Hospital names radiology chief; Nobel prizewinning MRI pioneer passes, and more leadership news
Ting Y. Tao, MD, PhD, has been named section chief of pediatric radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the university announced Friday.
Tao started the new job on July 1, along with the position of radiologist-in-chief at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
“My vision as section chief includes increasing access to expert pediatric imaging services for children in the St. Louis region and providing state-of-the-art, quality patient care,” Tao said in a statement. “For example, we want to offer patients a more streamlined approach to imaging. The goal is to consolidate clinical and imaging appointments to St. Louis Children’s Hospital and its satellites.”
Formerly, Tao served as director of the pediatric imaging fellowship at WashU Med, and co-director of the general radiology elective course for med students at the school.
Nobel prizewinning MRI pioneer passes
A world-renowned doctor responsible for developing the foundations of MRI passed away recently at the age of 87.
Richard R. Ernst, PhD, introduced Fourier transform-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in the 1960s, paving the way for medical MR imaging later on. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in 1991. The two Nobel prizes in NMR awarded to-date are also based on his achievements.
“I knew Richard as a strikingly intelligent, conscientious and gentle colleague and friend. Together with so many who are indebted to him for having enriched their scientific lives, I keep fond memories of the good times spent with this great scientist,” Kurt Wüthrich, PhD, professor of biophysics at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, wrote in a July 26 obituary shared by Nature.
Butterfly adds to leadership team
Point-of-care ultrasound specialist Butterfly Network appointed two leaders to help strengthen innovation and technology at the Guilford, Connecticut, company.
Andrei Stoica, PhD, has been hired to fill out the newly created role of chief technology officer. Stoica will lead Butterfly’s product development, tech innovation and information technology operations.
“I am looking forward to leading and working with the talented engineering, software and product teams to deliver transformative solutions for Butterfly,” Stoica said in a statement.
David Ramsey has been brought on as Butterfly’s chief information officer. He’ll focus on maintaining privacy and security programs along with building out information technology infrastructure. Both appointments went into effect on July 19.
“I am excited to join Butterfly at such an amazing time as an early public company, “Ramsey said. “I have a passion for infusing high growth innovative healthcare teams with scale, security, and world-class employee experiences.”
Below are additional announcements from the field.
- Jeff M. Michalski, MD, MBA, has been voted president-elect of the American Society for Radiation Oncology.
- Philadelphia-based Einstein Healthcare Network appointed Ryan K. Lee, MD, MBA, as its chair of radiology.
- Elizabeth Morris, MD, chair of the department of radiology at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, was awarded a $600,000 Susan G. Komen grant to develop an AI model that predicts breast cancer.
- Terri Ruff, who started her career as a radiologic technologist in 1984, recently assumed the role of chief operating officer at Franciscan Health Indianapolis.
- Medical imaging and AI company Promaxo has appointed Theresa A. Matacia, as its chief financial officer.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.