Jeffrey Towers, MD and Edmond Russ, MD attended the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine Feb 26- Mar 2, 2019 as members of the Pittsburgh Steeler Football Club medical staff. Drs. Towers and Russ provided medical imaging consultations for 5 NFL teams as they evaluated the top NFL draft prospects for the upcoming season.

They also attended the NFL Physicians Society Annual Scientific Meeting and Symposium. Dr. Phillip Bradley, the Pittsburgh Steeler head team physician presented: “Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) Shortens Return to Play in National Football League (NFL) Players with Acute Hamstring Injuries.”, which was co-authored by Dr. Towers.

Dr. Towers has attended the Combine physicals since 2004. This was Dr. Russ’ second trip to the Combine.

Congratulations to the radiologists: Vikas Agarwal, H. Scott Beasley, Wendie Berg, Barton F. Branstetter, William T. Delfyett, Carl Fuhrman, Marion A. Hughes, Emanuel Kanal, Joan M. Lacomis, Paul J. Lee, Joseph M. Mettenburg, James M. Mountz, Paula M. Novelli, Tanya J. Rath, William E. Rothfus, Jules H. Sumkin, Jeffrey D. Towers, and Mitchell E. Tublin as “Pittsburgh Magazine’s Best Doctors” of 2019.

Experts from UPMC, the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon met on Thursday May 18^th at UPMC’s Bakery Square location to discuss big imaging data infrastructure and data access. To effectively leverage Artificial Intelligence in Imaging, researchers and developers need access to big clinical imaging data sets. UPMC in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh is developing the data management infrastructure and organizing the process for big data requests. The goal is to open up UPMC’s large library of imaging data in a more efficient and coordinated process, given the extreme complexity of how the data is stored. This process will be integrated into the existing infrastructure for processing big data requests of the non-imaging health record data.

The UPMC Department of Radiology had a great showing at this year’s Association of University Radiologists (AUR) meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. Sina Houshmand, a second year resident in the Diagnostic Radiology residency program was selected as a presenter at the ACR-AUR Research Scholar Program, and received a $1000 award to attend the Annual Meeting of the AUR. Dr. Ashok Muthukrishnan mentored Dr. Houshmand on his project, entitled “Feasibility of post-therapy quantitative Lu-177-Dotatate SPECT/CT in patients with metastatic neuroendocrine tumor: comparison with clinical outcomes.”

Fellowship is one of the most prestigious honors granted to members of the Society of Interventional Radiology. This year, there were 40 inductees from throughout the US and abroad. Less than 10% of SIR members are elected to Fellowship status, and election signifies a long and consistent history of activities with substantial contributions to the field of Interventional Radiology at large and to the Society.

Low dose CT lung cancer screening has been performed at UPMC since 1991. The Pittsburgh Lung Cancer Screening Study (PLuSS) was one of the first studies to assess the role of low dose CT for screening of high risk populations for early lung cancer. Those screening studies were funded by research grants and the CT scans were obtained on Saturdays at Hillman Cancer Center. The PLuSS study was one of the first high volume low dose lung cancer screening research studies in the country and it demonstrated the benefit of low dose CT scans for the early diagnosis of lung cancer.

UPMC then participated in the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial (NLST) which was a large multicenter study. The study definitively proved the value of low dose lung cancer screening with a 20% decrease in disease specific mortality.

UPMC RSNA Book 2018
Once again, UPMC radiology was well represented at RSNA this year. Faculty and trainees gave 11 scientific sessions, prepared 4 educational exhibits and lectured in 9 refresher/educational courses. Dr. Rath chaired the RSNA Educational Exhibits Awards committee, and as track committee chairs, Drs. Tublin and Zuley assembled outstanding ultrasound and breast refresher course series. Faculty, trainees and many alumni again enjoyed a spectacular Tuesday night reception. The alumni network continues to expand, and it was great to again hear of the accomplishments of our many outstanding alumni.