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Vanderbilt’s Thomas Powers, M.D., has learned to see exceptionally well in the dark. Powers, associate professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences and clinical director of Emergency Radiology, provides nighttime imaging coverage for Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Emergency Department (ED).

  Dr. Harold Thompson, Professor of Clinical Radiology and Chief of Medical Imaging at the VA, was awarded the prestigious R. Michael Rodriguez Award for Teaching Medical Students, Residents and/or Fellows in the Clinical Setting by Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., vice chancellor for Health Affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, at the Spring Faculty Meeting on May 28.

Several faculty from the Department of Radiology reached out to Vanderbilt medical students in an effort to create interest in interventional radiology and interventional oncology. As a result, Mary Ellen Koran, PhD, in the Medical Scientist Training Program rounded a group of medical students and formed the Interventional Radiology Interest Group (IRIG).

It all started with a faint glow. It was November 1895, and the German physicist, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen,  was experimenting with an early cathode ray tube—a vacuum tube with a contained electric current. During his experiments he noticed an odd fluorescence in crystals on a nearby table. Surprisingly, the glow continued even when he covered the tube with heavy black paper.

Finding cancer early may make it easier to treat—and possibly cure. Imaging plays a role in screening to detect breast cancer (mammography) and lung cancer (CT). Vanderbilt has made recent advances in both areas, with the implementation of powerful new breast imaging technology and the launch of a lung cancer screening program.