Issue 44 | April 2021
Letter From the Chair
Dear All,

Welcome to our spring issue of RadNews. This month we celebrate several annual spring events including: UMMHC Service Awards, the Radiology Residency Match, and several national Radiology meetings. We also feature articles on new grants, technology and publications, as well as fund-raising activities of our residents on behalf of Health4TheWorld’s PPE Campaign. We continue to have significant impact on our patient’s experience within the department, and it’s always a pleasure to share patient letters of praise for our faculty and technologists. As Radiology is an integral part of the medical center’s efforts to create adequate capacity for patients seeking care at UMMMC we also feature the team effort that has been ongoing to remove barriers to prompt inpatient discharge.

As always, please let me know if there are topics or people that you would like to see featured in future newsletters.

Best.
Max
New IR Angiography Suite
The Department of Radiology and the Division of Interventional Radiology is proud to announce the opening of its new IR angiography suite and Vascular Access room at University campus. Having a second hybrid vascular and body IR suite will allow us to improve access to Interventional Radiology services and further expand our Interventional Radiology capabilities.

UMMHC Service Awards
Congratulations and thanks to the Radiology employees who were recently honored for their years of service to UMass Memorial! Four were honored for thirty-plus years of service - Donald Schoff, Beth Baker, Elizabeth Guzman-Rodriguez and Eloisa Torres.

Residency Match
Congratulations to the Residents who matched in the 2021 Match Day held in March! We look forward to meeting you all! This is the first match where all the interviews were conducted online via Zoom.


Foreign Body in IR Investigative Paper Applauded
Matt Gounis, PhD and Afif Kraitem, MD from the New England Center for Stroke Research (NECStR) were authors on a recent paper in Radiology which received an Editorial Commentary “it takes courage to engage in investigative efforts that challenge current and traditional practice pattern paradigms, and the authors ought to be applauded for doing so.” The investigative paper was titled; Preventing Inadvertent Foreign Body Injection in Angiography.

iPac Receives RFP Grant
iPAC Director Salman Shazeeb, Ph.D. recently announced that the Image Process & Analysis Core (iPAC) received an RFP grant from the research core administration at UMMS. The grant will help to upgrade the equipment by acquiring additional GPU servers and analysis software licenses for image analysis to increase the throughput of iPAC activity. The total grant award was $99,341.

Radiologist Praise from a Patient Perspective
I wanted to write this letter of appreciation after my recent experience with UMASS radiology. As a radiologist, I usually operate behind the scenes, but after my daughter had a recent fall, we got to experience UMASS radiology as a patient. The check-in process was seamless and safe. Our technologist, Erin Lafond, came out to get us for the exam before we had even finished checking in. She and Kristy LeBeau did an amazing job making my two year old feel comfortable (and still), resulting in beautiful images.

Patient Letter of Thanks for
Sathish Dundamadappa, MD
Dear Dr. Dundamadappa,

On 12/6/2020, my annual MRI was performed at Shields MRI to determine if my MS was stable.
You interpreted this MRI and found an incidental finding of a " ... concerning mass lesion (squamous cell carcinoma)" and created a yellow alert...THANK YOU so much for giving me a fighting chance to beat this cancer.

Discharge Escalation Initiative
Helping to remove barriers to prompt inpatient discharge(s) while improving overall patient flow is a priority for UMass Memorial Medical Center. Radiology has recently joined a multidisciplinary team that is aligned with these objectives. Working with the department of hospital medicine, social work, nursing, IT, and process improvements specialists, Drs. Hao Lo and Steve Baccei (Vice-Chairs for operations and Quality/Pt. Safety) along with Kevin Reynolds (Radiology Clinical Quality Director) have developed several key enhancements aimed at prioritizing communication and imaging for (in-)patients pending discharge.

American Association for Anatomy Meeting
Division of Translation Anatomy Faculty, Eustathia Lela Giannaris, PhD and Alexandra Wink, PhD presented at the virtual Annual Meeting of the America Association for Anatomy, April 27-30. Dr. Giannaris chaired and co-chaired two professional development sessions at the meeting.


Praise for Clerical and Ultrasound Staff at University Campus
I just had an ultrasound here at University campus and it was a great experience. Linda checked me in at the front desk and was very kind, warm, and welcoming. We had a nice chat while she asked me all of the needed information. Next, I waited a short time and was called for the study by Ashley, who was great, reassuring, and we had a really interesting conversation.


Published Editorial – Family/Medical Leave for Residents
Carolynn DeBenedectis, MD, Radiology Vice Chair for Education and Director of the Radiology Residency Program helped author a manuscript and get Association of Program Directors in Radiology (APDR) support. Dr. DeBenedectis presented the papers and proposed policy to the American Board of Radiology (ABR) president and the ABR Board of Governors on behalf of the APDR. It was instrumental in getting the ABR to change their parental leave policy for residents from 6 weeks to 12 weeks.

Editorial
Family/Medical Leave for Diagnostic Radiology, Interventional Radiology, and Radiation Oncology Residents in the United States: A Policy Opportunity

Ultrasound Re-accreditation Memorial Campus
I am happy to announce that Memorial has passed the ACR re-accreditation in Ultrasound. A very special thanks to Tara Menard, who pulled this all together in her first month as Ultrasound Supervisor for Memorial campus! Also thanks for advice and guidance from Liana at Health Alliance who helped with words of wisdom from her recent successful Ultrasound re-accreditation.

UMass Chapter Health4TheWorld PPE Campaign
While the United States slowly recovers from the COVID pandemic, numerous countries and remote regions of the American territory face this historical battle with minimal to no support. We're organizing a PPE fundraiser on behalf of The Health 4 The World (H4TW) organization through the H4TW - UMass Chapter.

Society of Abdominal Radiology Meeting
Radiology faculty, residents and fellows participated in the annual Society of Abdominal Radiology (SAR) this year. Ahmed Sobieh MD PhD, Mohamed Mahmoud MD, Gabriela Santos-Nunez MD and Tasneem Lalani MD presented a poster titled: Multidisciplinary Approach to Management of Acute GI Bleed.
The Digital Annual Meeting was held from March 20-25. The conference platform will be live, with CME, until May 20, 2021 for all registrants.

Ben Auer - IOP Outstanding Reviewer Award
Benjamin Auer, PhD an Instructor in Michael King's Lab recently received congratulations, and was honored with the IOP Publishing 'Outstanding Reviewer' Award for his reviews in Physics in Medicine and Biology.

The notification stated:
We are delighted to announce that you have been selected as an Outstanding Reviewer for Physics in Medicine and Biology for 2020, in recognition of the high quality and timeliness of your reviews during the year. Without your input and expertise, it would be impossible to maintain the high standards of the journal, and we would like to thank you very much for your contribution.

Updates

From the ViewBox
Department of Radiology | UMass Medical School & UMass Memorial Medical Center
Worcester, Massachusetts | www.umassmed.edu/radiology