Scan Times

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

jaruiz — 2008-08-26T17:05:02-08:00

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.

2008 Resident and Fellow Graduations!

jaruiz — 2008-08-12T14:57:58-08:00

Resident/Visting Fellow (left) and Body Fellow (right) Graduation Dinners
(Images courtesy of Sandip Biswal, MD, and Aya Kamaya, MD)

Congratulations to all of our residents and fellows who graduated this summer 2008! The graduation dinner for residents and visiting fellows was held on Saturday, June 14th, at the Grove Ballroom of the Garden Court Hotel in Palo Alto. To view more pictures, please access: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29982130@N00/sets/72157605689133643/.

The below pictures are from the body fellow graduation dinner, which was held on Thursday, June 12th, at the Mandarin Gourmet Restaurant.

Announcements: August 11, 2008

jaruiz — 2008-08-11T14:29:43-08:00

Radiology Potluck Picnic for all SHC and SOM Radiology Staff: Saturday, August 16, 2008, noon to dusk at Flood Park (Maple Picnic Area) 215 Bay Road, Menlo Park, CA (please see directions below). There will be two large grills at the park for our convenience and charcoal will be provided. Park facilities include a playground, softball field, volleyball courts, and a sand box for playing horse shoes. For more information, please contact Yvonne Casillas at YCasillas@stanfordmed.org.

Japanese Society of Radiological Technologists Visits Stanford

jaruiz — 2008-08-04T14:05:59-08:00

(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)

By Mike Moseley, PhD

From July 21-25, Stanford Radiology held its third annual Japanese Technologist Summer Training Program. We have developed this joint educational program in partnership with the Japanese Society of Radiological Technologists (JSRT). As in previous years, we had 24 JSRT participants visit for the week, with technical lectures in the morning; tours and workshops in the afternoon; and social activities such as Giants baseball, jazz concerts, shopping, and tennis in the evenings. The lectures were well received (many thanks to everyone who participated!). The highlight of the week was the reception at the new Stanford Medicine Imaging Center, Palo Alto, which gave the JSRT members an opportunity to meet and speak with many of our technologists. The Summer Training Program is a great way to introduce ourselves to the international radiology community, while building strong collaborations and more efficient practices in radiology worldwide. Many thanks again to everyone who spent so much time and effort to make this an ongoing success.

Stanford-UCSF Softball Challenge

jaruiz — 2008-07-30T08:40:48-08:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

jaruiz — 2008-07-29T16:46:22-08:00

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

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

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

Announcements: July 29, 2008

jaruiz — 2008-07-29T15:49:13-08:00

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

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

Stanford University Graduation 2008!

jaruiz — 2008-07-25T14:00:57-08:00

(Images courtesy of Aya Kamaya, MD)

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

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

Awards and Honors: July 25, 2008

jaruiz — 2008-07-25T13:43:10-08:00

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

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

jaruiz — 2008-07-18T10:31:50-08:00

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

jaruiz — 2008-07-18T10:17:25-08:00

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. 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. For more details regarding his biography, please see Mr. Pratx's earlier award postings by accessing "Awards and Honors: August 2, 2007" and "Awards and Honors: December 17, 2007."

Awards and Honors I: July 18, 2008

jaruiz — 2008-07-18T10:08:07-08:00

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

Awards and Honors III: July 17, 2008

jaruiz — 2008-07-17T17:02:17-08:00

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

jaruiz — 2008-07-17T16:55:56-08:00

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

jaruiz — 2008-07-17T16:43:40-08:00

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.