A Recap of UCSF Radiology at ASFNR 2019

The UC San Francisco Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging had a strong presence at the recent American Society of Functional Neuroradiology (ASFNR) Annual Meeting held November 3-5, 2019 in San Francisco, CA. Established in 2004, the ASFNR is a specialty society of the American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR). Functional Neuroradiology expands upon high resolution anatomic imaging of the brain and spine. It is defined as imaging of the functional aspects of the central nervous system (CNS). The meeting featured focused discussions on emerging technologies in the field of functional neuroradiology including didactic lectures, panel discussions, "How-To" sessions, and oral paper and scientific poster presentations of selected abstracts.

The following scientific presentations from UCSF Radiology residents and fellows received awards:

• Milan Manchandia, MD, PGY4 resident won an award for Best Oral Presentation for his research on "Structural and Functional Abnormalities of the Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder." Dr. Manchandia was mentored by Leo Sugrue, MD, PhD, assistant professor in residence and attending neuroradiologist.
• Andreas Rauschecker, MD, PhD, clinical fellow, won the ASNR/ASFNR MIT-E Award for his scientific presentation on "Artificial Intelligence Applications and Limitations for Detecting Acute Neurological Findings." Dr. Rauschecker was mentored by Christopher Hess, MD, PhD, department chair.

Pratik Mukherjee, MD, PhD, professor in residence, attending neurologist and past president of ASFNR (2015-16), was recognized as a Fellow of the ASFNR (FASFNR), an honor conferred on individuals who have been members of the ASFNR for at least 10 consecutive years and are recognized for their significant contribution to the society and our field of advanced neuroimaging. Dr. Mukherjee was also a moderator for the programming on traumatic brain injury (TBI) and concussion imaging.

Invited faculty and moderators included:

• Orit Glenn, MD, professor of neuroradiology and director of fetal MRI at UCSF Mission Bay, presented on "Advanced Fetal Imaging."
• Marc Kohli, MD, associate professor and director of clinical informatics, presented on "Strategies and Barriers to Clinical Implementation of AI Tools."
• David Saloner, PhD, professor and co-director of the Cardiovascular Research Interest Group (RIG), was a moderator for the programming on Stroke/CVR/Wall Imaging. 
• Leo Sugrue, MD, PhD, assistant professor in residence and attending neuroradiologist. He was part of the program committee and presented on "Imaging in Neuropsychiatry, Can We Leverage Big Data for Individual Prediction?"
• Jason Talbott, MD, PhD, associate professor in residence and assistant residency program director, was a moderator for the programming on Spine. 
• Javier Villanueva-Meyer, MD, assistant professor of clinical radiology. He was part of the program committee and presented on "Radiomics of Brain Metastases."

Another highlight from ASFNR 2019 was an alumni gathering put together by Christine Glastonbury, MD, interim chief of neuroradiology and vice chair for Academic Affairs. It was definitely great to see a group of UCSF neuroradiology alumni, faculty and fellows all in one place. Max Wintermark, MD, president of ASFNR, program chair of the annual meeting and current professor of radiology and chief of Neuroradiology at Stanford University completed his neuroradiology fellowship at UCSF and is also a former faculty member. Next year's meeting is being organized by another UCSF Radiology alumnus, Greg Zaharchuk, MD, PhD, of Stanford University.

Overall, it was a great experience in here in the Bay Area and the Department of Neuroradiology looks forward to attending ASFNR 2020 in Santa Fe, NM!