ScienceMakers Toolkit Manual - The History Makers

Life Science
Pettigrew returned to the Emory University School of Medicine in 1985 to become a Professor of Radiology
and perform progressive research on MRI heart scanning. Pettigrew’s MRI research has been published in numerous
scholarly journals. He co-authored and edited “MRI of the Cardiovascular System,” a reference anthology,
in 1993.
Pettigrew held a teaching position at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1995, eventually moving up to
become the director of magnetic resonance research at Emory in 1995. In 2002, Pettigrew was chosen to be the
fi rst director of the National Institutes of Health Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, where he
led the Institute’s research and grant budget.
Pettigrew has been nationally lauded for his work in the fi eld of radiology, including his membership in Phi
Beta Kappa and his 1990 Most Distinguished Alumnus award from the University of Miami.
Discussion Questions
Personal:
1. What was the most compelling thing you learned about Dr. Pettigrew?
2. Where was Dr. Pettigrew born? Locate it on a map. How far away is this from where you live? What are
the names of his parents? Where did Dr. Pettigrew attend high school? What do you suppose high school
was like for him?
3. How old are you? In what year was Dr. Pettigrew your age? What was happening in the country that
year? What was happening in the world that year? What do you suppose his life was like when he was
your age?
4. What role did Dr. Pettigrew’s family play in helping him become a prominent scientist? How does your
family help you? (See JustGarciaHill biography)
5. Dr. Pettigrew studied a wide variety of subjects during his education. How did he build his education in
stages to become who he is today? What are some of your interests? How can you combine them into a
meaningful career? (See Biography)
Science:
6. What do you think a radiologist does? Would you like to be a radiologist? Why?
7. If you were a radiologist, what kinds of questions would you study?
8. Dr. Pettigrew’s early work involved research using magnetic resonance imaging. What is this more
commonly known as? How does this technique work? What are the advantages of this technique over
other imaging techniques? Why is this technology important? Where in the body is it most useful? When
did magnetic resonance imaging fi rst come into prominence?
(See NIBIB page and JustGarciaHill biography)
9. Dr. Pettigrew is known for his research regarding four-dimensional imaging of the heart. What is fourdimensional
imaging? Find out how an image can be four-dimensional. Research how this technology
works. Why do you think this technology is so useful? (See NIBIB page)
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