RSNA 2009 Meeting Preview - Radiological Society of North America

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
IN MEMORIAM
Peggy J. Fritzsche, M.D.
2003 RSNA President Peggy J. Fritzsche,
M.D., a champion of radiologic
innovation and patient care improvement,
died Sept. 25 at her home in
Redlands, Calif. She was 68.
Since 1986 Dr. Fritzsche had served
as a professor of radiology at Loma
Linda University in Loma Linda, Calif.
From 1991 to 2004 she was medical
director of Riverside MRI Center in
Riverside, Calif., where she established
her reputation as a private practice
pioneer with a prototype office design
that made mid-field open MR imaging
available at the same location as highfield
MR imaging.
Dr. Fritzsche served on numerous
RSNA committees, including one
to organize RSNA’s 1995 Roentgen
celebration. Joining the RSNA Board
Vietti Recognized by
Cambridge Who’s Who
Teresa J. Vietti, M.D., a
professor emeritus in the
Department of Pediatrics and
Radiology at Washington University
School of Medicine in
St. Louis, has been recognized
by Cambridge Who’s Who for
demonstrating dedication, leadership
and excellence in pediatric
oncology research. Dr. Vietti
has more than five decades
of experience in research and
treatment of childhood cancers.
Former Human Genome Project Leader is New NIH Director
Noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes
and his leadership of the Human Genome Project, physician-geneticist
Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is the
16th director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Dr. Collins was nominated to lead NIH by President
Barack Obama and unanimously confirmed by
the U.S. Senate. Dr. Collins served as director of
NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute
1993–2008. The international project culminated in
April 2003 with the completion of a finished sequence
of the human DNA instruction book.
of Directors that year,
Dr. Fritzsche advocated
expanding the Society’s
public communication
efforts. Dr. Fritzsche
helped launch the RSNA-
American College of Radiology
public information
Web site RadiologyInfo sis was important to patients—
and it is—what is more tangible
to patients is convenience,
comfort and the availability
of the doctor to talk to them,”
Dr. Fritzsche said in an RSNA
interview last year.
Dr. Fritzsche was also
known for learning to fly an
and chaired the committee
acrobatic plane. It was a feat
responsible for RSNA’s Peggy J. Fritzsche, M.D.
that friends said spoke of
three-year radiology exhibit at Disney’s her constant urge to learn something
Epcot Technology and Science Center. new—a spirit that helped shape her
Dr. Fritzsche received the RSNA successful radiology career.
gold medal last year.
“There is always a cutting-edge
Communication, particularly with aspect to radiology and I’m not afraid
patients, remained Dr. Fritzsche’s focus of change,” said Dr. Fritzsche. “It’s a
when she became RSNA’s second
female president. “While I thought that
the quality and accuracy of the diagno-
very dynamic and exciting field.”
Boyden Honored by Washoe
County
Fredric M. Boyden, M.D., has received
the Washoe County Medical Society’s 2009
C.H. Woods Award, bestowed annually to a
physician who “has the magic touch” when
it comes to caring for patients, according to
the society.
Dr. Boyden practiced radiology for
32 years at Washoe Medical Center (now
Renown Regional Medical Center) in Reno,
Nevada, and since 2001 has been on staff at
the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in Reno.
Dr. Boyden performed the first catheter arteriogram
in 1967 in northern Nevada.
Smith Joins Fairview Red Wing
Medical Center
Hugh Smith, M.D., has
been named medical director
of the Department of
Radiology at Fairview Red
Wing Medical Center in
Minnesota. Dr. Smith, who
recently completed his
residency in radiology at
the University of Nebraska
Medical Center in Omaha,
replaces William Wells, Hugh Smith, M.D.
M.D., who is retiring after
33 years in the position.
Prior to his work at NIH, Dr. Collins spent nine
years on the faculty of the University of Michigan,
where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute
investigator. He is an elected member of the Institute
of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.
In 2007, Dr. Collins was awarded the Presidential
Medal of Freedom and authored the best-selling book,
“The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence
for Belief.” Dr. Collins delivered the RSNA 2003 New
Horizons Lecture, “A Roadmap for the Future of Biomedical
Research.”
RSNANEWS. ORG
Francis S. Collins,
M.D., Ph.D.
RSNA NEWS
3