2019-20 UCSF Radiology T32 Scholars to Present Year-Long Research Investigation Results
As we close out the 2019-20 academic year, it’s a great time here at the UC San Francisco Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging to celebrate graduates and also see the results from our four T32 scholars. Since 2005-06, the T32 Program has existed to both jumpstart the academic careers of junior radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians and provide the essential foundation for developing a research program as an independent investigator.
Due to COVID-19, this year’s lecture presentations will be done virtually in two sessions. The first session will be on Wednesday, June 24, 2020 and will feature Jae Ho Sohn, MD, MS and Kirti Magudia, MD, PhD. The second session will be on Monday, June 29, 2020 and will feature Mithun Diwakar, MD, PhD and Maya Vella, MD. Join us in listening to and celebrating this talented group, their hard work and accomplishments.
Dr. Sohn, radiology resident, class of 2020, conducted a year-long research investigation on big data in radiology, particularly focusing on natural language processing and computer vision work in cardiothoracic imaging. Under the faculty guidance of Thienkhai Vu, MD, PhD, Youngho Seo, PhD and Bonnie Joe, MD, PhD, Dr. Sohn also ran a trainee-led medical machine learning team called Big Data in Radiology (BDRAD) and mentored 13 students this academic year.
Dr. Magudia, T32 research fellow and future 2020-2021 abdominal imaging/ultrasound clinical fellow, is finishing up a year-long research investigation focused on high level deep learning applications in prostate MRI under the faculty guidance of Peder Larson, PhD, Antonio Westphalen, MD, PhD and Valentina Pedoia, PhD. This work was funded by the RSNA and Society of Abdominal Radiology. Dr. Magudia is also mentoring a UCSF first year medical student, who was successfully funded for an RSNA grant and is investigating the utility of systematic prostate biopsies.
Dr. Diwakar, radiology resident, class of 2020, conducted a year-long research investigation focused on developing, deploying and testing a multi-modal approach to integrating functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and magnetoencephalography (MEG) in order to investigate dynamic brain network activity in states of health and disease. Dr. Diwakar's research preceptor was Dr. Sri Nagarajan who is one of the national and international leaders in this field.
Dr. Vella, radiology resident class of 2020, conducted a year-long research investigation focused on developing an imaging-based scoring system for the diagnosis of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. This year, she also worked on projects including evaluation of the use of PET/CT in lung cancer in the VA population, MRI sequences for the detection of cerebral AVMs in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, and the difference in proportion of women in educational leadership roles within radiology compared to other departmental leadership roles. Dr. Vella worked under the faculty guidance of Drs. Elicker, Henry, Kallianos and Webb.
Thomas M. Link, MD, PhD, chief of the Musculoskeletal Imaging section, is director of the T32 program and Z. Jane Wang, MD and David Wilson, MD, PhD are associate directors. The T32 program is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) (T32 EB001631). Overall, the NIBIB is crucial in promoting the field of research in biomedical imaging and biomedical engineering. They have been helpful and generous in helping UCSF Radiology advance (and of course fund) this successful program. Currently, the program offers four, one-year positions. Learn more about the program.