Scientists and physicians in pediatric radiology at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and Stanford University have garnered an exceptionally large number of awards and honors recently from a professional association of pediatric radiologists.
For the second year in a row, researchers at the hospital and university nabbed the prestigious John Caffey Award for Best Basic Science Research Paper at the annual meeting of the Society for Pediatric Radiology in April. Named in honor of the doctor credited with having launched the field of pediatric radiology, the 2010 award recognized four papers by the research group of Roland Bammer, PhD, an assistant professor (research) of radiology.
Also at the meeting, radiology resident Albert Hsiao, MD, PhD, received the John A. Kirkpatrick Young Investigator Award, which is given to the author of the best paper presented by a resident or fellow. Hsiao's paper was titled "Volumetric Flow Assessment in Congenital Heart Disease with 4D Flow MRI."
"The receipt of the two major SPR awards by one institution in a single year is a great honor and may be unprecedented," said Richard Barth, MD, a professor of radiology and radiologist-in-chief at Packard Children's. "The recognized research reflects the imaging advances made possible by converting our department from a generalist model to a sub-specialist model."
About five years ago, Barth began working to advance the pediatric radiology program at the hospital and Stanford by recruiting sub-specialists — that is, radiologists with a particular expertise in, say, pediatric-cardio imaging or pediatric-neuro imaging — as well as non-clinical researchers steeped in basic science and imaging technology. Promoting collaborative-research projects between the two groups, he said, has been key to the program's success in fielding awards.
"It's a real team effort between the radiologist sub-specialists and the imaging scientists," he said. He pointed to the Caffey Award-winning papers, which describe new applications for magnetic-resonance imaging of children's brains, as examples of how the team approach has made key contributions to research in pediatric radiology.
A person getting an MRI scan must remain very still, which, as Barth noted, is tough for young children. But Stefan Skare, PhD, a magnetic-resonance physicist in Bammer's group and a lead author on one of the papers, found ways to correct for the effects of wiggly kids — work that is described in two of the papers, "High-Resolution Motion-Corrected Diffusion-Tensor Imaging (DTI) in Infants" and "3D SAP-EPI in Motion-Corrected Fast Susceptibility Weighted Imaging (SWI)."
In addition to the Caffey and Kirkpatrick awards, Barth was named the recipient of the Presidential Recognition Award, which honors "individuals whose energy and creativity have made a significant impact on the work of the Society and its service to its members." He also was elected second vice president of SPR, a post he will occupy beginning in 2011. He will begin a one-year term as president in 2013.
Beverly Newman, a pediatric radiologist at Packard Children's and an associate professor of radiology at Stanford, was elected to the society's nominating committee, "which clearly is a testimonial to her national leadership stature in pediatric radiology," Barth said.
For a complete list of Packard/Stanford honors and awards at the 2010 SPR meeting, visit http://tinyurl.com/radiologyawards.
About Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
Ranked as one of the best pediatric hospitals in the nation by U.S.News & World Report, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford is a 312-bed hospital devoted to the care of children and expectant mothers. Providing pediatric and obstetric medical and surgical services and associated with the Stanford University School of Medicine, Packard Children's offers patients locally, regionally and nationally the full range of health-care programs and services — from preventive and routine care to the diagnosis and treatment of serious illness and injury. For more information, visit http://www.lpch.org.
About The Stanford University School of Medicine
The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation's top 10 medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://mednews.stanford.edu. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. For information about all three, please visit http://stanfordmedicine.org/about/news.html.
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Contacts:
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
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(Media)
rdicks@lpch.org
