Research by Gopal Vijayaraghavan, MD, MPH, Division Chief of Breast Imaging, using artificial intelligence to improve detection of breast cancer was recently featured in a publication in Nature Medicine, and an article in UMassMed News.

The distinguished career and scientific achievements of George B. Witman, PhD, professor emeritus of radiology and inaugural holder of the George F. Booth Chair in the Basic Sciences from 1999 to 2020, was celebrated at a virtual scientific symposium honoring him upon his retirement.

Radiology faculty Robert Licho, MD and Michael King, PhD along with David Davenport from GE Research have been awarded a CAPCaT grant - Center for Advancing Point of Care Technologies.

Dr. Licho describes the project "We are helping GE Research to evaluate a modality they are developing called Electrical Impedance Tomography which, as the name suggests, measures the transmission (and impedance) of microcurrents of electricity through the patient’s thorax, tomographically, via ECG-like leads attached to the skin. This will hopefully help us to spatially assess blood flow and ventilation; we will compare this data to that from VQ scans. This modality if clinically accurate could be used in continuous monitoring of patients and perhaps in the future aid in the management of perfusion-respiration disorders such as ARDS."

Sumeda Nandadasa, PhD recently joined the Cell Biology and Imaging Research Division in Radiology. He was attracted to UMMS by the work of George Witman, PhD and the "excellent research CORE services." His research lab is on the 7th floor of the medical school and he has a secondary appointment in Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology. Learn more about his research on the Nandadasa Lab website.

Donna St. Clair, Lead Ultrasound, Memorial Campus is excited to announce that she has made a decision to retire at the end of January. My wish for Donna is to begin a new life that includes laughter and everything she always wanted to do and couldn’t. Donna put in endless hours week after week, year after year and never asked her staff to do anything more than she would do herself. Donna has always put her patients needs above her own but now its her time.

A letter praising Drs. Watts and Wilson addressed to Max Rosen, MD, MPH, UMMS radiology chair.

Dear Max,

I am a little late in sending this, but I just really wanted to commend the compassionate patient care and wonderful teamwork provided to one of our cancer patients by Drs. Chip Watts and Sean Wilson.

...

I just wanted to recognize both Chip and Sean for their efforts in the care of this patient.

Thanks

Matt

Mathew J. Most, MD, FAAOS

Chief, Division of Orthopaedic Oncology

Cardiothoracic Imaging Division Chief Alexander A. Bankier, MD, PhD led the effort to make UMass Memorial a leader in low-dose computer tomography lung cancer screening, the program is a designated Lung Cancer Screening Center, accredited by the American College of Radiology. Our program allows for the proactive and safe screening of patients for lung cancer, starting with a baseline screening for patients who have been identified as being at risk for developing lung cancer. These patients then return for annual follow-up screenings to detect any changes, unless concerning findings are detected.

The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) has appointed Benjamin Auer, PhD as an intern to the Physics, Instrumentation and Data Sciences Council (PIDSC). The purpose of the internship program is to identify and train future leaders of SNMMI in the structure, governance, and operations of the organization; to prepare individuals for progressive levels of responsibility; to ensure effective leadership that advances the mission and goals of the organization. The two-year term as an intern will begin immediately following the SNMMI Annual Meeting this year. The meeting will be held June 12-15, 2021 virtually.

A letter received from a thankful family and UMMS student for Jasmeet Singh, MBBS, MD, DM in the Division of Interventional Neuroradiology.

Dear Dr. Singh,

Thank you so much for doing what you do! I am a student here at UMMS, and I’m told that you were the doctor who saved my grandmother last night after she had an ischemic stroke. My whole family and I are absolutely amazed that she seems to be doing okay today, as the situation seemed really bad last night.

A poster was presented recently at the Society of Thoracic Radiology 2021 Annual Meeting which was held virtually from March 6-10. The paper titled CT Follow-up of Lung Cancer After Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT): What Every Radiologist Should Know was authored by; Patrick Svrcek (first year radiology resident), Lacey McIntosh, Alex Bankier, and Maria Barile in collaboration with their radiation oncology colleagues, Paul Rava (rad onc attending) and Jesica Yancey (rad onc resident).

I want to give a shout out to Lisa Towle RT (R )(M). I was fortunate to have Lisa Towle agree to take over the MRI weekly QA and share in the biopsy rotation as well as work on Quality initiatives in our own department with Julie Dingui, RT(R)(CT)(M) two days a week. She was able to maintain her clinical mammo time the other two days. Covering MRI as you know had its issues and it was an added responsibility for Julie but having Lisa involved allowed us to maintain the collaboration and free up Julie to take care of other business in Mammo. Its so nice when it all works out!

Dr. Matthew Gounis is collaborating with Sudbury, Massachusetts-based Gentuity, LLC to create a large imaging database and develop artificial intelligence (AI) processing methodologies, which they believe will catalyze new discoveries to improve the current understanding and treatment of brain aneurysms.

Dr. Robert Sheiman recently received an Editor's Recognition Award for reviewing with distinction for manuscripts submitted to Radiology from RSNA - Radiological Society of North America.

Dr. Khashayar "Kashy" Rafat Zand has been appointed the new Director of MRI Value and Quality (MUHC) at McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Quebec, CA. Dr. Rafat Zand is an Associate Professor in Radiology at UMass, trained at McGill and completed a Fellowship in Body MRI at Beth Israel Deaconness in Boston.

A grateful patient sent a card thanking the mammography staff at the Memorial Campus:

Dear Staff in Mammography Dept.,

I had appt. Tues. 8:00 AM for mammogram. I wanted to say Thank You All, for the Safe & Professional manner my mammogram was handled...