Letter from the Chair: November Edition

After a relatively quiet summer, we are about to embark on a period of departmental transformation lead by our planned implementation of Epic in the summer of 2017. Starting next month, we will be featuring a new “Epic Update” section of the newsletter, which will provide monthly updates on the design, build and implementation of Epic. For now, please click here for Talking Points from the November 3rd Epic meeting. I am delighted to announce that Janet Greene (our current physician workflow manager) has accepted a new position as the Radiology Advisor for the Epic Enterprise Design Subject Matter Expert team. In her new role, Janet will represent and help coordinate input from a wide range of faculty and staff, as we collectively design Radiant, the Radiology Information System (RIS) component of Epic. Over the next few weeks, Kathy Green and I will be reaching out to the entire department to identify people interested in working on a wide range of Epic projects.

In addition, we are in the final stages of selecting a new PACS system, and I hope to be able to announce our final selection by the end of the year. The planned replacement of our electronic medical record (EMR), RIS, and PACS over the next two years truly creates a “once in a lifetime” opportunity for us to evaluate, and fix, any of our processes which we feel are inefficient or suboptimal. In order to help streamline all of the work that needs to be done, we have created a new Executive Operations Team, and have created/modified some Vice-Chair positions within the department.

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Stephan Wicky van Doyer, Division Chief of Vascular and Interventional Radiology will be our new Vice chair for Clinical Operations. Dr. Darren Brennan, Chief of Radiology at Marlborough Hospital, and Vice Chair for Community Radiology will change his title to Vice Chair for Enterprise Operations and Community Radiology. Stephan and Darren will join me, Kathy Green, Crystal Lehto and Dr. Steve Baccei to form this new Executive Operations Team. The team will coordinate closely with various working groups within the department to identify opportunities, plan, and implement operational changes. In addition, in order to increase communication throughout the department, Kathy Green and I have started a series of informal quarterly departmental “town hall meetings” during which all staff are invited to meet with us, to discuss any questions or issues. After each set of meetings, we will distribute a summary of questions, answers, and follow-up items so that those of you who are unable to attend and can kept up-to-date.

As many of you know, Sandy Costa has decided to retire from her position as Residency Coordinator. Sandy has been the heart and soul of our Residency program for over 20 years, and her presence in the department will be greatly missed. However, I am pleased to announce that Gabi Carbone will be taking over for Sandy as our Residency Coordinator. Gabi has already been helping Kathy Delongchamp get ready for our Residency Interviews which started on Tuesday November 3. We have started the process of searching for a new Radiology Communications Coordinator.

I am also pleased to welcome Dr. Letterio (Lillo) Politi to our department. Dr. Politi joins us from Milan, Italy where he served as the Head of the Clinical Unit of the Neuroradiology Department of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute and University. Dr. Politi will be engaged in both clinical and research activity. One of his main research interests is the imaging of neurodegenerative diseases. I am also pleased to announce that Dr. Karin Dill will be joining us on March 1, 2016 as the new Division Chief for Cardio-Thoracic Imaging, as well as the Director for our 3D image processing service line. Dr. Dill is currently an Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of Chicago, and is the Chair of ACR’s Appropriateness Criteria Expert Panel on Vascular Imaging and an examination writer for the ABR’s Core Examination.

While there are always many academic accomplishments to celebrate, I’d like to give a special “shout out” to the Neuro-Interventional Clinical and Research team of: Matthew Gounis, Miklos Marosfoi, Srinivasan Vedantham, Erin Langan, Olivia Brooks, Ajit Puri, Juyu Chueh, and Ajay Wakhloo for their recent paper in Stroke: Shear-Activated Nanoparticle Aggregates Combined with Temporary Endovascular Bypass to Treat Large Vessel Occlusion. This paper has the potential to change the way in which stroke is treated. Please see the attached link and video at: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/10/blood-clot-breakthrough-uses-drug-device-combo/

As this is November, RSNA is rapidly approaching. This year UMass Radiology will be well represented at RSNA with presentations, posters and refresher courses. In addition, several of our planned presentations have attracted media attention and may be featured in Aunt Minnie or RSNA News.