April 20, 2009

Zhen Cheng, PhD, head of the Cancer Molecular Imaging Chemistry Laboratory (CMICL), has been awarded a Young Investigator Award by the Melanoma Research Alliance, which supports "outstanding young investigators whose work shows great promise in the field of melanoma research." Dr. Cheng received his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Sichuan University. He 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 California Breast Cancer Research Program-IDEA Award in 2008; 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. As head of the Cancer Molecular Imaging Chemistry Laboratory (CMICL) of MIPS, 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. For his prior blog posting, please access
http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/01/new_faculty_hir_3.html.

(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)

Awards and Honors II: April 20, 2009

Kazim Narsinh, research fellow in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Laboratory (MMIL), was awarded the 2009 Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Research Fellowship. Bestowed upon outstanding medical students, the HHMI Fellowship helps further promising careers in translational research. Mr. Narsinh's research interests include the molecular imaging of human embryonic stem cells, and he has recently coauthored two in press articles: "Application of Reporter Gene Imaging for Studying Human Embryonic Stem Cells in Living Subjects" (Methods in Molecular Biology 2009 vol. 515) and "Comparisons of Gene Transfer Efficiency in Human Embryonic Stem Cells" (Molecular Imaging and Biology 2009). In addition to working as a research fellow in the MMIL, Mr. Narsinh is currently a medical student at the University of San Diego, (UCSD), School of Medicine, where he is the manager of the Cardiology Clinic as well as a member of the UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic and the Global Health Interest Group. Prior to attending medical school, he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor of Arts in biochemistry. When not working, Mr. Narsinh enjoys playing tennis and tabla, a hand drum.

Announcements: April 17, 2009

CCNE Nano-Bio Seminar Series Presents Donald E. Ingber, MD, PhD, "From Biological Design Principles to Bioinspired Nanotechnologies": Tuesday, April 21st; Seminar & Discussion from 4:30-5:30 PM; Reception from 5:30-6:00 PM; in the Clark Auditorium, S001, Clark Building at Stanford University.

Donald E. Ingber, MD, PhD
Director, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology, Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital
Professor of Bioengineering, Harvard School of Engineering & Applied Sciences

Abstract:
The burgeoning field of Nanotechnology offers exciting new approaches to attack fundamental questions in biology, create smart medical devices, and positively impact human health. Creation of biologically-inspired nanotechnologies also could revolutionize how materials are designed and manufactured for industrial, aerospace, and military applications. But the fields are constrained by a lack of understanding of how living cells and tissues are constructed so that they exhibit their incredible organic properties, including their ability to change shape, move, grow, and self-heal. These are properties we strive to mimic, but we cannot yet build manmade materials that exhibit these features, or develop devices to selectively control these behaviors. To accomplish this, we must . . .

uncover the underlying design principles that govern how cells and tissues form and function as hierarchical assemblies of nanometer scale components. In this lecture, I will review work from my laboratory and others, which has begun to reveal these design principles that permit self-assembly of 3D structures with great robustness, mechanical strength, and biochemical efficiency, even though they are composed of many thousands of flexible molecular scale components. We also are beginning to understand that biological materials are simultaneously "structure and catalyst": the molecular lattices that form the frameworks of our cells and tissues combine mechanical functions and solid-phase biochemical processing activities. In the course of the lecture, I also will describe how recently developed nanotechnologies have been used to create model systems for biological studies, and how they have led to new approaches to interface living cells with microchips, control mammalian cell and tissue development, and probe the process of mechanotransduction--how cells sense mechanical forces and convert them into biochemical responses. Finally, the more fundamental question of how nanoscale structural networks impact information processing (signal transduction) networks to control cellular "decision-making" also will be explored. Understanding of these design principles that govern biological organization is critical for any nanotechnologist who wants to harness the power of biology.

Sponsored by: Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence Focused on Therapy Response(CCNE-TR) Program--NIH/NCI U54

Hosted by: Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, and the Departments of Radiology and Bioengineering

Awards and Honors: April 17, 2009

Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (cardiology) and radiology, has received the 2009 Douglas P. Zipes Distinguished Young Scientist Award. According to the American College of Cardiology (ACCR), the award is given "[t]o recognize a young scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the field of cardiovascular medicine and who has amassed an impressive body of scientific research in either the clinical or basic domain." For Dr. Wu's prior awards, please see http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/11/awards_and_hono_63.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/10/_joseph_wu_md_p.html ; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/06/awards_and_hono_42.html ; and http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/04/awards_and_hono_1.html.

Awards and Honors: April 1, 2009

Juergen K. Willmann, MD, assistant professor of radiology (abdominal imaging) and member of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), has been named as a 2009-10 pilot awardee by the Stanford Digestive Disease Center, an NIH-funded (P30) research center program led by Dr. Harry Greenberg. After a very competitive selection process, Dr. Willmann was selected as one of five pilot awardees, based on his project, "Non-Invasive Molecular Ultrasound Imaging for Diagnosing and Monitoring Inflammatory Bowel Disease Using Molecularly Targeted Microbubbles."

Prior to becoming an assistant professor at Stanford, Dr. Willmann was a research fellow in the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS) while concurrently an assistant professor of diagnostic radiology at the Institute of Diagnostic Radiology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. He received his MD from the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany, and was the chief resident of diagnostic radiology at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. Under his leadership, the Translational Molecular Imaging Lab focuses on multimodality molecular imaging of angiogenesis and stem cell therapy as well as the development of multi-modality imaging approaches for the early detection of cancer. When he is not working, Dr. Willmann enjoys his life as a new Dad and plays the piano. To read Dr. Willmann's prior award postings, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2009/01/awards_and_hono_73.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/11/awards_and_hono_61.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/05/awards_and_hono_38.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/12/awards_and_hono_21.html; and
http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/02/awards_and_hono_18.html.

Awards and Honors: March 31, 2009

Christoph Lee, MD, third-year radiology resident, has been awarded the American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation's 2009 Leadership Award, which is designed "to encourage involvement in organized medicine and continue leadership development among the country's brightest and most energetic medical students, residents, early career physicians and established physicians." On March 9th, Dr. Lee was honored for his strong non-clinical leadership skills in medicine and the community at the AMA's annual Excellence in Medicine Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C., along with 30 other award recipients.

Dr. Lee graduated cum laude from both Princeton University, where he received his bachelor's degree, and Yale University Medical School. Through his authorship of multiple research articles and commentaries in peer-reviewed journals, he has advocated at the national level for public health and education regarding CT radiation risks. He has also served as a project manager of a global tuberculosis initiative for Ralph Nader in Washington, D.C., and as an analyst for a prominent national healthcare policy research and consulting firm. At the community level, Dr. Lee helped implement the Healthcare for the Homeless Program in St. Louis, MO, and assisted in leading a free clinic for migrant farm workers in Connecticut. After completing his residency, Dr. Lee plans to pursue a career in health services and policy research with a focus on the clinically effective and cost-effective utilization of medical imaging. When he's not working, Dr. Lee enjoys running, playing tennis, and keeping up with pop culture.

Awards and Honors: March 25, 2009

Neal Bangerter, PhD, research associate; Garry E. Gold, MD, associate professor of radiology and (by courtesy) bioengineering and orthopedics; Brian Hargreaves, PhD, assistant professor of radiology; Seungbum Koo, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Chung-Ang University in South Korea; Ernesto Staroswiecki, PhD; and Ronald Watkins, senior research engineer, received the Cum Laude Award at the 2009 Meeting of the Society of Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance (SCBT/MR) for their exceptional research project, "Early Detection of Osteoarthritis in Patients with ACL Injury Using Sodium MRI." Please access photos and brief biographies of some of our award winners by clicking on the link below.

Garry E. Gold, MD, associate professor of radiology and (by courtesy) bioengineering and orthopedics, received a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford in 1988 and his MD from Stanford in 1992. Dr. Gold has authored over 60 journal articles, 170 abstracts, and 5 patents in MRI. He has been the principal investigator or a co-investigator on over 30 funded research projects, and he is the principal investigator on two NIH-funded projects to improve MR imaging of osteoarthritis and the use of real-time MRI for the study of biomechanics. The International Skeletal Society recently awarded Dr. Gold the President's Medal, and this is the sixth time he was been awarded the Lauterbur Award for the best MRI paper from the Society for Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance (SCBT/MR). Dr. Gold reviews manuscripts for ten peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (JMRI) and the Journal of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (MRM), and he is on the editorial board of several publications. At Stanford, Dr. Gold practices clinical musculoskeletal radiology, teaching medical students, residents, and fellows. He teaches two courses in imaging physics and human anatomy for medical students and graduate students, and he was recently awarded the Kaiser Award for outstanding and innovative contributions to education. He also serves as an advisor and co-advisor for many engineering graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. To view his prior 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; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/06/people_and_thei_6.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/04/awards_and_hono_37.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/04/awards_and_hono_31.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/10/awards_and_hono_19.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/04/awards_and_hono_1.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/02/awards_and_hono_18.html; and http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/02/new_faculty_hir_1.html.

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.

Seungbum Koo, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Chung-Ang University in South Korea, received his doctoral degree in mechanical engineering at Stanford University in 2006 and worked as a research associate in radiology until February 2009. His research interests include medical image processing and joint biomechanics, with a focus on knee joint biomechanics and articular cartilage degeneration to understand the mechanical pathways of osteoarthritis in the knee. Dr. Koo recently took a faculty position in South Korea.

Ronald Watkins, senior research engineer, has been working in medical imaging since joining GE Medical Systems in 1980, where he was part of an engineering team that developed the first commercial version of digital subtraction X-ray angiography. During his career, he has been involved in the development of data acquisition systems for CT as well as several subsystems for the first commercial, high-field 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance system, including pulse sequence generators, gradient amplifiers, RF amplifiers, and digital image processors. Mr. Watkins began working in the development of transducers and analog front ends for cardiac ultrasound in 1985. Four years later, he developed catheters and electronics for high-resolution, high-frequency intravascular ultrasound at Cardiovascular Imaging Systems in Sunnyvale, a high tech medical device startup company founded by Cardiologist Paul Yock, MD.

In 1991, Mr. Watkins returned to GE's Corporate Research and Development Division in Schenectady, New York, where he worked with co-inventors Harvey Cline, PhD, and Kullervo Hynynen, PhD, at the University of Arizona to develop the first MR-guided focused ultrasound surgery system. In 2000, this technology was transferred to form the basis for the Haifa Israel start-up InsighTec. Mr. Watkins also led the development of the first commercial whole body 3.0 Tesla MRI system, which initiated a rapid increase in the deployment of 3.0 Tesla systems from a few fMRI research sites to the thousands of mainstream clinical radiology sites present today. Furthermore, he developed much of the hardware for massively parallel receive arrays, parallel transmit, and RF subsystems for 7.0 Tesla MRI systems.

In 2007, Mr. Watkins joined the Stanford Department of Radiology, where he has been developing coils and hardware for high-field MRI and has continued the development of MR-guided focused ultrasound, including the use of capacitive micro-machined ultrasound transducers, pioneered by the Khuri-Yakub group in the Stanford E. L. Ginzton Lab. In recognition of his research on the development of MR-guided focused ultrasound, Mr. Watkins was awarded a Magna Cum Laude citation by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in 1994. In addition, he has 38 issued U.S. patents and more than 40 conference proceedings and journal publications.

Did You Know?

A Sketch of Early Radiologists*
The head of the Department of Roentgenology at Children's Hospital in Boston, Dr. Percy Brown, conducted a survey of all members of the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) in 1910.

Of the 50% who responded, the majority received their medical degrees during the years 1896 to 1903. Many of those who received their medical degrees between 1900 to 1903 had worked with X-rays as photographers, engineers, physicists, and eletricians prior to medical school.

20% of the ARRS members surveyed limited their practice to radiology while the remaining 80% "were equally divided between general practice and some other specialty."

30% of survey participants indicated that they practiced both X-ray diagnosis and therapy while "[a]bout half worked only in diagnosis, and a significant minority (19%) specialized solely in therapy."

(The above statistics are from Radiology: An Illustrated History by Eisenberg, Ronald L.; St. Louis, MO: Mosby-Year Book, 1992: 61).

Awards and Honors: March 23, 2009

Marcus Alley, PhD, senior research scientist; Garry E. Gold, MD, associate professor of radiology and (by courtesy) bioengineering and orthopedics at Stanford University; Robert J. Herfkens, MD, professor of radiology, director of MRI, and associate chair for clinical technology; Michael Lustig, PhD, engineering research associate; John Pauly, PhD, professor of electrical engineering; and Dr. Shreyas Vasanawala, assistant professor of radiology, were awarded the 2009 Lauterbur Award by the Society of Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance (SCBT/MR) for their outstanding research project "Faster Pediatric MRI with Compressed Sensing." The Lauterbur Award in MR was named in honor of Paul Lauterbur, PhD, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2003 for his work in MRI. Please find photos and brief biographies of some of our award winners by clicking on the link below.

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.

Garry E. Gold, MD, associate professor of radiology and (by courtesy) bioengineering and orthopedics at Stanford University, received a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford in 1988 and his MD from Stanford in 1992. Dr. Gold has authored over 60 journal articles, 170 abstracts, and 5 patents in MRI. He has been the principal investigator or a co-investigator on over 30 funded research projects, and he is the principal investigator on two NIH-funded projects to improve MR imaging of osteoarthritis and the use of real-time MRI for the study of biomechanics. The International Skeletal Society recently awarded Dr. Gold the President's Medal, and this is the sixth time he was been awarded the Lauterbur Award for the best MRI paper from the Society for Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance (SCBT/MR). Dr. Gold reviews manuscripts for ten peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (JMRI) and the Journal of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (MRM), and he is on the editorial board of several publications. At Stanford, Dr. Gold practices clinical musculoskeletal radiology, teaching medical students, residents, and fellows. He teaches two courses in imaging physics and human anatomy for medical students and graduate students, and he was recently awarded the Kaiser Award for outstanding and innovative contributions to education. He also serves as an advisor and co-advisor for many engineering graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. To view his prior 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; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/06/people_and_thei_6.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/04/awards_and_hono_37.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/04/awards_and_hono_31.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/10/awards_and_hono_19.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/04/awards_and_hono_1.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/02/awards_and_hono_18.html; and http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/02/new_faculty_hir_1.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.

Dr. Shreyas Vasanawala, assistant professor of radiology, 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 focus includes testing the feasibility of magnetic resonance imaging techniques for evaluating pediatric and abdominal disease. In recognition of his research, he recently received an International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) Seed Grant for his proposed research project, "Non-Contrast-Enhanced Renal MRA Using Multiple Inversion Recovery." Developed in collaboration with doctoral student Hattie Dong and Professor Dwight Nishimura, Dr. Vasanawala's proposal was cited for its innovation and potential impact. The competition was open to young investigators, and only one grant was awarded in each of the areas of low back pain and renal MRI. For his prior blog postings, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2009/02/awards_and_hono_76.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/07/awards_and_hono_43.html; and http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/07/new_faculty_hir.html.

Did You Know?

On March 1, 2009, Drs. Glazer and Beaulieu were quoted in an article from the New York Times entitled "Good or Useless, Medical Scans Cost the Same," regarding the varying quality of imaging scans. To view the article, please click here or Download file. The article also appears in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Drs. Gold and Hargreaves' Osteoarthritis Research Featured on ABC7 News

At 6 PM on Thursday, February 26th, ABC News on channel 7 featured research by Drs. Gold, associate professor of radiology (left), and Hargreaves, assistant professor of radiology (right), regarding the detection of osteoarthritis using the latest imaging techniques in sodium MRI in their broadcast, "MRI Detects Knee Injuries Sooner." To view a video of the broadcast or to read the transcript, please click here or Download file

To read more about their project, please access their prior blog posting, "Drs. Gold and Hargreaves Detect Osteoarthritis Using Sodium MRI." Please also see an earlier news release from the Stanford School of Medicine highlighting their research, "Stanford Develops Imaging Technique to Catch Arthritis Early in Onset" or Download file.

Awards and Honors: February 19, 2009

Adam Wang, MS, doctoral student in Electrical Engineering and member of the Radiological Sciences Laboratory (RSL), was 1 of only 8 finalists (out of 34 entrants) for the Michael B. Merickel Student Paper Award at the 2009 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Medical Imaging Conference for his work entitled "Optimal Energy Thresholds and Weights for Separating Materials Using Photon Counting X-Ray Detectors with Energy Discriminating Capabilities."

Mentored by Dr. Norbert Pelc, Mr. Wang is currently a research assistant in the RSL where he is investigating task-based optimal multi-energy discrimination techniques for CT systems and developing lossy compression methods to reduce CT data rate without diagnostic impact.

Prior to entering the doctoral program, Mr. Wang received his master's in electrical engineering from Stanford, after completing his BS in electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to being a finalist for the Michael B. Merickel Student Paper Award, Mr. Wang's other awards include an Electrical Engineering Departmental Fellowship from Stanford University and the Distinguished College of Engineering Scholar Award at the University of Texas at Austin. When he's not working, he enjoys running, cycling, and working on his bikes.

Awards and Honors III: February 13, 2009

Brian Rutt, PhD, professor of radiology and director of the High-Field MRI Program, has been elected to Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). Election to Fellow of the AIMBE is awarded to outstanding bioengineers in academia, industry, and government who have distinguished themselves through their contributions in research, industrial practice, and/or education. On February 12th, Dr. Rutt traveled to Washington, DC, to receive his award as part of the induction ceremony of new fellows of the AIMBE. Before coming to Stanford, Dr. Rutt was a scientist at the Robarts Research Institute and professor of diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine at the University of Western Ontario, where he has held the Barnett-Ivey Endowed Research Chair, Heart and Stroke Foundation since 1997. At Robarts, he co-founded the Cellular and Molecular Imaging Program; served as the scientific director for the 1.5T and 3T research MRI facilities; and established a hardware engineering core facility. Under his direction, the first 1.5T MRI scanner and one of the first 3T MRI systems in Canada were installed in London, Ontario.

After completing his BASc in engineering science at the University of Toronto, Ontario, Dr. Rutt received his master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford, returning to Canada to attain his PhD in medical biophysics at the University of Western Ontario. Subsequently, he completed a postdoc at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). His research interests include MRI technology development and the application of advanced MRI techniques for studying the cardiovascular system, brain, and cancer. When he is not working, Dr. Rutt enjoys bicycling and wood working. For Dr. Rutt's prior blog posting, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2009/02/meet_brian_rutt.html.

Awards and Honors II: February 13, 2009

Dr. Shreyas Vasanawala, assistant professor of radiology, has won an International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) Seed Grant for his proposed research project, "Non-Contrast-Enhanced Renal MRA Using Multiple Inversion Recovery." Developed in collaboration with doctoral student Hattie Dong and Professor Dwight Nishimura, Dr. Vasanawala's proposal was cited for its innovation and potential impact. The competition was open to young investigators, and only one grant was awarded in each of the areas of low back pain and renal MRI.

Dr. Vasanawala's research focus includes testing the feasibility of magnetic resonance imaging techniques for evaluating pediatric and abdominal disease. 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. For his prior blog postings, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/07/awards_and_hono_43.html and http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/07/new_faculty_hir.html.

Awards and Honors I: February 13, 2009

Adam de la Zerda, PhD candidate in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Laboratory (MMIL), has been awarded the Best Poster Presentation Award for his poster on enhanced sensitivity photoacoustic imaging agents at the Photoacoustic Session of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Photonics West 2009 Conference.

Mentored by Dr. Gambhir, Mr. de la Zerda researches photoacoustic molecular imaging and its broad applications for cancer. He is the PI of two predoctoral grants: one supported by the Department of Defense (DOD) Breast Cancer Research Program and the other by Bio-X. He has received numerous awards for his work including the Young Investigator Award at the World Molecular Imaging Congress 2008; the Bio-X Student Travel Award; and first place at the Bay Area Entrepreneurship Contest. He holds a number of publications and patents, and he is also a professional reviewer for Nature Nanotechnology and Medical Physics. Prior to coming to Stanford, Mr. de la Zerda received his BScs Summa Cum Laude in computer science, electrical engineering, and physics from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel.

For Mr. de la Zerda's prior blog award announcements, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/11/awards_and_hono_60.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/07/awards_and_hono_45.html;
and http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/06/awards_and_hono_6.html.

Meet Brian Rutt, PhD, Professor of Radiology and Director of Our High-Field MRI Program at Stanford Radiology

By Julie Ruiz, PhD

With over 20 years of experience in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Dr. Brian Rutt is an expert in MRI technology development and the application of advanced MRI techniques for studying the cardiovascular system, brain, and cancer. As director of our High-Field MRI Program in the Radiological Sciences Laboratory (RSL), he is looking forward to furthering our efforts in building a 7T research program. "We need to update and integrate the 7T with the other scanners at the Lucas Center and on campus so that users can easily use it to produce reliable and excellent images," he commented. "Although higher field strength makes everything more challenging, the promise of higher image quality means that we should be able to detect disease earlier. We don't really know what all the clinical applications of 7T MRI will be, but . . .

I would expect that most will be in the brain and extremities (for example, knee cartilage). There is a lot of interest, and I hope to act as a catalyst for bringing new users to the 7T, which should be easy given the research strengths and interests of our faculty, staff, and students. I would also like to establish synergies between the Lucas 7T and the 7T animal scanner located at the Clark Center, which should help to build bridges between RSL and MIPS."

Dr. Rutt has an excellent track record of building interdisciplinary programs. Before coming to Stanford, he was a scientist at the Robarts Research Institute and professor of diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine at the University of Western Ontario. At Robarts, he co-founded the Cellular and Molecular Imaging Program with Paula Foster, PhD; served as the scientific director for the 1.5T and 3T research facilities; and established a hardware engineering core facility. Under his direction, the first 1.5T MRI scanner and one of the first 3T MRI systems in Canada were installed in London, Ontario.

However, it was in Stanford, California, not London, Ontario, where Dr. Rutt was first introduced to medical imaging. "I was a very young and green engineering student when I came to Stanford for my master's degree in electrical engineering in the late 70s. After graduating from the University of Toronto with a degree in engineering science, I applied to Stanford but was wait listed. I already had a job lined up when Stanford accepted me for admission to their master's program in electrical engineering late in the summer of 1976. I turned down the job; accepted the Stanford offer; packed a couple of bags, a bike, and a guitar onto a plane; flew out to San Francisco; and proceeded to have the most wonderful year of school of my life. I knew nothing about medical imaging when I got to Stanford, but that year I took a course on the principles of medical imaging from Albert Macovski, Stanford professor of electrical engineering and a pioneer of many imaging methods. He was assigned to me as my MSc advisor and during my second term, I did an independent research project with him, which exposed me to the exciting world of research in medical imaging. I loved attending Stanford that year. I rented a room in a house in Ladera on the way to Portola Valley and rode my bike to school every day, watching the sun rise over the big dish each morning during a famous drought year. At night, I would bike back up Alpine Road in the dark, and that last mile home was straight up hill, so I was in the best physical shape of my life!"

After earning his master's degree, Dr. Rutt went back to Canada to complete his PhD in medical biophysics with a focus on dual energy methods in X-ray, then returned to California for a postdoc. As a postdoc at the University of California, San Francisco, (UCSF), he was surrounded by the pioneers of the IMATRON ultra-fast CT technology in the early 80s (i.,e., Doug Boyd, PhD, and others, including Sandy Napel, PhD). Just down the road from his lab in south San Francisco, scientists were making MRI breakthroughs, notably Lean Kaufmann, PhD, and Larry Crooks, PhD, and word of these developments was spreading throughout the University and the world. Although his graduate and postdoc research had been in CT, Dr. Rutt decided to switch to MRI after hearing about these new developments.

Because of his prior history, returning to California, and to Stanford in particular, has not been difficult, and Dr. Rutt's biggest challenge has been not being able to bring his group with him from the University of Western Ontario. However, he is looking forward to working with Stanford faculty, students, and staff, and he is excited to be back: "I've had such great experiences in California that I feel very much at home here. It's not just the weather; it's also the liberal and fast-moving environment and community." The Stanford musical community is particularly interesting to him. Dr. Rutt's daughter, Leana, is studying to be a professional classical musician at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and her cello professor, Matt Haimovitz, is well known to the Stanford musical community. Like his daughter, both his son, David, and his wife, Susan, are very musical. Over the past 20 years, his wife created and built the highly successful Kindermusik Program in London, Ontario. David is currently attending the University of Ottawa and completing his education degree but plays jazz and rock on the side. He plans to pursue a teaching career in high school math and physics.

Dr. Rutt's other plans for his new life at Stanford include time for hobbies, particularly bicycling, appreciating California wine, and getting back to a former love of wood working. He comes from a long line of wood workers; his father, uncle, and grandfather Rutt were all carpenters. He has already Googled "Rutt of Los Altos," a local custom cabinetry business, and plans to find out if they are related, or at least if they'll give him a discount on some kitchen cabinets.

Awards and Honors II: January 30, 2009

Natesh Parashurama, MD, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab, has been awarded a 2009-2010 Dean's Fellowship for his proposal, "Quantitative, Multimodality Molecular Imaging of Spatiotemporally Regulated Cardiac Stem Cell Functions In Vivo." The Dean's Fellowship is designed "to encourage and support young investigators for the first one or two years of postdoctoral (PhD or MD) research training. 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/2008/02/awards_and_hono_28.html.

Awards and Honors I: January 30, 2009

Juergen K. Willmann, MD, assistant professor of radiology (abdominal imaging) and member of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), has won the 2008 RSNA Research Award in the category of "Molecular Imaging" and the 2009 Phillip H. Meyers, MD, Research Award of the Society of Gastrointestinal Radiologists. Recipients receive the Phillip H. Meyers, MD, Research Award to facilitate visionary research in medical imaging.

Prior to becoming an assistant professor at Stanford, Dr. Willmann was a research fellow in the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS) while concurrently an assistant professor of diagnostic radiology at the Institute of Diagnostic Radiology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. He received his MD from the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany, and was the chief resident of diagnostic radiology at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. His lab, the Translational Molecular Imaging Lab, focuses on multimodality molecular imaging of angiogenesis and stem cell therapy and the development of new ultrasonic imaging approaches for the early detection of cancer. When he is not working, Dr. Willmann enjoys his life as a new Dad and plays the piano. To read Dr. Willmann's prior award postings, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/11/awards_and_hono_61.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/05/awards_and_hono_38.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/12/awards_and_hono_21.html; and
http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/02/awards_and_hono_18.html.

Drs. Gold and Hargreaves Detect Osteoarthritis Using Sodium MRI

Garry Gold, MD, associate professor of radiology (left), and Brian Hargreaves, PhD, assistant professor of radiology (right), have developed imaging techniques using sodium MRI to diagnose osteoarthritis decades before symptoms begin. To read more about their research and to watch a video of Dr. Gold explaining the newest techniques in sodium MRI for osteoarthritis detection, please access http://med.stanford.edu/news_releases/2009/january/sodium.html.

Imaging Innovations on Video

Five new videos highlighting our new outpatient imaging center and leading-edge techniques in interventional radiology and MRI are now available for viewing through our website at http://radiology.stanford.edu/ or through the links below.

"Welcome to Stanford's Innovative New Center for Medical Imaging"

"Stanford Medicine: Pioneers in Interventional Radiology"

"Stanford Interventional Radiology: A Cancer Survivor's Story"

"Stanford Interventional Radiology: A Definitive Treatment for Deep Venous Thrombosis"

"Transforming Medicine--Innovations in MRI"

Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr. William H. Marshall

(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)

By Julie Ruiz, PhD

"If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants," William Marshall, MD, said of his career, quoting English Physicist Sir Isaac Newton. "I came into radiology at a time when neuroradiology was becoming a burgeoning field. I also had splendid colleagues, residents, fellows, technicians, nurses, and administrators, and my whole career unfolded. Marvelous things happened to me. It was a wonderful ride, and I enjoyed it very much."

During a Stanford career as a professor of radiology (clinical) that spanned more than three decades, . . .

Dr. Marshall performed procedures, such as air encephalation, that he eventually replaced with angiograms, CT scans, and MRI studies, which were more accurate, much safer, and more easily tolerated by patients. Along with Les Zatz, MD, who was the first to develop neuroradiology at Stanford, Dr. Marshall was co-chief of the neuroradiology section for two years and served as the neuroradiolgy section chief for seventeen years. In addition, he published 36 refereed journal papers and was the chair of the Radiation Producing Machines Committee for twenty-two years, which was established for the protection of patients and the University.

Dr. Marshall's other accomplishments began early in his career and included winning a full-tuition scholarship to the University of Rochester in New York to study chemical engineering. After his third year as an undergraduate, he began medical school at the University of Rochester and was again awarded a full-tuition scholarship. Upon completing medical school and then an internship at the University Hospitals of Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Marshall served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps.

While stationed in the Red Sea, he wrote to his medical school mentor, Dr. Lucy Frank Squires, about possible residency programs. She encouraged him to apply to the residency program at Stanford, which was then headed by Dr. Henry Jones: "I went to talk with Dr. Jones, and he kept telling me about Stanford's other exceptional applicants. I thought I didn't have a chance, so I was delighted when he sent me a letter of acceptance!"

During his residency at Stanford, Dr. Marshall received an American Cancer Society Fellowship to study at the Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York where he saw a great volume of cases in neuro with Dr. Juan Taveras; in pediatrics with Dr. David Baker; and in chest with Dr. Kent Ellis. Returning to Stanford, Dr. Marshall participated in the first percutaneous coronary and renal angiographies under the direction of Herbert Abrams, MD: "We would come in the night before the procedure and make the catheters over steam, placing them in a dish of fluid. They were really floppy and hard to control, but they worked. When Herb was absent, I would keep the program running, which for a third-year resident was a tremendous opportunity. I am much indebted to Dr. Abram's continuing support down through the years."

After residency, Dr. Marshall was a radiologist for two years at the Palo Alto Medical Clinic and the Veterans Administration Hospital and then became an instructor in the Stanford Radiology Department. At that time, the idea of neuroradiology was popular on the East Coast and in Europe, but it was just beginning on the West Coast. Dr. Zatz decided that Stanford needed a separate section of neuroradiology, and he enlisted Dr. Marshall to help him: "Dr. Zatz was interested in how things worked while I was interested in how to apply them, so we made a good team."

During his career, Dr. Marshall took advantage of the opportunities offered by Stanford, which included important collaborations: "We wanted to work with the neurosurgeons and pathologists. Dr. Jake Hanbery, chief of neurosurgery, welcomed me into the operating room. Before each procedure, I would study and interpret their patients' films, and I would show the neurosurgeons in advance what the problems might be so they could plan their procedures. Once in the operating room, I could see whether my information was correct. It was the moment of truth. This collaborative support was important for the growth of our section. Similarly, we would go to the Pathology Department once a week, and the chief of neuropathology, Dr. Lucian Rubinstein, would make slices of brains in the exact same way the brains had been scanned so that we could compare the slices and scans. The pathologists were always astounded when we were able to find things they couldn't see because the slices only showed the brain surface, while our scanned images showed what was within the brain tissue."

University life offered many opportunities for growth, which included travel. During the Vietnam War, Dr. Marshall took a four-month unpaid leave of absence to serve as a surgeon/radiologist in civilian hospitals in DaNang, Vietnam, through the Volunteer Physicians for Vietnam Program. "I enlisted as a surgeon because they didn't want a radiologist. The equipment was terrible. They overexposed their patients in making the films, sometimes for as long as 45 seconds, and they under-processed the films. I was able to make high quality films in as little time as a second to one-tenth of a second. Once I demonstrated that I could increase the film quality and increase the level of clinical information, they sent me to all the county hospitals in that sector. The medical students from Hue were very eager to learn modern radiology, and they kept demanding that I hold teaching sessions every Saturday morning. They wanted the sessions to be three-hours long." During a sabbatical sponsored by the Swedish Medical Research Foundation, Dr. Marshall also traveled to Sweden to study cerebral circulation disease at the University of Lund, Sweden, with Sten Cronquist, MD, and then to Norway to study with Per Amundsen, MD. He later travelled to the University of Stellenbosch and Cape Town University in Cape Town, South Africa, as a visiting professor, and he combined this travel to South Africa with a surfing trip.

Overall, Dr. Marshall's greatest satisfaction has been providing opportunities for his trainees: "My trainees were excellent and wonderful people, and I thoroughly enjoyed working with them. They thought I knew more than they did, so I had to go home and read the journals and come back in the morning fresh. They kept me fresh and on my toes!"

Since he retired in 1993, Dr. Marshall enjoys spending time with his family: his wife, Jane; son, Herb; and daughter, Jenny. Jane was the unofficial secretary for the neuroradiology section: "She handled all the schedules; kept us all on track for the seventeen years I served as chief of the neuroradiology section; and held annual dinners for the outgoing trainees in our home." While Dr. Marshall was president of the Western Radiological Society, Jane also organized the annual meeting for the Society.

Although he still enjoys water skiing, snow skiing, and racquetball, Dr. Marshall gave up motorcycling due to crashes. Four or five times a week, he walks to the dish with Henry Jones, MD: "He was my professor, then my colleague, and now he's my friend. It's a friendship that has endured for fifty years."

New Faculty Hires and Promotions: January 5, 2009

Rebecca Fahrig, PhD, has been promoted to associate professor (research) of radiology. Prior to joining our Department, Dr. Fahrig completed her PhD in medical biophysics at the University of Western Ontario and a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. She has won numerous awards including selection as a School of Medicine Faculty Fellow for 2008; the Greenfield Award for the Best Paper (nonradiation dosimetry) published in Medical Physics in 2005; the Fellowship Research Trainee Prize (along with Zhu, PhD, candidate) from the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Physics Subcommittee; and the Faculty Scholar in Translational Research Award from the Baxter Foundation. Dr. Fahrig's research focuses on imaging for guidance of minimally invasive procedures. She works on software and hardware that permit the use of a C-arm system for both fluoroscopy and CT imaging, and she has extended the applications of C-arm CT to retrospectively gated 3D/4D cardiac imaging in the interventional suite. Dr. Fahrig is also developing an MR-compatible X-ray fluoroscopy system, including a new rotating-anode X-ray tube for use in the fringe fields of 1.5T and 3.0T magnets. For her prior award posting, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/04/awards_and_hono_36.html.

Awards and Honors I: December 19, 2008

Joong-Ho (Johann) Won, PhD, MS, received a Bio-X Travel Award for travel to the 94th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the 2008 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) to give a presentation on his work entitled, "Towards a Single Uncluttered View of the Abdominal Aortic Vessel Tree from CTA or MRA: Method and Preliminary Results." Based on his dissertation research, Dr. Won's RSNA talk focused on the development of two-dimensional visualization methods, which do not introduce crossings among the branches, for the abdominal aorta and its branches. As a member of Professor Sandy Napel's research group, Dr. Won is also exploring statistical signal processing and large-scale inference problems in biomedical applications. He is a recent graduate of the doctoral program in electrical engineering, where he also earned his master's degree in 2003. Outside of the lab, Dr. Won likes to spend time running, swimming, and traveling with his newly-wedded wife.

New Faculty Hires and Promotions: December 17, 2008

Daniel Rubin, MD, MS, was appointed as an assistant professor of radiology in 2008. He was recruited to Stanford Radiology to participate in building a new section in the information sciences called ISIS (Information Science in Imaging at Stanford). Dr. Rubin's background is in clinical and investigational radiology as a radiologist and as a researcher. He attended Stanford Medical School and received his master's degree in biomedical informatics. He also completed his residency as well as his body and research fellowships at Stanford University. Dr. Rubin's academic focus is on the intersection of biomedical informatics and imaging science where he is developing computational methods and applications to access and integrate diverse clinical and imaging data; to extract information and meaning from images; to enable data mining and the discovery of image biomarkers; and to translate these methods into practice by creating computer applications that will improve diagnostic accuracy and clinical effectiveness. He is also chair of the RadLex Steering Committee of the RSNA, an effort to create a standard terminology for all of radiology; chair of the Informatics Committee of the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN); and co-chair of the Medical Imaging Systems Working Group of the American Medical Informatics Association. For Dr. Rubin's prior blog posting, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/08/ncis_invivo_ima.html.

Did You Know?

Stanford physicist Fernando Sanford may have discovered the X-ray prior to German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen, who was credited with its discovery in 1895. In an 1894 article entitled "Some Experiments in Electric Photography" published in the Physical Review (V. 11; No. 4), Dr. Sanford described an experiment from 1891 in which he developed "a negative image upon a piece of bromide paper" as well as his method for photographing a coin. He described this later experiment in more detail in an article published in the San Francisco Chronicle on December 31, 1893, entitled "Without Lens or Light." For more information, please see the Stanford Alumni Review from October 1948, pages 10-11, and May 1949, pages 14-15.

Awards and Honors: December 15, 2008

Daniel Rubin, MD, MS, assistant professor, was awarded a Cum Laude Award from the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) for his exhibit, "'Saying It in Pictures': Annotation and Image Markup in Radiology." Of the 1,663 exhibits at the 2008 RSNA, Dr. Rubin's was one of only 56 selected for an award. Dr. Rubin also appears on Radcast@RSNA, along with Dr. Eliot Siegel, discussing his work on the Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid of the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Rubin's background is in clinical and investigational radiology as a radiologist and as a researcher. He attended Stanford Medical School and received his master's degree in biomedical informatics. He also completed his residency as well as his body and research fellowships at Stanford University. Dr. Rubin was recruited to Stanford Radiology to participate in building a new section in the information sciences called ISIS (Information Science in Imaging at Stanford). His academic focus is on the intersection of biomedical informatics and imaging science where he is developing computational methods and applications to access and integrate diverse clinical and imaging data; to extract information and meaning from images; to enable data mining and the discovery of image biomarkers; and to translate these methods into practice by creating computer applications that will improve diagnostic accuracy and clinical effectiveness. Dr. Rubin is also chair of the RadLex Steering Committee of the RSNA, an effort to create a standard terminology for all of radiology; chair of the Informatics Committee of the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN); and co-chair of the Medical Imaging Systems Working Group of the American Medical Informatics Association. For Dr. Rubin's prior blog posting, please see http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/08/ncis_invivo_ima.html.

Did You Know?

The functional MRI group is developing strategies to help people mitigate pain, depression, addiction, and impulse control. These MRI techniques provide real-time feedback of the brain during an exam.

Awards and Honors II: December 5, 2008

Yi Gu, MS; Frances Lau, MS; Guillem Pratx, MS; Paul Reynolds, MS; and Arne Vandenbrouke, PhD, members of the Molecular Imaging Instrumentation Laboratory (MIIL), received Medical Imaging Conference Trainee Grants to attend the 2008 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Medical Imaging Conference (IEEE MIC) in Dresden, Germany.

Yi Gu, MS, is researching the development of ultra-high resolution 3D positioning PET systems that use the semiconductor cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) instead of scintillation crystals for photon detection. For Mr. Gu's biography, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/12/awards_and_hono_62.html.

Frances Lau, MS, is a PhD candidate at Stanford, where she researches circuits and devices for biomedical applications. Ms. Lau is currently working on the design and development of hardware for a breast cancer imaging PET system. For her prior award posting, please see http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/12/awards_and_hono_24.html .

Arne Vandenbroucke, PhD, postdoctoral scholar, is researching the design of a high sensitivity, high resolution PET scanner for breast cancer imaging. For Dr. Vandenbroucke's biography please access his earlier award postings at http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/03/march_27_2008.html ; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/12/awards_and_hono_24.html ; and http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/12/awards_and_hono_23.html.

Awards and Honors I: December 5, 2008

Yi Gu, MS, PhD candidate in electrical engineering and a member of the Molecular Imaging Instrumentation Laboratory (MIIL), was awarded the Bio-X Travel Award for travel to the 2008 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Medical Imaging Conference (IEEE MIC) in Dresden, Germany, where he delivered an oral presentation entitled "Study of a High Resolution, 3-D Positioning Cross-Strip Cadmium Zinc Telluride Detector for PET." This presentation was based on Mr. Gu's dissertation research, which focuses on the development of ultra-high resolution 3D positioning PET systems that use the semiconductor CZT instead of scintillation crystals for photon detection. His other research interests include developing signal processing, modeling, as well as machine learning algorithms, and investigating their applications in medical instrumentation. Prior to entering the PhD program, Mr. Gu received his master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford in 2005. Outside of the lab, he likes to spend time hiking, participating in social dance, playing tennis, and traveling.

Did You Know?

Stanford Radiology has one of the largest 3D medical imaging laboratories in the U.S. and averages 900 exams per month. The lab converts CT and MRI scan information to a 3D format to improve diagnosis and treatment planning.

Awards and Honors I: November 25, 2008

Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (cardiology) and radiology, has received the Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation Junior Faculty Grant for his highly innovative basic science research. As a member of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Dr. Wu's lab focuses on cardiovascular gene and cell therapy.

For Dr. Wu's prior awards, please see http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/10/_joseph_wu_md_p.html ; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/06/awards_and_hono_42.html ; and http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/04/awards_and_hono_1.html.

Awards and Honors II: November 25, 2008

Yueyi Irene Liu, PhD, recently won the RSNA Trainee Research Prize for her project, "Bayesian Approach to Decision Support for Evaluating Thyroid Nodules Based on Multi-Variate Features," which she is researching in collaboration with Drs. Aya Kamaya, Terry Desser, and Daniel Rubin. She has also received a Stanford Medical Scholars Award to support further research with Dr. Kamaya. Dr. Liu is currently a fourth-year medical student at Stanford, where she also earned her PhD in biomedical informatics using computational methods to identify regions important in gene regulation. She received her BS in biochemistry from Peking University in Beijing, China. When Dr. Liu is not working, she enjoys traveling and hiking.

Awards and Honors: November 24, 2008

Shin Kamaya, BSE, was recently awarded a 2008 Radiological Society of North America Research Trainee Scholar Award for his scientific paper entitled, "Manganese-Enhanced MRI (MEMRI) Functionally Highlights Injured Peripheral Nerves in Neuropathic Pain," which he completed under the mentorship of Dr. Sandip Biswal. Mr. Kamaya grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is currently a third-year medical student at the University of Colorado-Denver. Prior to starting medical school, Mr. Kamaya received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, spent some time testing cars at GM, and built bridges in Nepal.

To view Mr. Kamaya's prior award posting, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/04/awards_and_hono_37.html.

Awards and Honors: November 21, 2008

Juergen K. Willmann, MD, assistant professor of radiology (abdominal imaging), has received the Radiology 2008 Editor's Recognition Award with Distinction. Dr. Willmann was chosen to receive this highly selective award, which only 105 of approximately 1,000 reviewers have received this year. Prior to becoming an assistant professor at Stanford, Dr. Willmann was a research fellow in the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS) while concurrently an assistant professor of diagnostic radiology at the Institute of Diagnostic Radiology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. He received his MD from the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany, and was the chief resident of diagnostic radiology at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. His research interests include multimodality molecular imaging of angiogenesis and stem cell therapy and the development of new ultrasonic imaging approaches for the early detection of cancer. When he is not working, Dr. Willmann enjoys fitness training, hiking, and playing the piano. To read Dr. Willmann's prior award postings, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/05/awards_and_hono_38.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/12/awards_and_hono_21.html; and
http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/02/awards_and_hono_18.html.

Awards and Honors: November 20, 2008

Adam de la Zerda, PhD candidate in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Laboratory (MMIL), has won three awards in support of his PhD progress: the Young Investigator Award as well as the Student Travel Award from the World Molecular Imaging Congress 2008, and the Bio-X Travel Award. Each of these honors was bestowed on him for his novel work on photoacoustic molecular imaging and its application for tumor molecular imaging using carbon nanotubes. From a group of over 300 candidates, Mr. de la Zerda was selected to receive the Young Investigator Award, which included a competition with oral presentations.

Mentored by Dr. Gambhir, Mr. de la Zerda researches photoacoustic molecular imaging and its broad applications for cancer. He is the PI of two predoctoral grants: one supported by the Department of Defense (DOD) Breast Cancer Research Program and the other by Bio-X. He holds a number of publications and patents and is also a professional reviewer for Nature Nanotechnology and Medical Physics. Prior to coming to Stanford, Mr. de la Zerda received his BScs Summa Cum Laude in computer science, electrical engineering, and physics from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel.

For Mr. de la Zerda's prior award announcement regarding the DOD Predoctoral Fellowship and the Bio-X Graduate Student Fellowship, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/07/awards_and_hono_45.html.
To read about Mr. de la Zerda's accomplishments in the Bay Area Entrepreneurship Contest, please see
http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/06/awards_and_hono_6.html.

New Staff Hires and Promotions: November 18, 2008

Shannon Walters, RT (R)(MR), was recently hired as a 3D technologist in the 3D Laboratory. Prior to joining our Department, Mr. Walters worked for Stanford Hospital & Clinics in MRI for two years. He earned his bachelor's degree in the radiologic sciences and is ARRT registered. Mr. Walters and his wife, who works at Stanford in the SHC Ultrasound Section, have a daughter who is twenty-one months old. Besides his daughter, Mr. Walters' other hobbies include mountain biking, camping, and hiking.

The 2008/2009 Annual Update Has Arrived!

Our new 2008/2009 Annual Update has arrived from the printer! This six-page marketing brochure highlights our Department's overall achievements during the past year. Please view our 2008/2009 Annual Update by clicking here: download file.

Awards and Honors: November 17, 2008

Jill Lin, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in Dr. David Paik's laboratory, was recently granted a travel award by the Helena Anna Henzl Gabor Young Women in Science Fund for travel to the 2009 World Molecular Imaging Congress in Montreal, Canada. Henzl-Gabor Travel Fellowships are awarded to postdoctoral scholars who demonstrate a positive attitude through professional teamwork and collaborations. Dr. Lin's work focuses on mathematical modeling regarding the phenomenon known as oncogene addiction using imaging of conditional expression mouse models, which has led to a quantitative understanding of the biological mechanisms of oncogenes. Her latest work is focused on translational applications including directly applying the model to human lung cancer response to directed therapeutics. The work is done in close collaboration with Dean Felsher in Oncology. Dr. Lin is a member of both MIPS and the newly formed ISIS section, which is focused on information sciences approaches in radiology.

Dr. Lin received her PhD in biomedical and health informatics from the University of Washington where she worked on the image analysis of craiosynostosis skull deformities with Dr. Linda Shapiro. She also received an MS in epidemiology from Stanford and a BS in mathematics from the University of Chicago.

Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS) Retreat 2008

At this year's MIPS retreat on October 8th, approximately 116 people gathered at the Fogarty Winery in Woodside, California, located on Skyline Drive. One of the retreat highlights was the "Words of Wisdom" session, in which faculty shared some of the lessons they have learned along their career paths. Chris Contag, PhD, introduced the key speaker, Stanford Professor of Chemistry Paul Wender, who is also a professor (by courtesy) of chemical and systems biology as well as a member of the Bio-X Program and the Cancer Center. Dr. Wender's address was entitled "The Molecular Revolution and Our Molecular Future." Opening and closing remarks for the one-day retreat were delivered by Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, professor of radiology and bioengineering, director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford, and chief of the Nuclear Medicine Division.

Other highlights included a special presentation on the new departmental section, ISIS (Information Sciences in Imaging at Stanford), by Sylvia Plevritis, PhD; a roundtable discussion; wine tasting; and a prize drawing.

To view retreat photos provided by courtesy of Fred Chin, PhD, please access http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=0f6271b12853bb07&sid=0AaNG7ZqzbN2LDvg. You can read the 2007 MIPS retreat posting by accessing http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/01/2007_mips_retre_1.html.

Celebrating 20 Years of Service at Stanford: Laura J. Pierce, MPA, RT(R)(CT)

Laura J. Pierce, MPA, RT(R)(CT), manager of the Stanford Radiology 3D Laboratory, has served Stanford for 20 years. She began working in the CT Department of Stanford Health Services in 1988 as a CT technologist, where her job duties included 3D imaging. In 1997, Ms. Pierce began working in our Department as manager of our 3D Lab. Prior to coming to Stanford, she worked in the Department of Radiology at Mills Peninsula Hospital in San Mateo, first as the senior radiologic technologist and then as a CT technologist. Ms. Pierce earned her Master of Public Administration from California State University, Hayward; her Bachelor of Arts in the management of information systems from Menlo College in Atherton, CA; and her Associate of Arts Degree in radiologic technology from Canada College in Redwood City, CA. She has co-authored 10 publications, and her numerous awards and honors include a Hounsfield Award from the Society of Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance.

Ms. Pierce describes her Stanford experience as follows: "I started working in Radiology at SHS in the CT Department, in August of 1988, when my daughter was five and my son was two. Now my daughter has graduated from Menlo College and is getting married, and my son is in his last year at Arizona State. It seems like time just really flies! I started doing 3D imaging with Dr. Geoffrey Rubin in the early 90s, and this led to the creation of the 3D Lab and my present position as manager of the Lab."

When she isn't working, Ms. Pierce can be found reading (she's in two book clubs), and staying physically active through activities such as swimming, skiing, and Pilates.

Did You Know?

Stanford interventional radiologists were the first in the Bay Area to perform radioembolization of liver malignancies.

Institute of Medicine Elects Dr. Gambhir to Membership

Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, has been elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies as one of its youngest members: "election to the IOM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service."

As chief of the Nuclear Medicine Division, director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), and professor of radiology as well as bioengineering, Dr. Gambhir has made exceptional contributions to advancing the medical sciences, health care, and public health.

In recognition of this very prestigious award, the Department held a celebration in Dr. Gambhir's honor on Wednesday October 22nd, from 4:00-6:00 PM in the Lucas Center courtyard. Below, please find photos, courtesy of Mark Riesenberger. For Dr. Gambhir's prior blog postings, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/06/awards_and_hono_41.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/07/nobel_symposium.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/07/stanford_radiol_1.html; http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/04/the_center_for_1.html; and http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/02/awards_and_hono_18.html.

Awards and Honors: October 21, 2008

Geoffrey D. Rubin, MD, professor of radiology; chief of cardiovascular imaging; vice chief of staff; and associate dean for clinical affairs, has been selected to present the annual Charles T. Dotter Memorial Lecture at the 2008 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association on November 11th in New Orleans, Louisiana. His presentation, "More Surprises from the Healthy Donut," explores the evolving role of computed tomography in the diagnosis and management of cardiovascular diseases.

Awards and Honors: October 20, 2008

Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (cardiology) and radiology, has been awarded the New Innovator Award from the National Institute of Health. This award is designed to stimulate highly innovative research and to support promising new investigators. Dr. Wu received the New Innovator Award for his research on pluripotent stem cells, which can develop into a wide variety of cell types. Dr. Wu's research produces pluripotent stems cells by turning skin cells into embryonic-like stem cells by using microRNAs, which are single-stranded RNA molecules that are involved in regulating gene expression. To read more about Dr. Wu's award, please access "Creative Thinking Nets Stanford Researchers Two NIH Pioneer Awards, Three New Innovator Awards" at the following link: http://med.stanford.edu/news_releases/2008/september/pioneer.html.

For Dr. Wu's prior awards, please see http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/06/awards_and_hono_42.html and http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/04/awards_and_hono_1.html.

Celebrating 5 Years of Service: Dirk Mayer, PhD

Dirk Mayer, PhD, senior research scientist, has been working as a Stanford senior research associate (50%) and as a research scientist (50%) at SRI International since 2007. As a senior research associate at the Lucas Center, Dr. Mayer works with Dan Spielman, PhD, focusing on the hyperpolarizer project, and with Drs. Pfefferbaum and Sullivan at SRI International. He originally came to Stanford as a postdoctoral scholar in October 2000, when he began working with Dr. Spielman, PhD, on MR spectroscopy and spectroscopic imaging. Three years later, he started as a research associate in the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS) under the guidance of Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, professor of radiology and bioengineering, and head of the Nuclear Medicine Division. Dr. Mayer's hobbies include basketball, scuba diving, and cooking.

Celebrating 5 Years of Service: Murugesan Subbarayan, PhD

Murugesan Subbarayan, PhD, physical science research associate, has worked in our Department for five years. Prior to coming to Stanford, Dr. Subbarayan obtained his BS in physics from Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu, India, and his MS and PhD in applied biological chemistry from Bombay University, Mumbai, India. He spent twenty years as a nuclear medicine scientist in the Radiation Medicine Center at the Tata Memorial Hospital Annex in Mumbai, India. In 2000, he began a two-year position as a postdoctoral research associate at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2002, Dr. Subbarayan worked in Dr. Gambhir's laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles, before coming to Stanford in 2003 as a physical science research associate in the Radiochemistry Facility of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS).

In addition to over 30 publications, Dr. Subbarayan's awards include the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) Award as a Visiting Scientist at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Department of Radiation Oncology; an American Society for Photobiology Travel Award; an American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Scholar Award; and an American Society for Photobiology Travel Award. During his career, he has also developed and standardized a radioiodinated meta-iodobenzylguanidine (mIBG) for the first time in India, which was made available locally for the detection and treatment of neural crest tumors. Dr. Subbarayan also holds two Indian patent rights on second generation photosensitizers porphyrin and chlorin derivatives. Along with the Head of Cylotron Radiochemistry Fred Chin, PhD, Dr. Subbarayan is producing a useful molecular probe for monitoring the therapeutic efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents in cancer patients called 18F-Fluorouracil for upcoming human studies.

Dr. Subbarayan's hobbies are meditation and reading.

Dr. Basu Completes the 2008 J.T. Rutherford Government Relations Fellowship

(From left to right: Congressional Representative Bono, Dr. Basu, and Congressional Representative Mack)

This past summer, Chief Resident Pat Auveek Basu, MD, MBA, spent one week meeting with congressional members (please see a few of their photos below) as well as representatives of federal regulatory agencies in Washington D.C. as a Fellow in the J.T. Rutherford Government Relations Fellowship from the American College of Radiology (ACR). This fellowship exposed him to state and federal legislative and regulatory processes that directly affect the future of radiology. Dr. Basu described his fellowship as "a unique educational experience, an enriching professional opportunity, and a very productive endeavor." He summarized his experience as follows:

"Despite interning in Congress and working on a senate campaign, this was the deepest I have been immersed in the politics of the nation's Capitol. I met with lobbyists about issues we face in our practice; briefed an investment firm on my economic outlook for the industry; and attended seminars on policy and legal matters in radiology. However, the highlight was meeting with close to a dozen congressional representatives and senators to discuss matters pertaining to healthcare policy and economics. The discussion revolved around the recent passing of H.R. 6331, which prevented a drastic cut to physician salaries, mandated accreditation for performing CT and MRI scans, and defined appropriateness criteria for medical imaging. We also had detailed discussions on health reform and the importance of radiology in modern medicine. Recently, I arranged for Congresswoman Anna Eshoo to visit the Department of Radiology this fall.

My interactions with U.S. congressional representatives reminded me how critical it is to maintain and support government relations as our legislators can make broad sweeping changes with only a limited amount of information because they are dealing with such a broad range of issues. In many of my interactions with Congress and the Senate, I felt that I was providing new information to them. For example, several were not familiar with the fact that radiologists do NOT self refer and, thus, have little power over imaging growth. In addition, I educated them on the fact that radiologists have replaced many archaic diagnostic and therapeutic exams, which has led to cost savings and better health outcomes.

I believe that political advocacy is paramount for all radiologists and, that in the future, their patients' health may depend on such vigilance."

For prior blog entries regarding Dr. Basu's awards and honors, please access the following postings: Awards and Honors II: July 15, 2008; Awards and Honors: February 2007; Awards and Honors: August 13, 2007; and "Our New Chief Residents for 2008-2009."

(Dr. Basu and Congressional Representative Bean)

(Dr. Basu and Congressional Representative Davis)

(Dr. Basu and Congressional Representative Jackson)

(Dr. Basu and Congressional Representative Sullivan)

Did You Know?

Stanford Radiologists are developing computer models to improve the understanding of cancer activity.

New 64-Slice Computed Tomography (CT) Scanner Installed at Stanford Hospital

(Front row: Carol Estades, AA; Colleen Kawakami, RN; James Soriano, RT; Amy Wu, RT) (Back row: Brooke Jeffrey, MD; Dominik Fleischmann, MD; Erica Durand, RT; Monglan Duong, RT; Michele Thomas, RT, CT Supervisor; Dottie Scharff, RN; Claudia Cooper, RT, Clinical Director; Audrey Strain, RT)

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

With the recent installation of a 64-slice CT scanner, the Hospital is performing state-of-the-art CT coronary studies for the first time in its history on inpatients and patients admitted to the emergency room with chest pain. Because of its improved detector technology and rotation speed, this new CT scanner produces a greater number of higher resolution images with shorter acquisition times and with a reduction in radiation exposure in smaller patients through individualized protocols.

Prior to the installation of the 64-slice scanner in the Hospital, coronary CT studies were performed at Blake Wilbur Clinic on an outpatient 64-channel system, but the Hospital is now performing state-of-the-art CT coronary angios on its inpatients and patients from the emergency room. With most "elective" outpatient CT scans still being completed at Blake Wilbur and more recently on the 64-channel CT scanner and dual-source CT scanner at Stanford Medicine Imaging Center (Palo Alto), the Hospital has greatly improved the availability of scanner slots for its inpatients and emergency room patients. Due to the striking improvements in image quality, number, and acquisition times provided by the new scanner, the Hospital can also better triage and manage emergency room patients with suspected acute coronary syndromes.

Cardiac imaging is just one area of patient care that the 64-slice CT scanner has dramatically improved. According to technologists Monglan Duong, RT, and James Soriana, RT, faster scan times mean a decrease in breath hold times for patients and an increase in the number and quality of images. For example, a typical chest scan on a 16-slice CT scanner takes 10 to 12 seconds compared to the new 64-slice scanner, which can finish a chest scan in 2 to 4 seconds. For gated-CT angio-chest-abdomen-pelvis studies on our new CT machine, patients can be scanned in 20 seconds, cutting breath hold times in half. While a 16-slice CT scanner generates around 300 to 400 images at 1.25 mm thickness for a routine chest-abdomen-pelvis scan, the 64-slice CT scanner can create 1,500 to 1,700 images at 0.625 mm thickness in less time. The faster scan speed also allows less contrast medium to be used in some cardiovascular applications.

All these improvements translate into an exciting environment for CT technologists and their supervisor, Michele Thomas, RT. Monglan Duong, RT, and James Soriana, RT, commented that the new 64-slice CT scanner has greatly increased the patient volume compared to the 8-slice and 16-slice CT scanners they currently have, and they succinctly described their reaction to the new technology: "We love it!" Since July, the Hospital has scanned more than 950 patients on the new scanner.

Paradoxically, the shorter scan times have made the planning of CT studies more challenging, requiring a greater attention to detail in order to customize a specific CT examination to an individual patient's body size, heart rate, and clinical question. Specific protocols and careful study planning are needed to take advantage of the powerful technology, which acquires data in just a few seconds when launched. The post processing of images from the 64-slice scanner is also more demanding. To extract the most useful data, the CT technologists and 3D lab must do complex reformations of the data sets. All of our technologists are highly experienced and motivated to perform this sophisticated planning and post processing, so that they can generate the best clinical images for our patients.

For prior Scan Times articles on the 3D lab and the Hospital CT team, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/04/3d_laboratory_c_1.html and http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/03/stanford_hospit.html.

NCI's In-Vivo Imaging Informatics Working Group (IVI-WG) Comes to Stanford (9/9 & 9/10)

The cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) Imaging Workspace will be hosting its fall 2008 "Face-to-Face Meeting" at Stanford University this coming September 9th & 10th. Daniel Rubin, MD, MS, incoming assistant professor of radiology, is one of the leaders of the activities within the caBIG Imaging Workspace. He arranged to host this year's annual meeting at Stanford for the purpose of familiarizing members of the Radiology Department and the Cancer Center with the projects and opportunities provided by caBIG, which will enable translational research and clinical care.

The caBIG Program or "cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid" is an initiative by the National Cancer Institute designed to use grid computing to interconnect clinical cancer centers nationally via common protocols, standards, and commonly adopted free and open source software. The ultimate goal of this project is to increase the availability of online data from cancer centers and other facilities across the world using grid technology. This will permit researchers and clinicians to personalize the care of cancer patients and make targeted treatment decisions by providing them with access to their patients' DNA make-up; tumor DNA and proteomic data; pharmacokinetic data; and anatomic and functional imaging data.

The Imaging Workspace includes nationally-recognized participants engaged in cutting-edge imaging informatics work and is just one of several workspaces that composes the caBIG Program. In the two years since its inception, this Workspace has focused on the development of tools for standardization and interoperability; the annotation of images to enable data mining in massive image databases; and the integration of images with molecular and clinical data. The Imaging Workspace has recently begun to leverage these development efforts to promote adoption activities.

The upcoming "Face-to-Face Meeting" will provide attendees the opportunity to become familiar with the Workspace's tools during an "Open Floor Tool Demos" session, which will allow participants to use the tools and ask the application development teams any questions they may have about them. Additional topics of discussion include strategic planning for future Workspace projects; the prioritizing of external collaboration opportunities; and the steps the Imaging Workspace intends to take to harmonize its efforts with other workspaces in order to fully leverage the caBIG Program's resources to impact patient outcomes positively.

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

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

Awards and Honors II: July 18, 2008

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

Awards and Honors III: July 17, 2008

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

Awards and Honors II: July 17, 2008

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

Awards and Honors I: July 17, 2008

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

Awards and Honors II: July 15, 2008

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

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

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

Awards and Honors I: July 15, 2008

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

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

Awards and Honors: July 14, 2008

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

Awards and Honors II: July 11, 2008

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

Awards and Honors I: July 11, 2008

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

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

Awards and Honors: July 9, 2008

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

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

Awards and Honors: July 3, 2008

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

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

Awards and Honors: June 24, 2008

Dr. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), professor of Radiology and Bioengineering, and head of the Nuclear Medicine Division, has received two honors: the Tesla Medal and induction into the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI). Dr. Gambhir was awarded the Tesla Medal from the United Kingdom Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) for his research in the multimodality molecular imaging of living subjects. Established in England, the RCR can trace its beginnings to the Roentgen Society, which was founded in 1897. The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) has approximately 7,600 members and Fellows all over the world whose goal is to advance the science and practice of radiology and oncology. Dr. Gambhir received his second honor at the one hundred year anniversary of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI) in 2008. At this anniversary meeting, Dr. Gambhir was inducted as a member of the ASCI, which is an honor society for physician-scientists. Election to the ASCI is an "extraordinary honor in academic medicine and industry" and is bestowed upon those who have achieved "significant accomplishments at a relatively early age." The ASCI is dedicated to advancing the research of human disease and to mentoring future generations of physician-scientists.

Dr. Gambhir has over 20 years of experience in molecular imaging in both animal models and patients. He has an active laboratory, with over 20 postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, that focuses on developing molecular imaging assays in small animal models for translation into clinical applications. Dr. Gambhir also has over 270 publications in the field of molecular imaging and leads several large NCI-funded programs, such as the In Vivo Cellular Molecular Imaging Center (ICMIC); the Center for Nanotechnology Excellence Focused on Therapy Response (CCNE-TR); and the Stanford Molecular Imaging Scholars (SMIS) Program. Dr. Gambhir is a member of the NCI Scientific Advisory Board; is past president (2006) of the Academy of Molecular Imaging; and serves on the board of several other societies. He is also on the editorial boards of several journals.

Awards and Honors: June 23, 2008

Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (cardiology) and radiology, has been selected as a 2008 Baxter Faculty Scholar. The Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation Faculty Scholar Program Awards provide support to new assistant professors to help in the early stages of their research careers. To learn more about Dr. Wu's research, please visit his lab at http://mips.stanford.edu/research/lab?lab%5fid=2883.

Awards and Honors: June 23, 2008

Michael Zeineh, MD, PhD, neuroradiology fellow, has been awarded a research fellow grant from the Radiological Society of North America Research and Education Foundation for his project, "Ultra-High Resolution Clinical Imaging of the Human Medial Temporal Lobe with 7T MRI." Dr. Zeineh has just finished his radiology residency in our Department. He completed his internship as well as received his medical and graduate degrees at the University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA). Dr. Zeineh is also a GE Radiology Seed Funding Recipient and received the 2003 Emil Bogen Research Prize in recognition of his work. His current research interests include the development and application of ultra-high resolution 7T MRI of the human medial temporal lobe with clinical applications to Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy.

Awards and Honors: June 12, 2008

David Wang, MD, third-year radiology resident, has won a research seed grant from the Radiological Society of North America Research and Education Foundation for his project, "Ultrasound-Mediated Suicide Gene Therapy with Molecularly Targeted Microbubbles in a Murine Model of Tumor Angiogenesis." Dr. Wang will pursue this project under the residency program's newly established research track and will take a six-month sabbatical from his residency training to work in the laboratories of Drs. Juergen Willmann and Sanjiv Gambhir. Prior to residency, Dr. Wang received his medical degree from Stanford and was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow. As a medical student, he founded and managed Pacific Free Clinic, a volunteer-run health clinic that offers basic healthcare services and onsite interpretation to low-income immigrants in Santa Clara County. The Clinic is currently in its fifth year of operation and has served thousands of patients. After residency, Dr. Wang plans to pursue a career in academic radiology.

Stanford Pediatric Radiology Excels at the Annual Society for Pediatric Radiology (SPR) Meeting

Congratulations to all members of the Stanford/Packard Pediatric Radiology Program, who contributed to a very successful showing at the Society for Pediatric Radiology meeting from May 6th-10th in Scottsdale, Arizona. Stanford Radiologists had a record 16 presentations and started off the meeting with a bang, presenting 6 out of the 15 cardiovascular scientific papers at the SPR opening session.

Congratulations to John MacKenzie, MD, and Shreyas Vasanawala, MD, PhD, who are recipients of an SPR research seed grant for their submission entitled "Evaluation of Pediatric Diseases with Hyperpolarized Carbon-13 Magnetic Resonance Imaging."

I received a large number of very positive comments from meeting attendees regarding Stanford's contribution to this year's meeting. On a personal note, I am very proud of all members of our Department who made contributions to this year's meeting.

--Rich Barth, MD, Associate Chair of Radiology and Chief of Pediatric Imaging at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (LPCH) (Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)

For a detailed list of the SPR presentations, please click below.

Scientific Papers:
"Replacement of Catheter Angiography with CT Angiography for the Evaluation of Pulmonary Artery Anatomy in Neonatal Pulmonary Atresia with Ventricular Septal Defect" (Frandics Chan, MD, PhD; Elsie T. Nguyen, MD; Jeffrey A. Feinstein, MD; Stanton B. Perry, MD; V. Mohan Reddy, MD; Frank L. Hanley, MD)

"Evaluation of Contrast Injection Strategies in CT Angiography of Cavopulmonary Connections" (Frandics Chan, MD, PhD; Beverley Newman, MD; Stanton B. Perry, MD; Jeffrey A. Feinstein, MD)

"Interobserver Variability and Accuracy in the Diagnosis of Aberrant Coronary Artery in Children Using Coronary CT Angiography" (Frandics Chan, MD, PhD; Humberto Wong, MD; Shreyas Vasanawala, MD, PhD; Jeffrey A. Feinstein, MD; Anne M. Dubin, MD; Beverley Newman, MD)

"Portosystemic Shunts Associated with L-Isomerism" (Beverley Newman, MD; Jeffrey A. Feinstein, MD, MPH; Ronald A. Cohen, MD; Brian Feingold, MD; Jacqueline Kreutzer, MD; Frandics P. Chan, MD, PhD; et al)

"Referral Patterns Favor the Use of Coronary MR Angiography for the Evaluation of Aberrant Coronary Artery in Older Children" (Humberto Wong, MD; Shreyas S. Vasanawala, MD, PhD; Beverley Newman, MD; Anne M. Dubin, MD; Frandics P. Chan, MD, PhD)

"Characteristics of Anesthesia Complications in Pediatric Patients Who Underwent Cardiovascular CT and MRI Examinations" (Patricia Chang, MD; Chandra Ramamoorthy, MD; Jumbo Williams, MD; Frandics P. Chan, MD)

"Management of Bronchopulmonary Malformations: Results of the SPR and ESPR Survey" (Erika Rubesova, MD; Beverley Newman, MD; Sanjeev Dutta, MD; Gary E. Hartman, MD; Jarrett Rosenberg, PhD; Richard A. Barth, MD)

"CT in Infant Dysphagic Choking ALTE" (Patrick D. Barnes, MD; John G. Galaznik, MD; Michael V. Kranokutsky, MD; John Plunkett, MD; Janice J. Ophoven, MD; Waney Squier, BSc, MD, ChB; et al)

"Imaging Findings in Congenital Rickets" (Kathy A. Keller, MD; Patrick D. Barnes, MD)

"Subjective Versus Objective MRI Measurement of Fetal Lunch Volumes" (Swati D. Deshmukh, BS; Erika Rubesova, MD; Jarrett Rosenberg, PhD; Susan Hintz, MD; Richard Barth, MD)

Posters:
"Literature Review: Normative Fetal Lung Volume by Gestational Age on MRI" (Swati D. Deshmukh, BS; Erika Rubesova, MD; Richard Barth, MD)

"Primary Hepatic Masses in the Pediatric Population: A Pictorial Review" (Jayne M. Seekins, DO; Shreyas S. Vasanawala, MD, PhD)

"Management of Bronchopulmonary Malformations: Results of the SPR and ESPR Survey" (Erika Rubesova, MD; Beverley Newman, MD; Sanjeev Dutta, MD; Gary E. Hartman, MD; Jarrett Rosenberg, PhD; Richard Barth, MD)

Postgraduate Course:
"MR Arthrography Made Simple: Indications and Techniques" (John D. MacKenzie, MD, MS)

Workshops:
"Misleading Lesions: Things That Look Good but Are Bad (And Vice Versa)" (John D. MacKenzie, MD, MS)

"Pediatric MDCT Protocol Workshop: Image Quality vs. Dose" (Shreyas S. Vasanawala, MD, PhD)

Awards and Honors: April 30, 2008

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

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

New Faculty Hires and Promotions: April 24, 2008

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

(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)

Awards and Honors: April 18, 2008

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

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

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

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

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

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

Awards and Honors: April 17, 2008

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

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

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

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

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


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

Awards and Honors: April 3, 2008

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

Announcements: March 13, 2008

**Special Guest Speaker**: Friday, March 14, 2008, from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM in Lucas RLC P083. Dr. Michael Federle, professor of radiology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, will deliver a talk entitled "Evaluation of the Incidental or Benign Focal Liver Mass."

Announcements: March 6, 2008

Bruce R. Rosen, MD, PhD, to Speak on Bio-X Frontiers in Interdisciplinary Biosciences: March 13th at 4:15 PM in the Clark Center Auditorium. Bruce R. Rosen, MD, PhD, will deliver a seminar entitled "Frontiers in Multimodal Brain Imaging"; please see his abstract below. Dr. Rosen is the director of the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School.

Abstract:
The last decade has witnessed an explosion in the growth of our ability to study the workings of the brain. While the tools of molecular biology, neurochemistry, and electrophysiology continue to provide insights into neuronal events at the molecular, synaptic, and cellular levels, a new generation of non-invasive imaging tools has allowed us to extend this understanding from the cellular to the systems level, and from animal models to humans. One technology of particular note was the development of several means to image hemodynamic and metabolic events non-invasively using magnetic resonance. Coupled with advanced methods to quantify the morphological characteristics of cortical and subcortical structures, these "functional magnetic resonance imaging" (fMRI) studies have enabled investigators throughout the world to have an unprecedented view into the workings of the human brain and mind. Systems neuroscientists have applied these methods to map in detail the organization of human vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and motor control, and to directly address how our brains are both similar to and different from animal ancestors. Cognitive scientists have extended our understanding to higher order processing of functions like memory and attention, and they have begun detailed studies of distinctly human functions such as language. Scientists in fields as diverse as education and economics now use the tools of functional neuroimaging, and such studies have become powerful cultural icons in connecting the brain with behavior.

Though technological innovation was rapid during the last decade, it is certain to continue at an even more accelerated pace during the next. PET technology will continue to be the dominant means to obtain molecular imaging data, and will provide a direct neurochemical view into the synapse, with and without pharmacological interventions. MRI technology will also advance, and include ever-higher field strength magnets already approaching 12 Tesla. Such systems will allow us to study the building blocks of cortical organization, and permit us to directly map connections between functional regions. New technologies will also emerge, including direct tomographic imaging with light (Diffuse Optical Tomography--DOT) and novel means to combine MRI with electromagnetic recordings acquired with EEG and its magnetic cousin, MEG (magnetoencepholography). These technologies will extend our ability to capture views of brain function in "real time" in all patient populations, including small children, and they will ultimately allow us to test directly new computational and physical models of how the brain works, grows, and is perturbed in disease.

For more information, please contact Fiona Sincock.

Announcements I: March 5, 2008

Professor Lucio Frydman to Give Talk Entitled: "NMR and MRI Applications of Spatially Encoded Ultrafast Spectroscopy": Friday, March 7th, from 11:15 AM to Noon in the Lucas Learning Center. Dr. Frydman is from the Weizman Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.

Pizza will be served after Dr. Frydman's presentation. For more information, please contact Betsy Sowder.

Announcements: March 3, 2008

Dr. Alexej Jerschow to Deliver Talk Entitled "23Na and 1H CEST MRI: Contrast in Cartilage and Intervertebral Disc": Friday, March 7th, at 10:00 AM in the Clark Center Auditorium. Associate Professor Alexej Jerschow, from the Department of Chemistry at New York University (NYU), will be visiting Stanford on March 7th to give a talk on his novel work at high field. He will be visiting the Lucas Center afterwards to see our facilities and to meet our scientists over lunch. For more information, please see his abstract below and/or contact Dr. Garry Gold.

ABSTRACT:
Glycosaminogycan (GAG) plays numerous vital functions in the human body. GAG concentration [GAG] in vivo is a sensitive biomarker indicative of both osteoarthritis (OA) and intervertebral disc (IVD) degenerative diseases. By exploiting the exchangeable protons of GAG, we demonstrate that one can directly map the localized GAG concentration in vivo using a chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) method. This gagCEST approach is presented on both human cartilage and animal discs. We also show the observation of the Nuclear Overhauser Effect (NOE) from macromolecules in tissue, which contributes significantly to the CEST/MT contrast mechanism in MRI and may lead to further diagnostic abilities. GAG contrast may also be enhanced by employing intermolecular multiple-quantum coherences.

Monitoring the bound sodium pool can be an important tool for assessing the onset of tissue disorders. Practical clinical 23Na MRI methods, furthermore, often do not allow one to use sufficiently small voxel sizes such that only the tissue of interest is seen, and a large signal contamination can arise from sodium in synovial fluid. Methods are presented for the clean separation between the signal from bound or ordered 23Na over that of free 23Na, which is particularly important and can greatly enhance the potential of 23Na-MRI as a diagnostic tool. 23Na MRI also offers the possibility of monitoring local anisotropic motion. 3T and 7T in vivo volumetric 23Na images are presented. Monitoring GAGs via 23Na or CEST can also be important for assessing heart valves or corneae.

References:
W. Ling, R. R. Regatte, G. Navon, A. Jerschow, Assessment of Glycosaminoglycan Concentration in Vivo by Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (gagCEST). Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, in press 2008, http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0707666105v1.

W. Ling, R. R. Regatte, M. E. Schweitzer, A. Jerschow. Characterization of Bovine Patellar Cartilage by NMR. NMR Biomed., in press 2008, http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/114294661/ABSTRACT.

Awards and Honors: March 3, 2008

(Drs. Ganguly and Pelc)

Arundhuti (Arun) Ganguly, PhD, research associate, received an Honorable Mention Award for her poster entitled "On the Angular Distribution of Bremsstrahlung" at the 2008 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) "Physics of Medical Imaging" Conference in San Diego in February of 2008. She co-authored this poster and an associated conference paper with Professor Norbert Pelc. Only five candidates were selected for this award out of 120 submissions. Working with Professors Rebecca Fahrig, PhD, and Norbert Pelc, PhD, Dr. Ganguly has been a research associate in Radiology since 2004. She has also received the Sylvia Sorkin Greenfield Co-Author Award for the Best Paper in Medical Physics (2005), and she was a co-recipient of the Young Investigator Award from the Association for Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) in 2004. Prior to becoming a research associate, Dr. Ganguly was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford working with Professors Fahrig and Pelc. Dr. Ganguly received her doctoral degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) Buffalo, New York, in physics. While at Stanford, she has participated in the development of a truly hybrid X-ray/MR system at Stanford. Her primary interest is in the development of image-guidance technologies for minimally invasive procedures. Her current research includes the development of imaging protocols using a C-arm CT system, the synthesis of novel targeted imaging contrast agents, and X-ray detector development work.

The Richard M. Lucas Center for Imaging Celebrates Over 15 Years of Service

The Richard M. Lucas Center for Imaging in 1992 (left) and 2008 (right).

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

At the dedication of the Richard M. Lucas Center for Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging on May 19, 1992, the Nobel Prize winner in chemistry from Zurich, Switzerland, Professor Richard Ernst, envisioned no limits to MR technology: "The only property of the body that one hasn't found with MR is the soul." While we still haven't imaged the soul, our imaging technology has greatly advanced since the opening of the Lucas Center 15 years ago.

The Lucas Center emanated from Dr. Gary Glazer's vision of creating a premier imaging research program to enhance the clinical research efforts of the Department. When he became chair of Stanford Radiology in 1989, the diagnostic radiology offices and research space were limited to one basement corridor in the Grant Building. Dr. Glazer invited Drs. Gary Glover, PhD, and Norbert Pelc, PhD, to Stanford to form a basic science team. They initiated the beginnings of the Radiological Sciences Laboratory (RSL), which was first housed in the Grant Building and then moved to the Lucas Center upon its completion in 1992. Donna Cronister was hired in 1990 as the RSL administrative services manager and became the administrative director for the Lucas Service Center in 1992.

Construction of the Lucas Center began in 1990 funded by the Richard M. Lucas Foundation. Don Lucas, venture capitalist and Stanford graduate, had started the foundation in honor of his older brother, Richard, who died of cancer in 1981. The Lucas Center was finished by 1992, adding approximately 12,500 square feet to our Department. Scientists at the Lucas Center in 1992 conducted 30 research studies using one 1.5T MRI scanner (human); one 4.7T MRI (animal); and one 9T MRI scanner (tissue). The total NIH funding in 1992 was about $1 million.

(Don, Mary, and John Lucas with Peter Bing (L) at the 1992 dedication ceremony for the opening of the Lucas Center. John, Mary, and Don (R) in front of the bust dedicated to Richard M. Lucas.)

By 1993, RSL had doubled the number of its faculty by adding Sandy Napel, PhD, in 1991 and Michael Moseley, PhD, in 1993. Dan Spielman, PhD, joined RSL as a research affiliate in 1990 and became an assistant professor in 1993. There were also two postdoctoral fellows and six scientific staff members including Tom Brosnan, PhD; Lori Pelc, PhD; and Anne Marie Sawyer, RRT.

In the years following its opening, the Lucas Center experienced unprecedented growth. In 1995, Dr. Glover received funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to launch a full-scale academic radiology training program at the Lucas Center: the Center for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technology at Stanford (CAMRT). Funded through 2010, the CAMRT joins the resources of RSL with those of the Electrical Engineering Department's Magnetic Resonance Systems Research Laboratory. From 1997 to 1998, the Lucas Center was expanded, adding 5,000 square feet to its facilities. As part of this expansion, the 3D Medical Imaging Laboratory, which had been in the Grant Building, moved to the Lucas Center, and we became one of the first research programs to install a 3T MR magnet.

(Pictures from the first expansion.)

The second expansion of the Lucas Center occurred between the years 2003 to 2005 and added an additional 20,000 square feet of space, making our Center one of the world's largest academic centers for medical imaging. With the second expansion, the Lucas Center also acquired a 7T whole-body magnet; a cyclotron to produce isotopes; more wet labs and offices for developing our Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS); and a unique education center equipped with the latest technology for fully interactive imaging seminars. Because of its high quality and innovative design, our Center received the 2007 Design Honor Award: Excellence in Architecture from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), San Francisco Chapter (http://www.aiasf.org/Programs/Awards_Program/Design_Awards.htm).

(2004 view of the Lucas Center from the roof during the second expansion.)

After fifteen years and two expansions, the Richard M. Lucas Center for Imaging now houses 15 faculty members in RSL; 2 radiology faculty members in the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS); and over 70 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. During the past year, our scientists conducted over 300 studies on our three magnets (a 1.5T, 3T, and 7T). With the remarkable increase in scanning speed and resolution of the 7T, we are imaging brain structures that have not been visualized before. We have also initiated two new research programs: high-intensity focused ultrasound and hyperpolarized C13 MR.

Since the opening of the Lucas Center, we have expanded our scope beyond MRI to include cellular and molecular imaging, moving us into the era of nanotechnology. To reflect the extension of our scope, the Lucas Center was renamed the "Richard M. Lucas Center for Imaging" in 2007. The Richard M. Lucas Center has also grown into a major resource for service in medical imaging. From January 1, 2006, to February 28, 2007, the Lucas Center supplied imaging services to over 70 projects and to 45 principal investigators (PIs).

Those who were present at the inception of the Lucas Center shared their impressions. Dr. Glover remembers standing in his Grant Building office just before the move into the new Lucas Center in 1992 and talking with Gary Glazer, MD, who asked him, "Did you ever think we'd get this big?" Gary Glover responded, "No, not to the point of needing a new building." In fact, shortly after the move into the Lucas Center and after each expansion, the Lucas personnel quickly outgrew their space. "The enthusiasm and excitement surrounding our research is fueled by having the best faculty and students in the world and incredible support from Gary Glazer," Gary Glover remarked. "Most radiology research programs do not have the support our lab has received from their Department chairs. Gary has made it easy for me and my colleagues by fostering such a large investment in research. Indeed, he has been the driving force behind the success of our Department's research enterprise. One result of his vision and enthusiasm for research is that we have retained all but one of our faculty over the past 18 years."

Gary Glover has tried to grow the RSL and Lucas Center and still retain a community: "It's harder maintaining cohesion with 90 people as opposed to 10 people, but I think we have succeeded in keeping comradery and closeness." Reflecting back on his years as part of RSL, Tom Brosnan, PhD, also remembers how small the lab was in 1991: "There weren't enough people for a softball team, but every Friday at 5 PM we had a party and everyone brought food. We even had an annual lab ski trip, but the lab is too big for that now." When RSL moved from the Grant Building to the Lucas Center in 1992, Dr. Brosnan thought, "We'll never fill up all of this space!" The biggest change for him has been the significant growth in personnel and in the nature of his projects: "There are more projects to do now, and they are more complex. In retrospect, the work I did initially for RSL seems simpler than what I'm doing now."

In the future, we anticipate "Lucas Three," the third expansion of our Center to support growth in anatomic imaging, molecular imaging, and nanotechnology. We will continue to promote interdisciplinary translational research through our recent "Academic Initiatives": the Stanford Center for Early Neoplasia Detection; the Aging Brain and Cognitive Disorders; and Image-Guided Therapy. Our investments in our translational research efforts have already resulted in the establishment of three NIH-funded centers that complement the efforts of the Lucas Center: the Center for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technology (CAMRT); the In Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Center (ICMIC); and the Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence Focused on Therapy Response (CCNE-TR). As we continue to build better tools for imaging structure and function, we hope to make a large impact on medicine and biology.

Announcements I: February 21, 2008

"Representing Uncertainty via the Logarithm of Odds": Monday, February 25th, at 1:00 PM in the Clark Center S360. Kilian Pohl, PhD, from Harvard Medical School will be delivering a lecture on "Representing Uncertainty via the Logarithm of Odds." In this talk, Dr. Pohl will describe a new representation for capturing the uncertainty of objects in images based on the logarithm of odds. This representation addresses several problems in vision as it provides an intrinsic, probabilistic representation for combining and deforming objects. He will show how this representation preserves the statistical characteristics of interpolated shapes, which is an important aspect for many longitudinal neuroscience studies. He will also use the technology in order to solve the mean-field approximation in the level set framework. Conventional likelihood models are combined with a curve length prior on boundaries, and an approximate posterior distribution on labels is sought via the mean field approach. Optimizing the resulting estimator by gradient descent leads to a level set style algorithm where the level set functions are the logarithm of odds encoding of the posterior label probabilities. Applications with more than two labels are easily accommodated. The label assignment is accomplished by the maximum a posteriori rule, so there are no problems of "overlap" or "vacuum."

BIOGRAPHY:
Kilian Pohl received his doctorate in computer science from the Medical Vision Lab at MIT and is currently an instructor for Harvard Medical School. His main research area is computational image analysis with an emphasis on studying statistical models from a Bayesian perspective. Kilian has been the recipient of several awards such as last year's Medical Image Analysis--Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) '06 Best Paper Prize for his publication, "Using the Logarithm of Odds to Define a Vector Space on Probabilistic Atlases." For more details about his research, please visit his website at http://people.csail.mit.edu/pohl.

Rex Newbould's Farewell Party Pictures

On Friday, January 25th, our Department wished Rex Newbould, PhD, research associate, farewell after three years of service. He is currently working at GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) Clinical Imaging Centre in London, England, under another Lucas Center alumnus, Alex De Crespigny.

To view pictures from his party, please access
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaNG7ZqzbN2LCJg&emid=sharview&linkid=link5.

Awards and Honors: February 19, 2008

The research of the Cardiovascular Molecular Imaging Lab was recently featured on the cover of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine (December 1, 2007, v. 48:12). The cover highlights their work on the comparison of imaging techniques for tracking cardiac stem cell therapy. To view their abstract from the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, please access http://jnm.snmjournals.org/cgi/content/full/48/12/1916. Members of the lab research cardiovascular molecular imaging of stem cell transplantation and gene therapy using different molecular markers.

New Faculty Hires and Promotions: February 12, 2008

Justus Roos, MD, was appointed as an assistant professor of radiology in 2008. Dr. Roos began at Stanford in January 2005 as a research fellow and became a research associate in our Department in January 2006. Prior to Stanford, he was an attending radiologist at the University Hospital, Zurich. Dr. Roos completed his residency in diagnostic pathology at the University Hospital, Geneva, and diagnostic radiology at the University Hospital, Zurich. His current research focuses on CT applications, with two main scholarly concentrations: the computer-aided detection of pulmonary nodules in chest CT scans and cardiovascular CT visualization. One of his major projects includes the development and validation of new 3D post-processing methods of CT angiography data in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease. In 2006, Dr. Roos received the Hounsfield Award from the Society of Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance (SCBT/MR) for his scientific research. When he is not working, Dr. Roos enjoys spending time with his wife and two children as well as pursuing his hobbies: alpine skiing, playing tennis, mountain biking, cooking, and dancing.

Awards and Honors: February 12, 2008

The Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) recently featured research from the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab (MMIL) and the Yock lab on the cover of their February 5, 2008, V. 51:5 issue. To view their abstract from this issue on the noninvasive imaging of reporter genes after percutaneous delivery in swine, please access http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/full/51/5/595. Members of MMIL are developing imaging assays to interrogate cells for mRNA levels, cell surface antigens, intracellular proteins, and protein-protein interactions using technologies such as micro positron emission tomography (microPET), bioluminescence optical imaging, fluorescence optical imaging, micro computerized axial tomography (microCAT), ultrasound, and photoacoustics.

Awards and Honors: February 8, 2008

Natesh Parashurama, MD, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab (MMIL), has received two awards: a Speaker and Travel Award for the Stem Cell Bioengineering Conference (American Institute of Chemical Engineers AICHE) and a 2008-2009 Dean's Fellowship for his proposal, "Molecular Imaging of the Cardiac Stem Cell Niche." Dr. Parashurama received his BS in chemical engineering from MIT; his medical degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo; his PhD in chemical engineering from Rutgers University, New Jersey; and a three-year graduate research fellowship at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Parashurama's research interests include applying quantitative molecular imaging tools to study cell proliferation and differentiation; cell function; the cellular micro-environment; cell trafficking and homing; the immune response; and cell therapy-mediated gene therapy.

Awards and Honors: February 6, 2008

Hao Peng, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in the Molecular Imaging Instrumentation Laboratory (MIIL), has been awarded a 2008-2009 Dean's Postdoctoral Fellowship for his proposal, "Investigation of a Miniature PET Camera Insert Dedicated to Simultaneous PET/MRI Mammography and MRI-guided Biopsy." Dr. Peng completed his BS and MS degrees at Wuhan University, China, in applied physics. He received his PhD at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, from the Medical Physics Program. Dr. Peng's current research interests include the creation of breast cancer-dedicated positron emission tomography (PET) cameras using avalanche photodiode (APD) and cadmium-zinc-telluride (CZT) semiconductor detectors as well as the development of a simultaneous PET/MRI dual modality scanner that can improve diagnosis accuracy and facilitate MRI-guided biopsy. When he is not working, he loves to play tennis and basketball.

Awards and Honors: February 5, 2008

Zibo Li, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in the Molecular Imaging Probe Laboratory (MIPL), has received the Benedict Cassen Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM), which is granted to recipients who have an excellent record and exceptional research ability. Dr. Li's research focuses on the development of novel tracers (peptides, proteins, growth factors, antibodies, and antibody fragments-based) for near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence, MRI, SPECT, and PET imaging of small animal tumor xenografts and, potentially, of cancer patients.

Dr. Lawrence "Rusty" Hofmann Featured in AuntMinnie.com

By Julie Ruiz, PhD

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)

Visiting Faculty: January 31, 2008

Hadassa Degani, PhD, is a recent visitor to our Department and on sabbatical from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Professor Degani has also spent a sabbatical year at Yale University and at the Pasteur Institute, as well as summers at the University of Oxford; University of the UK; Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia; and the University of Pennsylvania, where she also serves as an adjunct professor. She is known internationally for her work in MR imaging of breast cancer and, more recently, for her work on prostate cancer. She received a BSc in chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1966, an MSc in physical chemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1969, and a PhD in chemistry from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1974. Her postdoctoral research was carried out both at Stony Brook and at the University of Tel-Aviv. In 1976, she joined the staff of the Weizmann Institute; she currently serves as a full professor in the Department of Biological Regulation and the Willner Family Center for Vascular Biology. Professor Degani is the incumbent of the Fred and Andrea Fallek Professorial Chair for Breast Cancer Research.

Professor Degani's research focuses on the development of magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy in biomedical research and the integration of these state-of-the-art methodologies with modern molecular biology. Specifically, her research centers on the hormonal regulation of breast cancer, as well as the role of blood vessels in the progression and metastasis of this malignancy. She and her colleagues use magnetic resonance to detect and diagnose breast and prostate cancer and to monitor the effectiveness of cancer therapy. For more information on her research and publications, please access http://www.weizmann.ac.il/Biological_Regulation/degani/. Professor Hadassa Degani and her husband, Dr. Gabriel D. Degani, have two daughters and a son; they also enjoy being grandparents to three grandchildren.

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)

Announcements IV: January 23, 2008

Special Seminar Series on Radiological Informatics: As part of a special series on radiological informatics, we are offering seminars on Jan. 23rd, 24th, 28th, and 31st. Please click on the "Continue Reading This Entry" link below to find the title of each talk as well as the presenter's abstract and biography. For more information, please contact Dr. Sandy Napel.

1) Wednesday, January 23rd, at noon; Alway M104
Julia Patriarche, PhD
Mayo Clinic

Title:
"Detection of Change in Serial Magnetic Resonance Studies of Brain Tumor Patients"

Abstract:
The comparison of serial magnetic resonance imaging studies is a common task in clinical radiology. It is, however, widely considered not to be very reproducible. There are a variety of reasons for this, including the confounding of disease-related changes with acquisition-related changes and issues related to information presentation. We have constructed a computational system that performs the comparison of serial magnetic resonance imaging studies and presents changes in the form of a color-coded change map, superimposed on the anatomical images. The system additionally formats the output as a quantitative summary. We used this quantitative summary to conduct a study with 88 brain tumor serial comparisons. Our results were suggestive that it may be possible to use the change detector to identify cancer changes months earlier than is possible using manual inspection, alone.

We have recently implemented an integrated system for the change detector, which includes a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI not only displays the color-coded change map, but also allows the user to turn it on and off. The GUI provides linked cursors, and it additionally provides "flicker" functionality to allow the user to rapidly alternate between the serial acquisitions. We are preparing to deploy the GUI change detector clinically, which will greatly increase the size and variety of possible future research studies and which will allow the direct clinical application of this technology.

The change detector is an example of a layered artificial intelligence (AI) architecture in which each layer builds upon the layer below, with each layer accomplishing progressively more sophisticated analyses. Specifically, the change detector is built on a lesion-finder application. The lesion finder is built on an automated sample point's algorithm. The automated sample point's algorithm is built on a significant region detection algorithm. Each of these algorithms has merit in its own right, and each can be used in a modular fashion in a variety of contexts. As a unified application, they together automatically address a complex clinical task. Early detection of changes may facilitate improved care through more rapid intervention following recurrence. It may also facilitate screening and personalized therapy. We additionally see the change detector as providing a solution to the problem of novel therapy comparison, by providing fully automatic, reproducible, and quantitative measures of change. We envision the change detector as a model of layered artificial intelligence, not only freeing the radiologist from the drudgery of information overload, but providing a model whereby greater information will enable many sophisticated automatic analyses by the computer, with the computer bringing to the attention of the clinician only what is relevant.

Biography:
Julia Patriarche is an informatics fellow in the Radiology Informatics Lab at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. She has completed an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering/computer engineering option at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada; a PhD in medical science/medical imaging; and a neurology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.

2) Thursday, January 24th, at noon; Alway M112
Ross Mitchell, PhD
University of Calgary

Title:
"Virtual Biopsies: Non-Invasive Molecular Diagnosis"

Abstract:
Our expanding knowledge of the genetic basis and molecular mechanisms of cancer is beginning to revolutionize the practice of clinical oncology. Increasingly, molecular biomarkers of prognosis and treatment response are being used to classify tumors and direct treatment decisions. Advanced medical imaging platforms such as MRI, PET, and CT provide incredibly detailed images of tumors that reflect their structure, biochemistry, physiology, and perhaps genetics.

Studies by the Imaging Informatics Lab at the University of Calgary, and others, show that information about a tumor's molecular phenotype can be obtained by using novel algorithms and computational tools to more fully analyze tumor images. Such "virtual biopsies," performed by applying these image-processing techniques to routine diagnostic images (e.g. MRI, PET, or CT), could be a rapid and powerful means of assaying important cancer biomarkers. If successfully validated, and proven to have suitable sensitivity and specificity, the use of non-invasive, imaging-based molecular diagnostic tests would offer significant advantages over conventional surgical biopsies. For example, this could be important in the context of large heterogeneous tumors, multiple metastases, surgically inaccessible tumors, and settings where disease progression needs to be monitored frequently over time. Virtual biopsy research lies at the intersection of molecular imaging, medical imaging physics, and biocomputation, and is highly complementary to these areas. This presentation will cover key enabling technologies behind virtual biopsies and discuss some recent successes in this research.

Biography:
Dr. Ross Mitchell is an associate professor of the Departments of Radiology and Clinical Neurosciences and an adjunct professor of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Calgary. He is also the founding and chief scientist of Calgary Scientific Incorporated, a Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada; a Donald Paty Scholar; and an Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Senior Scholar. Dr. Mitchell has received numerous awards for his research including the Berlex Canada MS Research Award; several Dean's Awards of Excellence from the University of Western Ontario; Best Paper Awards from the Canadian Association of Radiologists and the International Organization for Medical Physics; and two Awards of Merit from the Radiological Society of North America. Dr. Mitchell has a proven research track-record comprising 11 patents, 73 invited presentations, 63 peer-reviewed articles, and 150 published abstracts.

Dr. Mitchell supervises a research team investigating space/frequency analysis, medical image processing, as well as segmentation and visualization technologies. For more information, please see, http://www.ImagingInformatics.ca.

3) Monday, January 28th, at noon; Alway M104
Jianming Liang, PhD
Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc., Malvern, PA

Title:
"Dynamic Chest Image Analysis, United Snakes, and
Computer-Aided Detection"

Abstract:
Modern medical imaging systems generate enormous datasets with ever higher coverage and resolution, but it is the clinically relevant information in these images that is paramount. I shall present several novel computational approaches for gleaning such information from chest X-ray images to reveal pulmonary functional abnormalities, for segmenting and characterizing organ motions, and for detecting the most lethal diseases from CT images, including pulmonary embolism and colonic polyps. The former approach has yielded model-based analysis and visualization methods for revealing focal and general abnormalities of lung ventilation and perfusion based on a sequence of digital chest fluoroscopy frames collected with the dynamic pulmonary imaging (DPI) technique.

In particular, I shall present a novel multiresolutional method with an explicit ventilation/perfusion analysis model, as well as "United Snakes," an interactive deformable model framework for lung registration and motion analysis, cardiac shape and motion analysis, and other applications. Finally, I will introduce a fast yet effective concentration-oriented tobogganing technique for efficient local artery/vein separation and multiple instance classification for the automated detection of pulmonary embolism from CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA), and a virtual colonoscopy technique that simplifies the complex 3D-polyp detection problem into a 2D-disk identification problem, significantly improving sensitivity while reducing computation time.

Biography:
Dr. Jianming Liang is a staff scientist at Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., where he has been engaged in research and development activities in the domain of computer-aided diagnosis in medical imaging since December 2002. He holds a PhD degree (2001) in computer science and carried out his thesis work at the Turku Centre for Computer Science in Finland and in the Visual Modeling Group at the University of Toronto in Canada. From 2001-02, he was a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada Industrial Research Fellow. His research on dynamic chest image analysis received a University Faculty Research Award from the University of Turku. His other prizes include a Siemens Recognition Award and a Best Paper Award at the 2007 International Congress of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery in Berlin, Germany.

4) Thursday, January 31st, at noon; Clark Center Auditorium
Daniel Rubin, MS, MD
Stanford University

Title:
"Imaging Informatics: From Bench to Bedside and Beyond"

Abstract:
Vast amounts of knowledge lie within the grasp of radiology researchers and practitioners to help them to understand disease and to practice effectively, but much current biomedical knowledge is not being accessed and utilized. The explosion in images and non-imaging data is challenging the ability of radiology researchers to identify and to pursue promising new investigational directions. The latest results that researchers produce are not always informing radiologists in their day-to-day work, as there are few tools to help them to identify, retrieve, and use pertinent clinical and research knowledge at the point of care. Consequently, there is variability among radiologists in their clinical effectiveness, and opportunities for translating new discoveries into practice are being lost. The methods and tools of biomedical informatics are enabling biologists to cope with similar problems arising from the information explosion in biology, and they are adopting informatics techniques to function effectively in the e-Science era.

In this presentation, I will discuss ongoing work to develop and apply biomedical informatics techniques to meet the information challenges in radiology. Specifically, knowledge representation, semantic annotation, statistical natural language processing, data integration/warehousing, computer reasoning, and decision support are key directions in informatics needed to create intelligent applications for radiology. Future advances in radiology will lie at the intersection of imaging science and biomedical informatics. The new computer applications that emerge will change clinical imaging workstations into knowledge portals and enable radiologists to keep pace with new discoveries, to exploit new radiology knowledge, and to practice more consistently and effectively.

Biography:
Daniel Rubin is a research scientist in the Center for Biomedical Informatics Research and clinical assistant professor of radiology at Stanford University. He is director of scientific development for the National Center for Biomedical Ontology, a National Center for Biomedical Computing of the NIH Roadmap. He is chair of the RadLex Steering Committee of RSNA, chair of the Informatics Committee of the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN), and co-chair of the Medical Imaging Systems Working Group of the American Medical Informatics Association. In addition to informatics, his background includes clinical and investigational radiology, as a radiologist and researcher. His academic focus is the intersection of biomedical informatics and imaging science, developing computational methods and applications to access and integrate diverse clinical and imaging data, to extract information and meaning from images, to enable data mining and discovery of image biomarkers, and to translate these methods into practice by creating computer applications that will improve diagnostic accuracy and clinical effectiveness.

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)

Announcements III: January 22, 2008

Special Seminar Series on Radiological Informatics: As part of a special series on radiological informatics, we are offering seminars on Jan. 23rd, 24th, 28th, and 31st. Please click on the "Continue Reading This Entry" link below to find the title of each talk as well as the presenter's abstract and biography. In addition to the seminars listed below, there will be a few more talks, which are being scheduled now and will be posted shortly. Please contact Dr. Sandy Napel for more information.

1) Wednesday, January 23rd, at noon; Alway M104
Julia Patriarche, PhD
Mayo Clinic

Title:
"Detection of Change in Serial Magnetic Resonance Studies of Brain Tumor Patients"

Abstract:
The comparison of serial magnetic resonance imaging studies is a common task in clinical radiology. It is, however, widely considered not to be very reproducible. There are a variety of reasons for this, including the confounding of disease-related changes with acquisition-related changes and issues related to information presentation. We have constructed a computational system that performs the comparison of serial magnetic resonance imaging studies and presents changes in the form of a color-coded change map, superimposed on the anatomical images. The system additionally formats the output as a quantitative summary. We used this quantitative summary to conduct a study with 88 brain tumor serial comparisons. Our results were suggestive that it may be possible to use the change detector to identify cancer changes months earlier than is possible using manual inspection, alone.

We have recently implemented an integrated system for the change detector, which includes a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI not only displays the color-coded change map, but also allows the user to turn it on and off. The GUI provides linked cursors, and it additionally provides "flicker" functionality to allow the user to rapidly alternate between the serial acquisitions. We are preparing to deploy the GUI change detector clinically, which will greatly increase the size and variety of possible future research studies and which will allow the direct clinical application of this technology.

The change detector is an example of a layered artificial intelligence (AI) architecture in which each layer builds upon the layer below, with each layer accomplishing progressively more sophisticated analyses. Specifically, the change detector is built on a lesion-finder application. The lesion finder is built on an automated sample point's algorithm. The automated sample point's algorithm is built on a significant region detection algorithm. Each of these algorithms has merit in its own right, and each can be used in a modular fashion in a variety of contexts. As a unified application, they together automatically address a complex clinical task. Early detection of changes may facilitate improved care through more rapid intervention following recurrence. It may also facilitate screening and personalized therapy. We additionally see the change detector as providing a solution to the problem of novel therapy comparison, by providing fully automatic, reproducible, and quantitative measures of change. We envision the change detector as a model of layered artificial intelligence, not only freeing the radiologist from the drudgery of information overload, but providing a model whereby greater information will enable many sophisticated automatic analyses by the computer, with the computer bringing to the attention of the clinician only what is relevant.

Biography:
Julia Patriarche is an informatics fellow in the Radiology Informatics Lab at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. She has completed an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering/computer engineering option at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada; a PhD in medical science/medical imaging; and a neurology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.

2) Thursday, January 24th, at noon; Alway M112
Ross Mitchell, PhD
University of Calgary

Title:
"Virtual Biopsies: Non-Invasive Molecular Diagnosis"

Abstract:
Our expanding knowledge of the genetic basis and molecular mechanisms of cancer is beginning to revolutionize the practice of clinical oncology. Increasingly, molecular biomarkers of prognosis and treatment response are being used to classify tumors and direct treatment decisions. Advanced medical imaging platforms such as MRI, PET, and CT provide incredibly detailed images of tumors that reflect their structure, biochemistry, physiology, and perhaps genetics.

Studies by the Imaging Informatics Lab at the University of Calgary, and others, show that information about a tumor's molecular phenotype can be obtained by using novel algorithms and computational tools to more fully analyze tumor images. Such "virtual biopsies," performed by applying these image-processing techniques to routine diagnostic images (e.g. MRI, PET, or CT), could be a rapid and powerful means of assaying important cancer biomarkers. If successfully validated, and proven to have suitable sensitivity and specificity, the use of non-invasive, imaging-based molecular diagnostic tests would offer significant advantages over conventional surgical biopsies. For example, this could be important in the context of large heterogeneous tumors, multiple metastases, surgically inaccessible tumors, and settings where disease progression needs to be monitored frequently over time. Virtual biopsy research lies at the intersection of molecular imaging, medical imaging physics, and biocomputation, and is highly complementary to these areas. This presentation will cover key enabling technologies behind virtual biopsies and discuss some recent successes in this research.

Biography: Dr. Ross Mitchell is an associate professor of the Departments of Radiology and Clinical Neurosciences and an adjunct professor of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Calgary. He is also the founding and chief scientist of Calgary Scientific Incorporated, a Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada; a Donald Paty Scholar; and an Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Senior Scholar. Dr. Mitchell has received numerous awards for his research including the Berlex Canada MS Research Award; several Dean's Awards of Excellence from the University of Western Ontario; Best Paper Awards from the Canadian Association of Radiologists and the International Organization for Medical Physics; and two Awards of Merit from the Radiological Society of North America. Dr. Mitchell has a proven research track-record comprising 11 patents, 73 invited presentations, 63 peer-reviewed articles, and 150 published abstracts.

Dr. Mitchell supervises a research team investigating space/frequency analysis, medical image processing, as well as segmentation and visualization technologies. For more information, please see, http://www.ImagingInformatics.ca.

3) Monday, January 28th, at noon; Alway M104
Jianming Liang, PhD
Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc., Malvern, PA

Title:
"Dynamic Chest Image Analysis, United Snakes, and
Computer-Aided Detection"

Abstract:
Modern medical imaging systems generate enormous datasets with ever higher coverage and resolution, but it is the clinically relevant information in these images that is paramount. I shall present several novel computational approaches for gleaning such information from chest X-ray images to reveal pulmonary functional abnormalities, for segmenting and characterizing organ motions, and for detecting the most lethal diseases from CT images, including pulmonary embolism and colonic polyps. The former approach has yielded model-based analysis and visualization methods for revealing focal and general abnormalities of lung ventilation and perfusion based on a sequence of digital chest fluoroscopy frames collected with the dynamic pulmonary imaging (DPI) technique.

In particular, I shall present a novel multiresolutional method with an explicit ventilation/perfusion analysis model, as well as "United Snakes," an interactive deformable model framework for lung registration and motion analysis, cardiac shape and motion analysis, and other applications. Finally, I will introduce a fast yet effective concentration-oriented tobogganing technique for efficient local artery/vein separation and multiple instance classification for the automated detection of pulmonary embolism from CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA), and a virtual colonoscopy technique that simplifies the complex 3D-polyp detection problem into a 2D-disk identification problem, significantly improving sensitivity while reducing computation time.

Biography:
Dr. Jianming Liang is a staff scientist at Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., where he has been engaged in research and development activities in the domain of computer-aided diagnosis in medical imaging since December 2002. He holds a PhD degree (2001) in computer science and carried out his thesis work at the Turku Centre for Computer Science in Finland and in the Visual Modeling Group at the University of Toronto in Canada. From 2001-02, he was a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada Industrial Research Fellow. His research on dynamic chest image analysis received a University Faculty Research Award from the University of Turku. His other prizes include a Siemens Recognition Award and a Best Paper Award at the 2007 International Congress of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery in Berlin, Germany.

4) Thursday, January 31st, at noon; location TBA
Daniel Rubin, MS, MD
Stanford University

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.

Announcements II: January 15, 2008

Special Seminar Series on Radiological Informatics: As part of a special series on radiological informatics, we are offering seminars on Jan. 23rd, 24th, 28th, and 31st. Please watch future announcements for each seminar's title and abstract. In addition to the seminars listed below, there will be a few more talks, which are being scheduled now and will be posted shortly. Please contact Dr. Sandy Napel for more information.

1) Wednesday, January 23rd, at noon; location TBA
Julia Patriarche, PhD
Mayo Clinic

Title:
"Detection of Change in Serial Magnetic Resonance Studies of Brain Tumor Patients"

Abstract:
The comparison of serial magnetic resonance imaging studies is a common task in clinical radiology. It is, however, widely considered not to be very reproducible. There are a variety of reasons for this, including the confounding of disease-related changes with acquisition-related changes and issues related to information presentation. We have constructed a computational system that performs the comparison of serial magnetic resonance imaging studies and presents changes in the form of a color-coded change map, superimposed on the anatomical images. The system additionally formats the output as a quantitative summary. We used this quantitative summary to conduct a study with 88 brain tumor serial comparisons. Our results were suggestive that it may be possible to use the change detector to identify cancer changes months earlier than is possible using manual inspection, alone.

We have recently implemented an integrated system for the change detector, which includes a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI not only displays the color-coded change map, but also allows the user to turn it on and off. The GUI provides linked cursors, and it additionally provides "flicker" functionality to allow the user to rapidly alternate between the serial acquisitions. We are preparing to deploy the GUI change detector clinically, which will greatly increase the size and variety of possible future research studies and which will allow the direct clinical application of this technology.

The change detector is an example of a layered artificial intelligence (AI) architecture in which each layer builds upon the layer below, with each layer accomplishing progressively more sophisticated analyses. Specifically, the change detector is built on a lesion-finder application. The lesion finder is built on an automated sample point's algorithm. The automated sample point's algorithm is built on a significant region detection algorithm. Each of these algorithms has merit in its own right, and each can be used in a modular fashion in a variety of contexts. As a unified application, they together automatically address a complex clinical task. Early detection of changes may facilitate improved care through more rapid intervention following recurrence. It may also facilitate screening and personalized therapy. We additionally see the change detector as providing a solution to the problem of novel therapy comparison, by providing fully automatic, reproducible, and quantitative measures of change. We envision the change detector as a model of layered artificial intelligence, not only freeing the radiologist from the drudgery of information overload, but providing a model whereby greater information will enable many sophisticated automatic analyses by the computer, with the computer bringing to the attention of the clinician only what is relevant.

Biography:
Julia Patriarche is an informatics fellow in the Radiology Informatics Lab at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. She has completed an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering/computer engineering option at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada; a PhD in medical science/medical imaging; and a neurology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.

2) Thursday, January 24th, at noon; location TBA
Ross Mitchell, PhD
University of Calgary

Title:
"Virtual Biopsies: Non-Invasive Molecular Diagnosis"

Abstract:
Our expanding knowledge of the genetic basis and molecular mechanisms of cancer is beginning to revolutionize the practice of clinical oncology. Increasingly, molecular biomarkers of prognosis and treatment response are being used to classify tumors and direct treatment decisions. Advanced medical imaging platforms such as MRI, PET, and CT provide incredibly detailed images of tumors that reflect their structure, biochemistry, physiology, and perhaps genetics.

Studies by the Imaging Informatics Lab at the University of Calgary, and others, show that information about a tumor's molecular phenotype can be obtained by using novel algorithms and computational tools to more fully analyze tumor images. Such "virtual biopsies," performed by applying these image-processing techniques to routine diagnostic images (e.g. MRI, PET, or CT), could be a rapid and powerful means of assaying important cancer biomarkers. If successfully validated, and proven to have suitable sensitivity and specificity, the use of non-invasive, imaging-based molecular diagnostic tests would offer significant advantages over conventional surgical biopsies. For example, this could be important in the context of large heterogeneous tumors, multiple metastases, surgically inaccessible tumors, and settings where disease progression needs to be monitored frequently over time. Virtual biopsy research lies at the intersection of molecular imaging, medical imaging physics, and biocomputation, and is highly complementary to these areas. This presentation will cover key enabling technologies behind virtual biopsies and discuss some recent successes in this research.

Biography: Dr. Ross Mitchell is an associate professor of the Departments of Radiology and Clinical Neurosciences and an adjunct professor of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Calgary. He is also the founding and chief scientist of Calgary Scientific Incorporated, a Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada; a Donald Paty Scholar; and an Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Senior Scholar. Dr. Mitchell has received numerous awards for his research including the Berlex Canada MS Research Award; several Dean's Awards of Excellence from the University of Western Ontario; Best Paper Awards from the Canadian Association of Radiologists and the International Organization for Medical Physics; and two Awards of Merit from the Radiological Society of North America. Dr. Mitchell has a proven research track-record comprising 11 patents, 73 invited presentations, 63 peer-reviewed articles, and 150 published abstracts.

Dr. Mitchell supervises a research team investigating space/frequency analysis, medical image processing, as well as segmentation and visualization technologies. For more information, please see, http://www.ImagingInformatics.ca.

3) Monday, January 28th, at noon; location TBA
Jianming Liang, PhD
Siemens Medical Solutions

4) Thursday, January 31st, at noon; location TBA
Daniel Rubin, MS, MD
Stanford University

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

2007 MIPS Retreat

On October 24th, the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS) held a two-day retreat by the beach at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, California. Dr. Sam Gambhir, professor of radiology and bioengineering, director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford, and chief of the Nuclear Medicine Division, gave the opening remarks, which were followed by lunch and one-minute talks moderated by Michael Moseley, PhD. Professor of Chemistry Carolyn Bertozzi from the University of California, Berkeley, delivered the keynote address entitled "Shedding Light on Glycans." The retreat also included discussion groups, a game show, and a faculty volleyball game.

Dr. Gambhir delivers the opening talk.

Tsinghua University's "Oversea Expert," Dr. Gary Glover

By Julie Ruiz, PhD

As he jogged along the banks of the Wanquan River sharing the path with a swarm of bicyclists, Dr. Gary Glover wound through the campus of Tsinghua University in the northwestern suburbs of Beijing. Selected by Tsinghua University as their "Oversea Expert," Dr. Glover came to the University to share his scientific expertise and knowledge with their faculty and students as they initiate their own MRI program. He brought graduate student Catie Chang with him for part of the trip.

Sponsored jointly by the National Office of Foreign Experts and the Department of Education, Tsinghua's "Oversea Expert Program" is designed to bring "recipients of important international awards . . ., professors of world-renowned universities, and other established experts who have a great reputation in their corresponding international research community" to help train students and faculty in MR research and program design as well as to offer specialty courses and to provide guidance and consulting for research projects. Tsinghua University has over 20,000 students (including 12,000 undergraduates, 6,200 master's degree candidates and 2,800 doctoral candidates) and approximately 8 colleges, 43 departments, 44 research institutes, 9 engineering research centers, and 163 laboratories. The University also offers 37 bachelor's degree programs, 107 master's degree programs, and 64 PhD programs.

Karen Ying, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Engineering Physics and the Medical Physics and Engineering Institute, extended the invitation honoring Dr. Glover as Tsinghua University's Oversea Expert, who is to return annually for one month each year for a total of three years to provide scientific expertise and continuing guidance for Tsinghua's MRI program. Dr. Ying teaches a graduate course on the principles of magnetic resonance imaging. She and her three undergraduate and three graduate students comprise the whole MR imaging program for the University. They have no scanners; all MR and CT research is done at local hospitals. The University is constructing a medical school.

Dr. Ying has been a professor at Tsinghua for two years; prior to that, she taught and researched in the United States for ten years. Her father has taught in Tsinghua's Department of Engineering Physics for over 57 years. In talking with him, Dr. Glover learned that during the Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao's reign, Dr. Ying's father was forced to quit the University and work on the farms for one and a half years. Although a professor emeritus, he still has five graduate students with whom he works.

During his visit from November 15th to December 5th, Dr. Glover gave 9 two-hour class lectures, and Ms. Chang gave 2. His lectures covered such topics as pulse sequence design and fast imaging techniques; the principles of diffusion/perfusion MRI and flow imaging; and functional MRI. He described the building in which he lectured as "gigantic with hundreds of classrooms that were busy from 0 o'clock in the morning until N o'clock at night." "Even as I walked around at 9 PM," Dr. Glover remarked, "there were students in the classrooms studying. There was a constant bustle of people around me, and bikes where everywhere at all hours; there were few cars on campus and no students' cars."

In addition to his lectures, Dr. Glover held two public evening colloquia and three meetings with University officials including the university president, provost, Vice President Ke-Jun Kang, Medical School Dean Zhao, and the Department of Engineering Physics Head Tang Chuanxiang. One topic he and the University faculty and administration discussed was the possibility of a foreign exchange program for graduate-level research/education between Tsinghua and Stanford to foster strong collaboration between our two institutions. He also spoke at a meeting with General Electric regarding research collaboration between GE, Stanford, and Tsinghua.

Established in 1911, Tsinghua University was built on the site of "Qing Hua Yuan," a former royal garden of the Qing Dynasty. Dr. Glover stayed at the guest house, which was across from a small island known as Jinchun Garden, where the eighth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Xian Feng, had lived. From 8 AM until about 10 AM, Dr. Glover was greeted by the sights and sounds of people dancing to traditional Chinese music in the -20 degrees Fahrenheit weather in Han Pavilion of Jinchun Garden, which is surrounded by a lake with scenic bridges.

Han Pavilion

Also undaunted by the cold weather were the "pillbox" guards who stood watch over the campus from 6 AM until around 11 PM.

During his visit, he was amazed by the excellent customer service he received, "I went into the equivalent of a 'Best Buy,' and there were 27 clerks in the camera department waiting to help me. In the local pharmacy, there were 11 clerks--one every foot and a half of counter space. When my card key didn't work in my hotel door, two people and part of a third person came to remedy it after an extensive discussion. The service was wonderful!" While the customer service was excellent, the air quality was not: "I saw four power plants on campus burning coal; I never saw the sun; it was always filtered through the haze, and there were no stars at night. It was hard to breathe as I jogged on campus."

In his free time, Dr. Glover did some sightseeing in Beijing, a city of over 15 million people. He toured the Great Wall of China; the Forbidden City and its "Hall of Medium Harmony" (something has been lost in the translation); Tian Anmen Square; the Lao She Tea House; Fragrance Hill; the Sleeping Budha; the Botanical Garden; the Thirteen Ming Tombs; and the Chairman Mao Solemn Memorial. The streets were packed with bicyclists as most goods were transported by bicycle cart. While in Beijing, he also had the opportunity to visit a CT manufacturing site.

His visit to Tsinghua University was only part of his three and a half week "lecture circuit." Prior to coming to Beijing, Dr. Glover had flown to the University of Maryland where he gave two lectures: one on real-time fMRI and another on alternative fMRI methods. On his way home from Beijing, he flew to the University of Vancouver, B.C., to give another lecture because Judy Illes, PhD, the Canada research chair in neuroethics at the University of Vancouver and former director of grants in our Department, had invited Dr. Glover to give a lecture for their colloquium series.

Awards and Honors: December 17, 2007

2007 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Medical Imaging Travel Grant Winners Frances Lau, MS, Peter Olcott, and Guillem Pratx, MS, were awarded travel grants to present their novel and original work at the 2007 IEEE NSS-MIC (Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging) Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Frances Lau, MS, graduate student in the Molecular Imaging Instrumentation Laboratory (MIIL), gave an oral presentation at the 2007 IEEE NSS-MIC Conference on the different methods for simplifying the circuits in the data acquisition system she and her colleagues are developing for a 1mm3 resolution breast-dedicated PET system. Ms. Lau's research interests include circuits and devices for biomedical applications; she is currently working on the design and development of hardware for a breast cancer imaging PET system.

Peter Olcott, graduate student in the Bioengineering Department and member of the Molecular Imaging Instrumentation Laboratory, gave a talk at the 2007 IEEE NSS-MIC Conference entitled Data Acquisition System Design for a 1 mm3 Resolution PSAPD-Based PET System that describes the data acquisition architecture he and his colleagues are developing for a new PET mammography system. Because of his strong presentation skills and the rating of his presentation abstract as the fourth highest, Mr. Olcott was one of two runners up for the two Best Student Paper Awards, which recognize contributions to the fields of nuclear and plasma sciences. Mr. Olcott graduated with a BS in computer science from the University of California, San Diego, in 2003. This fall 2007, he expects to receive his MS from Stanford in bioengineering and, subsequently, to begin the PhD bioengineering program. His current research interests include the development of an intra-operative hand-held gamma ray camera (nuclear imager) for the surgical staging of cancer; data acquisition systems for application specific (PET mammography) PET systems; and a new PET detector design for high-field simultaneous PET/MRI imaging. Mr. Olcott adds the following: "I have a 3-year-old son, and I spend all of my free time being a new parent. I love to play tennis, softball, and basketball, and members of Lucas/Radiology are quite welcome to send me unannounced requests to play these sports."

Guillem Pratx, MS, doctoral candidate in electrical engineering and member of the Molecular Imaging Instrumentation Laboratory, was also awarded a 2007 IEEE Medical Imaging Travel Grant to present his work at the 2007 IEEE NSS-MIC Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. Mr. Pratx completed his undergraduate work in engineering at the Ecole Centrale in Paris, France. In the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), he is completing his dissertation research, which centers on the development of practical algorithms that exploit graphics processing units (GPU) for fast medical image reconstruction in ultra-high resolution PET systems under development at Stanford. In support of his work, he has received several awards, including the NVIDIA Fellowship, the Society of Nuclear Medicine Bradley-Alavi Student Fellowship, and the Stanford Bio-X Graduate Student Fellowship.

A picture from the IEEE Luau, from left to right: Peter Olcott's son; Peter Olcott; Arne Vandenbroucke, PhD; Frances Lau, MS; James Matteson, PhD (Univ. of California, San Diego); Craig Levin, PhD; Guillem Pratx, MS; David Starfield, PhD candidate (Univ. of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg); Yi Gu; and Paul Reynolds.

A Notable 40th Anniversary

By Dr. Leslie M. Zatz

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.

Awards and Honors: December 10, 2007

Arne Vandenbroucke, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in the Molecular Imaging Instrumentation Laboratory (MIIL), was awarded an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Scholarship to attend a short course at the 2007 IEEE NSS-MIC (Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging) Conference. Dr. Vandenbroucke earned his PhD in experimental particle physics from Gent University in Belgium. Before coming to Stanford, he worked on the HERMES experiment, researching the spin structure of the nucleon at the DESY (Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron or the "German Electron Synchrotron") in Hamburg, Germany. As part of Dr. Levin's group at Stanford, his research interests include medical imaging, especially PET. Dr. Vandenbroucke is currently involved in the research and development of a dedicated high-resolution breast cancer imaging PET system. When he is not in the lab, he likes spending his time outdoors sailing, hiking, and traveling.

Awards and Honors: December 4, 2007

Gang Niu, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in the Molecular Imaging Probe Laboratory (MIPL), has been awarded the Department of Defense (DOD) Prostate Cancer Training Award through the DOD's Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP). PCRP Training Awards are designed to fund innovative, high-impact research by scientists whose achievements reflect their potential for successful training and who are committed to a career in prostate cancer research. Dr. Niu received the award for his original research in Hsp90 targeted imaging and therapy. He has been working at MIPL under the supervision of Dr. Xiaoyuan Chen since 2006 after receiving his PhD in free radical radiation biology at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, in 2005. His PhD research focused on molecular imaging and tumor gene therapy mediated by the human sodium iodide symporter (hNIS), investigating the role of hNIS as a reporter gene monitoring gene transfer and expression. His current research interests include the investigation of tumor initiation and the progress and response to various therapies with non-invasive molecular imaging strategies including optical and radiological modalities.

Awards and Honors: December 3, 2007

Juergen K. Willmann, MD, research fellow in the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), has received the 2007 RSNA Trainee Research Fellow Award for his research project, "Molecular Imaging of Therapeutic Angiogenesis in Murine Hindlimb Ischemia Using PET and 64Cu-labeled Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor121." This Award was created in 1994 by the RSNA Program Committee to recognize the contribution of investigators to the RSNA Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting. Dr. Willmann has been a research fellow in MIPS since 2006, and he is concurrently an assistant professor of diagnostic radiology at the Institute of Diagnostic Radiology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. He received his MD from the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany, and was the chief resident of diagnostic radiology at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. In 2005, Dr. Willmann received the "venia legendi" from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. His research interests include multi-modality molecular imaging of angiogenesis and stem cell therapy and the development of new imaging probes for the early detection of cancer.

Donna Cronister Wins the 2007 Marshall D. O'Neill Award!

(Image courtesy of Sharon Pollio)

By Julie Ruiz, PhD

Our own Donna Cronister was named this year's winner of the Marshall D. O'Neill Award for her exceptional and enduring support of Stanford University's research enterprise. Now in its 17th year, this prestigious and university-wide award is bestowed annually by the Office of the Vice Provost and Dean of Research in honor of Marshall D. O'Neill, associate director of the W.W. Hansen Laboratories from 1952 until 1990. Donna is the 27th recipient of this award.

"I was quite surprised when I took the call from Ann Arvin, vice provost and dean of research. I probably sounded like a complete idiot because I honestly did not know what to say," Donna remarked. "I am very honored just to be nominated, and I am very proud to be the 2007 recipient of the Marshall D. O'Neill Award."

While most 2007 award candidates were nominated by one or two faculty members, Donna was nominated by eight. Gary Glover, PhD, director of the Radiological Sciences Laboratory (RSL), described Donna's award as an "outstanding, University-wide endorsement of what we have all known for a very long time--that Donna is simply above exceptional in every way!"

Working with 12 faculty and over 80 graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, research assistants, and research associates, Donna manages each facet of the lab's research, which includes coordinating funding for researchers, organizing courses and conferences, and planning the budget. She is also involved in the day-to-day operations at the Lucas Center and oversees the payroll; reimbursement; accounting; personnel policies and procedures; building maintenance; supply ordering; and service policies.

These are just a few of the many tasks for which Donna has been responsible since she came to Stanford in 1990 after working in the corporate world:

"My husband and I moved to California from Montana in 1980 after the birth of our twin daughters. I was a stay at home mom until the girls were about two and a half years old. When my husband came home and found me lying on the back of the couch so they couldn't get to me, we decided it was time for me to go back to work! I worked for three years for a chemical company and then moved on to Xerox where I worked for about eight years. During this time, we added another daughter to the family. Xerox had a massive reduction in force, and I took about six months off before applying at Stanford.

The rest, as they say, is history. I have been with the Radiological Sciences Laboratory since February 1990. We have seen our lab grow from Gary, Norbert, and me to about 90 folks now! I oversee the lab, and I am also the administrative director for the Lucas Service Center." When she's not at work, Donna loves to garden and to spoil her grandson and granddaughter. "Life couldn't be better for me," she added.

Dr. Gary Glover extended an invitation to attend Donna's November 12th reception to "every one of the hundreds of students, faculty, and everyone else who knows or has been touched in ways large or small by Donna over the years." At her reception at the Faculty Club, Associate Dean of Research John Brauman presented the Marshall D. O'Neill Award to Donna on behalf of the vice provost and dean of research, Ann Arvin. To see pictures from Donna's reception taken by Sharon Pollio, please access http:// http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaNG7ZqzbN2Low. To read more about her award, please see http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/november7/marsh-110707.html and http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2007/11/13/radiologyLabManagerWinsCampusAward.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr. Henry H. Jones

(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)

By Julie Ruiz, PhD

"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

By Teresa Newton

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 2, 2007

Bao Do, MD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Molecular Imaging of Musculoskeletal Illnesses Laboratory and a radiology resident at the University of Iowa (left), and Sandip Biswal, MD, assistant professor of radiology (right), have been awarded the RSNA Research Trainee Prize in Informatics for their scientific paper entitled, "Feedback Natural Language Processing of Fractures in Unstructured Reports of Emergency Department Studies." The Trainee Prize was created in 1994 by the RSNA Program Committee to recognize the contribution of residents to the RSNA Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting. Each subcommittee of the Program Committee awards three prizes each year for the best paper or poster submitted by a resident, fellow, or medical student. This is the second time Drs. Biswal and Do have received the Trainee Prize; they received their first one in 2005 in the category of molecular imaging.

New Staff Hires and Promotions: October 30, 2007

Aloma L. D'Souza, PhD, joined the Department in July of 2007 as the laboratory manager for Dr. Gary Glazer, MD. Together with Dr. Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, she has been busy establishing the new research laboratory that focuses on the study of prognostic cancer biomarkers. Dr. D'Souza received her doctorate degree and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in biochemistry at Rush University, Chicago, where her research centered on cartilage biomarkers, in vitro engineered cartilage, and osteoarthritis. Prior to Stanford, Dr. D'Souza worked at Genentech, Inc., in the Department of Molecular Oncology. Her work included the functional identification and characterization of tumor over-expressed proteins and the evaluation of potential targets for intervention with therapeutic agents. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, painting, and art and architecture appreciation.

2007 RSL Post-Retreat Update

By Julie Ruiz, PhD
(thanks also to Donna Cronister and David Paik, PhD, for their contributions to this article)

The RSL had another productive and fun retreat at Asilomar this past September (for the pre-retreat blog article, please see http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/09/2007_rsl_retrea.html). Among the highlights were the group introductions. Like last year, the group introductions were informative as well as entertaining. This year, each RSL group was asked to create an advertising campaign--a TV, radio, web, or print ad--to explain what the group does and why it is important. You can view the introductory presentations from the groups of Drs. Norbert Pelc and Dan Spielman at http://www.stanford.edu/~smazin/pelcgroupintro2007/inversitis.wmv and http://www.stanford.edu/~pritib/MRSvsMRI.wmv, respectively.

Our guest speakers included Thorne Lay, PhD, professor in the Earth Sciences Department and director of the Center for Studies of Imaging and Dynamics of the Earth at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Dr. Kelly Skeff, professor of medicine (general internal medicine). Dr. Lay delivered our key note address on geophysical imaging. He discussed how scientists infer the structure of the earth's core by looking at the seismic data collected worldwide; he also addressed the challenges involved in the visualization of their data. Dr. Skeff's presentation on good teaching practices produced a very interactive discussion about teaching, which was applicable to all kinds of pedagogy.

Other highlights included RSL Family Feud; karaoke night; a photo contest; an RSL sweatshirt for retreat participants; and a productive town hall meeting.

Norbert

Wendy

Donna Cronister summarized the items raised during the RSL town hall meeting as follows:

"1. Key operator for printers, copiers/fax machine: Designate a person on each floor to maintain the printers/copiers. This does not mean simply replacing empty toner cartridges but keeping an eye on the equipment to insure that the proper supplies are on hand and that the equipment is operating properly (i.e., high copy quality, not jamming, etc.).

2nd floor: 4 printers/1 copier/1 fax (Marlys is the key operator).

1st floor: 4 printers (1.5T and 3D Lab--soon to be 5 printers when the second 3T comes online; 1 copier (1.5T). Keesha is responsible for the 3D Lab printers. Anne, Sandra, and Romi are responsible for the printers located in magnet suites.

Basement: 3 printers (including the 3T magnet suite)/1 copier/1 fax. Sharon will be the key person for the copiers at this level. Marlys will keep an eye on the copier.

Sublevel: 2 printers (including the 7T magnet suite)/1 copier (Lanzie's office)/1 fax. Lanzie will be responsible for the copier, fax, and printer in PS055. Anne, Sandra, and Romi will be the contacts for the 7T magnet.

2. Stocking kitchens: Designate a person on each floor to keep the kitchen stocked with plates, napkins, cups*, utensils, and coffee/tea supplies. Marlys has an order for regular delivery of coffee, creamers, etc. If we run low on supplies, please contact her. Marlys will maintain the kitchen on the second floor. Sharon is our basement stocker, and Lanzie is our sublevel stocker!

*The subject of paper cups stirred a rousing conversation about conservation. We would like to change our attitudes about using paper cups. Everybody must have a mug at home they can donate (e.g., 'World's Best Mom'; 'I Heart You'; etc.); you know the mugs I am talking about. If you do not have a cup or cannot afford a cup, then a cup will be provided to you free of charge. Of course, a real cup requires real washing, but we are adults, and nobody would have to be reminded to wash their cup and put it away!

3. Recycling: We have recycling bins/barrels located in strategic areas throughout the center. Please use them. At the entrance of each galley located on the Medical School Lab Surge (MSLS) side of the building are large recycling barrels for cans/bottles and mixed paper. If you do happen to see an overflowing recycling bin in our area, please do not hesitate to empty them into these barrels. The barrels are on wheels and, therefore, are mobile, and they can be moved to your area if you have a large scale paper clean up. The reason I do not have them located on our side of the building is because of the following: 1) SPACE and 2) Since the second floor is carpeted, I would rather that the dirty recycling barrels, which are emptied weekly by the Peninsula Sanitary Service, Inc. (PSSI), are not wheeled across the carpeting, especially in the muddy, rainy season. A small electronic waste receptacle is located near the basement elevator. If you need to recycle CDs, cell phones, pagers, small drives, zip drives, and memory sticks, this is the place to do it. These receptacles are emptied biweekly. Also, please recycle batteries in the small canister on the second floor. There are also battery recycling containers located at the MSLS galleys next to the large recycling barrels.

4. PCards and Reimbursements: I have asked Luis if he and I could present, at an RSL group meeting, a quick overview of what can and cannot be purchased with the PCard. Also, we will provide a travel 'cheat sheet' for you in order to reduce the amount of time for your reimbursement. This will explain what we can pay in advance, what documentation you will need when you have returned from the trip and request reimbursement, and WHY we need this documentation.

5. John has hung up two of the large pictures that were littering the hall.

6. John is looking into the best way to make the water cooler taller (6" or so) to accommodate some of our taller friends.

7. Somebody reque