Nominees for Top People to Watch in Radiology 2015

Readers sent in nominations for Top People to Watch in Radiology[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_crop","fid":"42344","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image media-image-right","id":"media_crop_6697701677256","media_crop_h":"0","media_crop_image_style":"-1","media_crop_instance":"4565","media_crop_rotate":"0","media_crop_scale_h":"0","media_crop_scale_w":"0","media_crop_w":"0","media_crop_x":"0","media_crop_y":"0","style":"height: 233px; width: 250px; float: right;","title":" ","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]] 2015, now help us decide who should win. Short profiles of the nominees are below; vote for your favorites here. Voting will close November 13.

Radiologists

Rocky Saenz, DO
Diagnostic Radiology Program Director, Botsford Medical Imaging, P.C.
"Dr. Saenz is the director of the radiology residency program and provides multiple core lectures for the residents throughout the year. He is an author of a few radiology review books. He has led the nation in the development of an Osteopathic Resident Board Review Course at Botsford Hospital for the last several years."

Vote for Dr. Saenz here.

Ben Strong, MD
CMO, Virtual Radiologic Professionals
"Dr. Strong is an innovative and effective CMO for Virtual Radiologic Professionals. He is gradually building it into the best teleradiology company in the world. The home office work environment maximizes productivity and professional satisfaction for the radiologists."

Vote for Dr. Strong here.

Bernadette Koch, MD
Neuroradiologist, Cincinatty Children's Hospital
"Dr. Bernadette Koch consistently stands out as being the radiologist on our staff that advocates for the patients and families, encourages and supports staff, leads change and innovation in patient experience for our department, in the hospital, and in the field of radiology.

Dr. Koch’s passion for providing great patient care and experience is concretely shown by her leadership in the department’s family advisory group, front line group, as a safety coach and as the sponsor of the patient and family experience team.

As the radiologist champion and an active member of the department’s family advisory council, one major accomplishment was the partnership with the members of the council to develop Difficult News Guidelines. When an unexpected, significant diagnosis is made during the imaging of a child, the pediatric radiologist and support staff are placed in the middle of a life-changing event for families. The Difficult News Guidelines have improved communication between staff, faculty, and family members, thereby improving flow, patient safety, confidentiality, and the overall family experience during these difficult situations. She leads by example with the compassion and care she shows to distraught families that receive unexpected news about their child’s study while in our department. In addition, she was instrumental in involving the family advisory council during the redesign of our waiting room to assure a welcoming and engaging space which supports the needs and clinical condition of all patients and families was created.

For close to a decade, Dr. Koch has lead the Radiology Frontline group which consists of child life specialists, modality managers, nurse directors, technologists, patient advocates, and registration personnel. The group’s goal is to recognize areas of improvement in patient and family experience in the department and work with stakeholders to develop initiatives to make change. Examples include providing comfort and distraction items for patients and improving issues that affect patient flow.

In the past several years, Dr. Koch has taken her passion for providing the best possible care for patients and families by sponsoring the Radiology Patient Experience Team. Through her direction, the radiology department is known for setting the bar for innovative patient experience initiatives elsewhere in the hospital. Some initiatives include employee rejuvenation sessions to increase staff engagement and culture and diversity learning sessions in order to support clinical staff in providing culturally competent care. During a recent presentation to the hospital Patient Experience  Summit group, one of the participants said it the best- “On a scale of 1 to 10 for PFE work- Radiology is at least an 11! “  As our Radiologist in Chief stated, “It's the kind of thing that slowly changes the culture and the experience not just for our patients, but for our employees as well.”

Dr. Koch inspires all of us to step out of our comfort zone and make a connection with patients and families and change the outcome for our families and staff."

Vote for Dr. Koch here.

Andrew Dixon, MBBS
Radiologist, Alfred Hospital

"Andrew has done great work in spreading radiology in social media. He has had a huge impact on the ability to get easy access to basic and special knowledge in radiology."

Vote for Dr. Dixon here.

Levon Nazarian, MD
Radiologist and Vice Chair of Education, Jefferson University Hospitals

"Dr. Nazarian has been instrumental in moving MSK ultrasound forward, despite many political obstacles. He is editor of the AIUM journal and a preeminent researcher and teacher."

Vote for Dr. Nazarian here.

Kenneth Brumberger, MD
Medical Director of MRI, TriState Imaging Group

"As the Medical Director of MRI for TriState Imaging Group, Dr. Brumberger has been providing advanced radiological consultation to professional sports teams and universities throughout the Greater Philadelphia area for over 15 years. Dr. Brumberger specializes in comprehensive musculoskeletal diagnostic imaging using some of the latest and most reliable techniques in the industry and adjusts his protocols to meet the specific needs of his patients."

Vote for Dr. Brumberger here.

Thomas J. Gilbert, MD, MPP
Chief Clinical Officer, Center for Diagnostic Imaging

“Dr. Gilbert is a very hard-working, intelligent, compassionate, and kind gentleman. He is always willing to answer any questions about any scan or medical condition. He works to educate technologists and set guidelines for his peers. He enjoys teaching and champions on behalf of our patients. They must come first. Even in busy, stressful situations, I have never known him to lose his temper and if somebody has an error, he will patiently explain how to do it better next time.

As Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Gilbert has demonstrated his commitment to patient care by developing many important guidelines for our radiologists to use, ranging from scan protocol optimization proposals to anticoagulant risk profiles to management of incidental findings. As intelligent as he is (undergrad at MIT, medical degree from Harvard), he is a willing collaborator and never has the attitude of “My way or the highway”! He talks with patients and technologists so they can easily understand and patiently wants to hear what questions that they may have. While Dr. Gilbert always has the best quality care for our patients at the top of his priorities, the guidelines he’s worked so hard on also show his concern for trying to make his fellow radiologists’ lives easier.

As National Spine Section leader, one of his duties is to offer counsel on differences in interpretation when they arise in our peer review program. Dr. Gilbert is always kind and diplomatic, specific in his comments – he’s an incredibly good mentor. He is also quick to praise when he feels a job has been done well – whether that be another radiologist’s report, a tech going the extra mile to obtain the best images possible, or an intern providing research data for him.

It is an honor and pleasure to work with him. We look at quality of patient care and excellence in what we do in a better light, in part, because of him.”

Vote for Dr. Gilbert here.

Carlos Ledezma, MD
Interventional Radiologist, Kellam and Associates, P.C.

“Dr. Ledezma has made a significant impact in our radiology group and our hospital (Mclaren Lapeer) since he started with us in 2013.  His skill set is unsurpassed by other interventional radiologists and on par with the ability available at any major academic center.

He has introduced many cutting edge procedures to our community including the ability to perform emergent thrombolysis and clot extraction for large pulmonary emboli, performing lifesaving arterial embolization in cases of trauma with severe internal bleeding, and other advanced interventional oncology techniques (RF/cryo ablations).  Many of the procedures that he performs in our hospital are only available at major tertiary care hospitals which would require significant travel for our patients and in cases of trauma a life flight.  

Most importantly, Dr. Ledezma is a humble, caring physician who is more than willing to go out of his way to help his patients.  He is a true team player as part of our medical staff, he always makes himself available for consultations onsite and by phone even if he is off on vacation or away at a conference.  He has been instrumental in pushing forward the standard of care that we as a hospital and radiology group give to our patients.

When it comes to thinking of honoring docs, he is one that is truly a ‘game change’ and most deserving of recognition for his hard work and dedication to high quality patient care.”

Vote for Dr. Ledezma here.

Jon Jacobson, MD
Radiologist, University of Michigan Health System

“Jon is a superb teacher and expert in musculoskeletal ultrasound. He has also written a widely read book on the subject.”

Vote for Dr. Jacobson here.

Alexander Kagen, MD
Site Chair, Department of Radiology, Mount Sinai Hospital

“Alexander has recently been promoted to site director on top of his body MRI responsibilities and he has gone above and beyond in all his duties. Among all the new administrative tasks, he still manages to find time to meet with the residents and talk about changes to the program and department, teaches the residents wonderfully on the body MRI rotation, and is always available to discuss any concerns.”

Vote for Dr. Kagen here.

Scott Miller, MD
Radiologist, Major Hospital

“Dr. Miller, first of all, is an excellent radiologist. He has been very active in radiology societies, holding leadership positions. To me (having 40 yrs experience in radiology,) he has shown so much compassion to his patients and has inspired his technologists to always do their best. He keeps up with technology and always wants to progress to provide his patients and physicians up to date technology.”

Vote for Dr. Miller here.

Jonathan Scheiner, MD
Vice Chair of Radiology, Staten Island University Hospital

“Besides tackling the most difficult interventional cases, Dr. Scheiner is a superb diagnostic radiologist.  He is also active on hospital committees, trying to improve care throughout the hospital and not just in the department of radiology.”

Vote for Dr. Scheiner here.

Richard Gunderman, MD, PhD
Professor and Vice Chairman, Department of Radiology, Indiana University Health, Riley Hospital for Children

"Richard writes about the human side of medicine. He is not afraid to ask hard questions. He offers realistic approaches to life and medicine."

Vote for Dr. Gunderman here.

Cary Siegel, MD
Director of GI and GU Radiology Sections, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis

"Cary is an internationally-recognized expert in the field of GU radiology. She is intensely energetic and, at the same time, a caring and thoughtful person. I knew Cary when I was on the radiology faculty at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas and Cary was a radiology resident there."

Vote for Dr. Siegel here.

Geraldine McGinty, MD
Radiologist, Weill Cornell Medicine

“Dr. McGinty has made great effort to bring diagnosis of breast cancer closer to patients, she is a strong believer in patient empowerment, and a strong promotor of Imaging 3.0 with a patient-centered approach.”

Vote for Dr. McGinty here.

Amy Kotsenas, MD
Radiologist, Mayo Clinic

“Dr. Kotsenas should be recognized for her leadership and supporting women in radiology.”

Vote for Dr. Kotsenas here.

Thomas Osborne, MD
Director of Medical Informatics, vRad

“Dr. Osborne has a passion for leveraging technology to improve healthcare.  

Most recently, he and his multidisciplinary team have developed an innovative communication and collaboration platform to improve the practice of radiology. The new platform features dynamic clinical and corporate analytics tools, integrated video communications, CME courses and tracking, clinical reference materials, automated workflows, compliance solutions, and efficiency tools, as well as multiple additional collaboration and engagement features. 

Thomas is not only a well-respected neuroradiologist, but his leadership, dedication, and passion for medical innovation and technology are assets which will be critical to the practice of radiology in this ever-changing health care environment.”

Vote for Dr. Osborne here.

Jenny Hoang, MBBS
Radiologist, Duke University

“Dr. Hoang is an expert in head and neck imaging at Duke University. She is leading the way in use of social media in medical education. She has demonstrated use of twitter at medical conferences and from the ACR Education Center to disseminate radiology education to those unable to attend in person. She initiated #RadPathMatch, a collaboration effort with pathology colleagues to bring interesting radiology cases and correlative pathology results together online. Finally, she introduced a collaboration with Radiopaedia to make ASNR annual meeting Case of the Day material available everywhere, greatly expanding the reach of this educational effort.”

Vote for Dr. Hoang here.

Frank Seidelmann, DOChairman of Radisphere, a Division of Sheridan Healthcare, and Chief Medical Officer of Candescent

"Dr. Seidelmann is a lifelong radiologist with more than thirty years’ experience in radiology with subspecialty expertise in MRI and neuroradiology. Prior to his CMO role at Candescent Health, Dr. Seidelmann co-founded Radisphere, a national radiology group that employs over 120 radiologists and provides 1.3 million annual interpretations at over 60 facilities in 23 states. Before venturing into subspecialty teleradiology, Dr. Seidelmann co-founded a highly successful hospital and outpatient imaging center, which was acquired by Med Partners and later became Team Health. He also has owned several diagnostic imaging centers."

Vote for Dr. Seidelmann here.

Researchers

Danny Hughes, PhD
Senior Director, Health Policy Research and Senior Research Fellow, Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute

"Dr. Hughes is an economist and director of research for the Neiman Health Policy Institute. He has been responsible for building our data, analytic, and overall research infrastructure over the last three years to have us now at the point where our group has been able to produce approximate 20 peer reviewed papers in a variety of journals over the last 18 months. He’s a highly sought after research partner, and although not a physician, was just named to the Editorial Board of the JACR and guest editor of an upcoming issue."

Vote for Dr. Hughes here.

Edward Bluth, MD

Chairman, ACR Human Resources Commission

"Dr. Bluth is in charge of and  developed  the annual ACR Workforce survey which has been valuable for following the trends on job opportunities in radiology and determining the trends in the current workforce."

Vote for Dr. Bluth here.

Darryl Hwang, PhD
Researcher and Director of the 4D Quantitative Imaging Lab at Keck Medical Center of USC​

“Dr. Hwang is a product manager's dream come true. ​First of all, he is brilliant. With a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, Darryl has published numerous research articles on image analysis modeling algorithms and quantitative image analysis. This expertise translates into an invaluable partnership to validate and advise on my products. In discussions, I am continually fascinated by this knowledge, passion, and drive, learning from Darryl the bigger picture of how quantitative and qualitative image processing is used today and how it can be used in the future through precise and robust algorithms connected through IT infrastructure for collaborative patient care.”

Vote for Dr. Hwang here.
 

Groups

Radiology Leadership Institute

"The Radiology Leadership Institute is an innovative leadership academy whose mission is to train strong, innovative leaders who are prepared to shape the future of radiology by ensuring quality, elevating service and delivering extraordinary patient care."

Vote for the Radiology Leadership Institute here.

Riverside Radiology and Interventional Associates

"RRIA has attracted global medical technology organizations to central Ohio to facilitate clinical trials designed to advance medical treatments for such things as aneurysms and stroke intervention. This level of expertise in technology applications assisted in the development of OhioHealth’s Neurointerventional Institute, one of only a handful of comprehensive stroke treatment centers delivering this level of medical care.

Leadership at the hospital level has been an integral part of RRIA’s ability to scale its business model across the state of Ohio. Onsite medical directors are supported by RRIA’s clinical and business infrastructure to promote best practices and effectively align with the hospital’s leadership team. Case in point was OhioHealth’s Bing Cancer Center Low Dose CT Lung Cancer Screening Program, which was recently awarded the coveted Toshiba 'Putting Patients First' grant."

Vote for Riverside Radiology and Interventional Associates here.
 

Technologists

David Howard
ContextVision

"David recently joined ContextVision as a customer application engineer in the US. He’s responsible for technical and clinical application knowledge during the whole process from sales to integration and installation. He’s integral in coordinating the delivery, integration and support of image processing software to customers / manufacturers of medical imaging systems around the world, and conducts product training to both the customers and internally at the company.

With David’s extensive experience in managing and monitoring clinical trials, providing customers with radiology education and product training, and his many years as a sonographer ranging from vascular technology to ultrasound in hospitals and trauma centers, he has earned his place as one of the top people to watch in radiology."

Vote for David here.