Twenty retiring faculty members were recognized during Vanderbilt’s Commencement ceremony May 9, when the university honored their years of service and bestowed on them the title of emeritus or emerita faculty.
Two of them included Radiology faculty, Thomas S. Dina and Richard M. Heller, Professors of Radiology and Radiological Sciences.
After becoming radiology residency program director at Vanderbilt in 1995, Dr. Tom Dina assumed responsibility of 26 residents and built the program to its current number of 32 residents. For 15 consecutive years, all of the residents graduating from the program under his tutelage passed the American Board of Radiology oral exam. Dina chaired Vanderbilt’s Graduate Medical Education Committee for the last 15 years. He also chaired the GME Residency Review Committee and the GME House Staff Expansion Committee. Dina received national recognition for his service on several committees, including from the American Society of Neuroradiology, which honored him as a reviewer for the American Journal of Neuroradiology. Since 2003, he has served as a reviewer for the scientific program of the ASNR Annual Meeting. Dina’s primary involvement was with the Southeastern Neuroradiological Society, for which he served as annual meeting program director and as president. In addition, he has been a loyal examiner for the ABR oral exams since 1999.
Dr. Richard Heller joined the Vanderbilt University Medical Center faculty in 1975 and served as director of the radiology residency program until 1995. His educational efforts in pediatric radiology at Vanderbilt deeply broadened the learning experiences of countless medical students, residents and fellows in the Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences and other departments at VUMC. He founded the Section of Pediatric Radiology, the Pediatric Radiology Clerkship for medical students, and the first fellowship in pediatric radiology at Vanderbilt. The Department of Pediatrics awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award for Teaching in Pediatrics in 1999. He was honored with a named lectureship in the Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences and was instrumental in designing the layout of pediatric radiology at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, where subsequently a classroom was dedicated in his name. Heller served for many years as an examiner in pediatric radiology on the American Board of Radiology exams and received the Distinguished Service Award. In addition, Heller has served since 1981 as Honorary Danish Consul for Tennessee and has been awarded Knight, First Class by the Queen of Denmark.
