Division of Magnetic Resonance Research Retreat
From the Radiology Department Newsletter, Editor: Mary McAllister




The Division of Magnetic Resonance (MR) Research held its 11th Annual Retreat at Chesapeake Beach, MD on October 2 and 3, 2008. A record number of registrants totaling 100, including students, fellows and faculty, were treated to some beautiful weather and 33 MR presentations. The latter were scrutinized by five round-tables of discussions to analyze the information.

The first day opened with a Cell Therapy session and an overview by Piotr Walczak on “Targeted Cell Therapy: A To-Do List To Get It Into The Clinic.” This was followed by presentations from students and fellows on image-guided cell therapies and MRI of white matter disease. After lunch, a mix of invited clinical and research faculty stimulated the audience with what they would want if they had their druthers: integrated clinical cardiac exam (Jens Vogel-Claussen), integrated clinical exam for ‘brain attack’ (Peter Barker), a targeted interventional MR exam (Aravind Arepally), and an integrated cancer detection and intervention exam (Mike Jacobs). The last session of the day was on contrast agents, opened by Assaf Gilad with “Who sees it better? Gadolinium chelates vs nanoparticles.”

Thursday evening capped the day’s activities with the annual awards dinner featuring the regional delight— Maryland crabs. Drs. Jeff Bulte and Jonathan Lewin, Chairman of the Radiology department, were honored as Fellows of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), Dr. Dara Kraitchman as a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and Kristin Donato as a recipient of the Provost’s BME undergraduate research award.

Drs. Kraitchman, Bulte, Matthias Stuber, Peter C.M. van Zijl, and Paul A. Bottomley received publication awards and bound copies of their publications.