The Palmaz stent … the MRI … the ultrasound. Think of the advances in non-invasive imaging that have made it safer and easier to detect, diagnose and treat human disease. These innovations would not have occurred without unique individuals who conducted research and understood how the findings might influence clinical practice.
A new medical resident/Ph.D. program in human imaging at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio aims to strengthen research in the field and breaks new ground among U.S. programs, said the program director, Gary D. Fullerton, Ph.D., Malcolm Jones Professor of Radiology at the Health Science Center and editor-in-chief emeritus of the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The program enables medical school graduates to complete their residency program in radiology, radiation oncology or psychiatry in six years while at the same time earning a Ph.D. doing human imaging research. Residents begin their research careers immediately following graduation from medical school.
The Health Science Center program addresses health problems most encountered by the South Texas population. Projects include studies of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, prostate cancer and depression.
The first human imaging Ph.D. candidate in radiation oncology, Sean X. Cavanaugh, M.D., has published 12 journal articles, obtained three research grants and presented his results on prostate cancer and radiation oncology at national meetings. The three radiology residents in the program also have multiple journal articles and gave oral presentations this year in Chicago at the 60,000-attendee convention of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
“Our program has a different, more challenging research timetable for residents,” Dr. Fullerton said. “At age 25 or 26 when a student graduates from medical school, he typically enters residency. Where our human imaging program differs from traditional clinically focused residencies is the fact that the resident immediately starts his research and begins seeking grants in his clinical specialty. By the time he is 30 or 31, we expect him to have six to 12 papers published, two to four small grants and clinical board certification. He is prepared to become an NIH-funded independent investigator. This is all achieved in a six-year program.” NIH is short for the National Institutes of Health.
The medical resident/Ph.D. program in human imaging is “our response” to the deterioration of research in academic radiology departments nationwide, Dr. Fullerton said. Financing of research in these departments was restructured by the U.S. Health Care and Financing Administration in the last decade to exclude traditional patient funding of imaging research studies.
RSNA, the professional society that seeks to boost participation of young radiologists in research to extend successes of the past, appointed a Committee to Revitalize the Radiology Research Enterprise. The RSNA committee selected the Health Science Center’s human imaging program as one of six possible models to revitalize human imaging progress.
The program also will receive $600,000 through a five-year NIH T32 research training grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.
The program is so select that Dr. Fullerton and colleagues are conducting a national search in all U.S. medical schools for medical resident/Ph.D. program candidates. “Universities and industry are going to be fighting for these people,” Dr. Fullerton said.
All of the eight applicants this year are in the top 5 percentile on the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam and several are in the top 1 percent or 2 percent. “What it’s doing is giving us a shot at students who would normally go to Harvard, Stanford and the other historically major universities,” Dr. Fullerton said.
