UCSF Radiologists Honored with Major USCF Research Award!

The Department of Radiology’s Benjamin Yeh, MD, and Yanjun Fu, PhD, have been named the top winners for the Spring 2013 Catalyst Awards, a major awards program at UC San Francisco. Yeh and Fu made up one of 16 teams of finalists that presented their work to a group of academic and industry reviewers, who selected the radiologists for the top honor.

The pair developed a novel contrasting agent that can significantly improve CT imaging. Drs. Yeh and Fu’s research could revolutionize CT scans as it allows better informed clinical decision-making and reduces the likelihood that patients undergo multiple scans. Because there are nearly 70 million CT scans performed in the U.S. annually, the implications of the innovation are significant.

“Most important and essential to the Catalyst Awards, is the potential for projects like this to improve patient health," says June Lee, MD, FAACP, director of the Early Translational Research program at UCSF’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute, which administers the Catalyst Awards. The Catalyst Awards provides valuable pilot funding, but even more important is the critical role of the Catalyst Award advisors. The advisor panel is made up of more than 100 expert consultants from academia, industry and venture capital. These professionals provide technology assessment, professional advice and detailed feedback with a specific focus on product development and commercial viability.

This is the third year for the Catalyst Awards, which focuses on four different categories – therapeutics, diagnostics, devices and digital health – and each year the program has seen marked improvement in the caliber of projects and expertise of the research teams.

Learn more about Drs. Yeh and Fu’s research, “Dual Energy CT Enteric Contrast Agent” by clicking here!