Distinguished Lecture

(2018-11-16) Martin G. Pomper, MD, PhD, Henry Wagner Professor of Radiology and the Director of the Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging at Johns Hopkins Medical School recently delivered a distinguished lecture titled “Precision Imaging.” In his talk, Dr. Pomper discussed recent advances in molecular imaging for early detection, which is key to improving outcomes in patients. In particular, he highlighted the PSMA compound as it has the ability to mark tumors smaller than typical CT resolution in both soft tissue and bone. This imaging technique, when combined with proteins, such as the CAR-T cells, can potentially be used to target and kill specific tumor cells throughout the body. He concluded by sharing how the Radiology community has evolved over the past few decades, and is now focusing on precision and collaboration to positively affect patient imaging and treatment. 

The lecture was immediately followed by reception and townhall discussion, where students were able to ask follow-up questions and other career-related advice.

Dr. Ding Featured in AuntMinnie

(2018-11-16) Dr. Aiping Ding, PhD, Medical Physics faculty, was recently featured in AuntMinnie for his two upcoming RSNA 2018 presentations. In these articles, Dr. Ding described how METIS (Metrology for Imaging Systems), a clinical informatics platform, can be utilized to monitor radiation dose and image quality from multiple imaging modalities. The METIS platform would then allow for retrospective, quantitative assessment of radiation dose on CT studies, which can yield valuable insights to improve consistency in the patient quality of care. The ongoing shift to value-based medicine brings a renewed focus on evidence-based practice and additional scrutiny on the safety of clinical care. Thus, being able to monitor many aspects of both quality and safety of medical imaging is crucial. Dr. Ding’s ultimate goal is to make patient care be more consistent and less system-dependent. Read the featured articles here and here.

MedPhys International Day

(2018-11-16) Medical Physics Program joined medical physicists around the world celebrating the 6^th International Day of Medical Physics “Medical Physics for Patient Benefit.” The Program Director, Dr. Samei, opened the celebration emphasizing unique and crucial role of medical physicists in patient care, and giving an advice to the students as to how to incorporate important skills into studies and future careers. The event was concluded with students and faculty gathering in the MedPhys area with great food, games, and medical physics trivia.

The annual event is on November 7^th – this date was specially selected to honor the birthday of Marie Sklodowska-Curie, an early pioneer in radioactivity research.

New Faculty – Dr. Alexandra Badea

(2018-10-26) Dr. Alexandra Badea joins the Medical Physics faculty. Dr. Badea is an Associate Professor of Radiology. Her research has focused primarily on magnetic resonance image (MRI) analysis to provide a comprehensive characterization of the brain morphometry and microstructure (e.g. from diffusion tensor imaging). Dr. Badea’s expertise is in multivariate characterization of rodent models, in particular of AD, but also normal development and aging, as well as for other neurological and psychiatric conditions. Her interests are: 1) phenotyping the brain from fixed-specimen to in vivo imaging - in animal models of human disease and in humans; 2) uncovering the link between imaging changes, genetic and environmental factors; and more recently 3) between imaging and cognitive/behavioral deficits. 

New Faculty – Dr. Dean Darnell

(2018-10-26) Dr. Dean Darnell is the new Medical Physics faculty member. Dr. Darnell is a faculty member in the Department of Radiology, and his research is focused on new MRI radio-frequency (RF) coil designs to: improve the image quality for functional and structure MRI pulse sequences; improve the scanner workflow; and remove redundancy in the scanner subsystems and ultimately enable a small, portable MRI scanner for use outside the clinic.