Two leaders in imaging science at Vanderbilt University are among 43 recipients of the 2013 Distinguished Investigator Award from the Academy of Radiology Research, academy officials announced last week.
Reed Omary, M.D., M.S., chair of the Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, and John Gore, Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS), are among 115 top American radiologists who have been honored since the award was created in 2012.
Dr. Omary, the Carol D. and Henry P. Pendergrass Professor in Radiology and Radiological Sciences, was recruited to Vanderbilt last year from Northwestern University, where he was professor of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering and vice chair of Research for the Department of Radiology.
Omary has pioneered image-guided techniques that improve the delivery of drugs into the blood supply of liver and pancreatic cancers. He has served in leadership roles in the American Cancer Society, RSNA, and Society of Interventional Radiology.
“Imaging can serve as a high-powered engine for translational discovery,” Omary said. “The Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science and the Department of Radiology are excited to work together to generate imaging advances for personalized medicine.”
“This outstanding group of researchers has helped to revolutionize medical imaging, and their work has led to many important advances in patient care,” Stanley Baum, M.D., chair of the Academy’s Distinguished Investigator Workgroup, said in a news release.
Dr. Gore, who joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 2002, is Hertha Ramsey Cress University Professor, vice chair for Research in the Department of Radiology & Radiological Sciences, and professor of Biomedical Engineering, Molecular Physiology & Biophysics and Physics & Astronomy.
A pioneer in magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy techniques, Gore was elected in 2011 to the American Association for the Advancement of Science and to the National Academy of Engineering. Last year he was appointed to the National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.
“It is a considerable honor for Dr. Omary and me to receive this recognition, which confirms how far Vanderbilt has progressed to become a leader in imaging research and clinical radiology in recent years,” Gore said.
They were inducted into the Academy’s Council of Distinguished Investigators during the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Dec. 1-6 in Chicago.
