July 17, 2017

Texas Children’s Radiology-in-Chief Dr. George Bisset was recently awarded the Radiological Society of North America’s (RSNA) Gold Medal for 2017.

The Gold Medal is RSNA’s highest honor. It is awarded annually by the Board of Directors to those persons who, in the judgment of the Board, have rendered unusual service to the science of radiology. Typically, three medals are awarded each year in accordance with the RSNA’s Bylaws as revised November 1977. A unanimous vote of the Board of Directors is required.

Bisset is the second Texas Children’s Hospital recipient of this prestigious award. The first recipient was (late) Dr. Edward Singleton, who received the award in 1995.

June 27, 2017

Texas Children’s radiologist Dr. Victor Seghers was recently elected vice president of the Pediatric Imaging Council within the Society for Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI). This is a six-year term and Seghers will become president of the council in 2019.

In this leadership position, Seghers’ responsibilities will include recruitment of speakers and moderators for the annual mid-Winter meeting in January and annual convention in June. NMMI is a multidisciplinary medical association of more than 18,000 physicians, technologists, scientists, students and other health care providers. Established more than 50 years ago, their goal is to be the leader in unifying, advancing and optimizing molecular imaging with the ultimate goal of improving human health.

Seghers is double-board certified in Nuclear Radiology and Pediatric Radiology by the American Board of Radiology. He has published in numerous peer reviewed journals and his clinical and research interests include pediatric oncology and epilepsy with a focus on Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging.

Originally director of Body CT and MRI at Texas Children’s Hospital, he later served as division chief of Nuclear Radiology. He created the PET/MRI program, the first of its kind in a free-standing children’s hospital here at Texas Children’s.

Seghers is currently chief of Community Radiology and is the service chief for Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands.

February 21, 2017

Dr. Michael Paldino’s paper entitled “Brain Network Architecture and Global Intelligence in Children with Focal Epilepsy” was recently selected as the 2016 Lucien Levy Best Research Article Award Winner in the American Journal of Neuroradiology (AJNR).

This award is named for the late AJNR senior editor who championed its establishment and recognizes the best original research paper accepted in 2016. The winning paper, submitted by Paldino and fellow Texas Children’s radiologists Drs. Farahnaz Golriz, Wei Zhang and Zili Chu, was published electronically on October 13, 2016 and appeared in the February print issue of the journal.

The paper was selected by a vote of the journal’s editor-in-chief and senior editors.

Texas Children Radiologist Dr. Nadia Mahmood was recently named Secretary of the Pediatric Ultrasound Community of the American Institute of Ultrasound Medicine (AIUM). Mahmood will become chair of the committee in 2021.

This is a major responsibility for Mahmood, especially at the association’s annual convention in March, involving selection of topics, speakers and moderators for sessions. AIUM is a multidisciplinary medical association of more than 9,000 physicians, sonographers, scientists, students and other health care providers. Established more than 50 years ago, the AIUM is dedicated to advancing the safe and effective use of ultrasound in medicine through professional and public education, research, development of guidelines, and accreditation.

Mahmood is a board certified radiologist by the American Board of Radiology. Her clinical and research interests include lymphoma, neuroblastoma and oncology-related imaging. She also serves as one of four radiologists in the division of nuclear imaging with a focus on Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging. Mahmood completed her subspecialty in Pediatric Imaging at Texas Children’s Hospital. Apart from her clinical and research responsibilities, Mahmood also serves as associate director of the Radiology Education Program as well as interim section chief of Ultrasound Imaging. She has published in numerous peer reviewed journals, with her most recent project pertaining to urinary tract infections in neonates. In addition, Mahmood is involved in multiple regional and national committees, including the one she was recently appointed to with the AIUM.

For more information about Mahmood click here.

February 7, 2017

2817Vasudevan175Pediatric surgeon Dr. Sanjeev Vasudevan recently received a grant from the Macy Easom Cancer Research Foundation to forward his research on pediatric hepatocellular malignancy, an aggressive liver cancer.

The grant is for more than $130,000 and will provide funding for Vasudevan’s second year of research on his project titled: “Real-time vascular and tumor visualization as an adjunct to liver surgery for pediatric hepatocellular malignancy.”

Vasudevan’s research uses new imaging techniques to investigate intra-operative, real-time visualization of a tumor and blood vessels. This research is a collaborative project with the departments of Radiology and Surgery. Ketankumar Ghaghada with Radiology is the co-principal investigator on this research project. The project team is made up of multi-disciplinary specialists from both departments.

In other news, Vasudevan was named vice chair of the surgery subcommittee of the Pediatric Hepatic International Tumor Trial. The Pediatric Hepatic International Tumor Trial is an international prospective clinical trial on pediatric liver tumors through the Children’s Oncology Group.

For more information about Vasudevan, his expertise and clinical and research interests, click here. For more information about Ghaghada, click here.

December 6, 2016

113016drprakashmasand175Dr. Prakash Masand, director of Cardiac Imaging Service in the Texas Children’s Hospital Department of Radiology has been awarded a Fulbright & Jaworski LLP Faculty Excellence Award from Baylor College of Medicine. He is the first pediatric radiologist at Texas Children’s to receive this award.

To be considered for an award in Teaching and Evaluation, a member of the Baylor faculty must show evidence of quality of teaching, number of teaching hours and diversity in content of material, and variety of teaching formats among medical students, residents and fellows.

“One of the most valuable assets of any academic medical center is a great teacher,” said Texas Children’s Radiologist-in-Chief George S. Bisset. “Dr. Masand understands the power of teaching and his commitment has inspired many of our trainees in radiology.”

As a Radiology attending physician since 2010, Masand has contributed to the training and education of numerous residents and fellows who rotate on the Radiology service from Baylor College of Medicine, University of Texas in Houston and the San Antonio military program.

As an educator, Masand inspires residents and fellows by incorporating effective teaching methods to help them discover their true potential. He enjoys teaching while interpreting case studies with trainees and enjoys interactions with his trainees during clinical conferences, didactic and lecture based teaching. Masand is also passionate about optimizing and setting up imaging protocols and sequences, which eventually helps with standardization of imaging based algorithms, and provides him with the unique opportunity to participate in the education of our Radiology staff, including nurses, technologists and sonographers.

“My collaboration with residents, fellows and faculty from other clinical specialties has continually enhanced my learning and I am happy to say that we have developed several successful clinical programs using a multidisciplinary approach,” Masand said. “Being the imaging spearhead for these programs, I am able to impart knowledge about the latest and the best imaging techniques to my clinical colleagues, which improves patient care and benefits the community.”

Congratulations to Dr. Masand for this prestigious excellence in teaching award!

June 1, 2016

6116WCIRREV640One of Texas Children’s main objectives is to provide the right care at the right time at the right place. Fulfilling that mission just got easier with the installation of a new Interventional Radiology Suite at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus.

Equipped with a customizable interventional X-ray imaging system from Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc., the new suite will enable physicians to provide a wider range of image-guided procedures to patients and families in the West Houston area without having to send them across town to Texas Children’s in the Texas Medical Center.

“This suite gives us the ability to have a full-service radiology department at West Campus, making the future of radiology at the community hospital even brighter,” said Texas Children’s Radiology-In-Chief Dr. George S. Bisset at a ribbon cutting event for the new suite. “I’m very excited about what this new addition will bring to the hospital, our medical staff, and most importantly, our patients.”

Texas Children’s Chief of Interventional Radiology Dr. Kamlesh Kukreja said interventional radiology helps physicians keep every child they see as healthy as they can be and as comfortable as possible during their visit to the hospital or clinic.

“I’m looking forward to this service growing significantly at West Campus,” Kukreja said.

The new state-of-the-art suite is equipped with Toshiba’s Infinix-i’s C-arm design that offers conformity to any patient, allowing for optimal angulations, streamlined positioning and customizable configuration. In addition, the Infinix-i’s ergonomic enhancement improves clinician speed and precision while reducing the potential for strain and injury. Another important feature is the real-time Dose Tracking System that provides real-time data on the delivery of radiation in the form of easy-to-read color-coded human map.

“In pediatrics, radiation exposure is a key concern and dose management continues to be an important focus assuring maximum benefits under the highest safety standards for the patients,” said Sadia Nasir, assistant director of radiology at West Campus. “The Dose Monitoring System, in combination with dose management and reduction technologies, such as, Spot Fluororscopy will allow the interventionists to instantaneously monitor and minimize patient’s X-ray skin dose in real time during the procedures.”

Matt Schaefer, vice president of West Campus, said the need for additional radiology services at West Campus has continued to grow ever since the community hospital opened its doors more than five years ago.

“The opening of this new, state-of-the-art Interventional Radiology Suite is simply another step toward meeting those needs and providing patients with the highest quality of pediatric care.” he said.

To learn more about Texas Children’s interventional radiology services, click here.