Residents Imagine New Approaches to Research
Left to right: Charlotte Chung, Christopher Hesh, and John Comer
The Radiology Residency Research Track gives residents like Charlotte Chung, MD, PhD, a jump-start on a career in academic medicine. The track provides 20% of dedicated research time during the second through fourth years of residency with additional protected research time possible with external funding. The program admits up to two students per year.
Dr. Chung chose Emory for her residency because, she says, “it’s a place that encourages residents to pursue interests beyond clinical learning.”
Blending work in both the Research and Imaging Informatics tracks, Dr. Chung is employing machine learning and informatics to develop standardized protocols for CT perfusion studies to diagnose and plan treatment for stroke patients. “Time is essential with strokes,” Dr. Chung says. “Patient physiology and cardiac function significantly affect scanning; however, the absence of standardized metrics too often compromises scan quality and complicates interpretation.”
Dr. Chung is collaborating with GE Healthcare to ensure CT scanners can handle the new protocols. She’s also developing educational modules to help radiologists with interpretation.
Dr. Chung credits Emory’s unique range of clinical training experiences as inspiration. “Being on-call and on-service at Grady, I was able to recognize the need not just for the clinical aspects of my CT perfusion project but also for the educational component,” she says.
Dr. Chung will augment this training with leadership skills development as a chief resident for 2020-2021. “It’s a huge workload but I’ll learn so much more. I want to be a researcher in stroke triage work, not just in how to use imaging to guide diagnosis, but also in improving the techniques of doing the scans and how they get used. Emory is giving me what I need to succeed.”
Second-year resident John "Danny" Comer, MD, PhD, also is employing machine learning in his Research Track work. Guided by mentor and associate professor Dr. Ranliang Hu, he is employing machine learning to craft 3D neural network architecture to predict ruptured aneurysm location utilizing non-enhanced CT head imaging for patients with non-traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage. Machine learning and cloud computing, he says, are powerful tools for advancing the speed and accuracy of diagnosing problems when every second affects morbidity and mortality. Dr. Comer also is working with associate professor Dr. Sarah Milla at Children’s Health Care of Atlanta and is drawing on an extensive set of MR neuroimaging studies from patients with and without epilepsy to design a 3-dimensional neural network capable of detecting cortical abnormalities in pediatric epilepsy patients.
Dr. Comer brings expertise from training and working as an electrical engineer before entering medical school, as well as a PhD in neuroscience, to his work. He aims to specialize in neuroradiology research and clinical care, which is why he chose Emory for his residency. “Emory’s Research Track and their emerging role in machine learning and medical imaging research were real draws for me to come to Emory,” he says. Collaborating with Emory’s experts in the field has helped him advance his research more quickly.
Dr. Chung and Dr. Comer appreciate the guidance from faculty involved in the Research Track on all aspects of research: structuring and executing the research project, generating publications, giving presentations at local and national scientific meetings, and applying for seed grants or other funding opportunities targeting trainees.
“I had experience with grant writing during my PhD years, and I am very appreciative of the additional training and guidance provided here on preparing competitive grant proposals,” he says. Dr. Comer has submitted a seed grant proposal for his research.
That guidance also helped Dr. Chung successfully secure an RSNA Resident Research Grant to support her work, and to present at national conferences.
Christopher Hesh, MD, a third-year resident in the Early Specialization in Interventional Radiology (ESIR) program, is focusing his research on the preclinical modeling of tumor microvasculature. Under the mentorship of pediatric hematologist-oncologist and biomedical engineer Wilbur Lam, MD, PhD of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Georgia Institute of Technology, Dr. Hesh has used vascularized microfluidic models to investigate questions that are not well suited to conventional animal models. Recently he explored the three-dimensional response of osteosarcoma, an aggressive malignancy of childhood, to cryoablative stress in differing physical microenvironments. This work has provided the foundation for an F32 grant submission to the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB).
In addition, Dr. Hesh works with faculty advisors Matthew Hawkins, MD, and Anne E. Gill, MD, on clinical research in the field of pediatric interventional radiology. These projects span vascular and oncologic interventions and have resulted in national and international presentations, including a first-place finish in the 2018 Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) Case Competition in Los Angeles, CA.
This holistic approach to research is helping Dr. Hesh prepare for a career in academic medicine where he intends to work as a pediatric interventional radiologist developing image-guided therapeutics for solid tumors of childhood.
“The research track has provided the support I need to take a non-traditional approach to image-guided therapeutics research that I otherwise would not have been able to explore,” Dr. Hesh says. “By drawing on the wealth of expertise of mentorship team I am able to ensure my research is both clinically relevant and scientifically robust.”
Dr. Chung chose Emory for her residency because, she says, “it’s a place that encourages residents to pursue interests beyond clinical learning.”
Blending work in both the Research and Imaging Informatics tracks, Dr. Chung is employing machine learning and informatics to develop standardized protocols for CT perfusion studies to diagnose and plan treatment for stroke patients. “Time is essential with strokes,” Dr. Chung says. “Patient physiology and cardiac function significantly affect scanning; however, the absence of standardized metrics too often compromises scan quality and complicates interpretation.”
Dr. Chung is collaborating with GE Healthcare to ensure CT scanners can handle the new protocols. She’s also developing educational modules to help radiologists with interpretation.
Dr. Chung credits Emory’s unique range of clinical training experiences as inspiration. “Being on-call and on-service at Grady, I was able to recognize the need not just for the clinical aspects of my CT perfusion project but also for the educational component,” she says.
Dr. Chung will augment this training with leadership skills development as a chief resident for 2020-2021. “It’s a huge workload but I’ll learn so much more. I want to be a researcher in stroke triage work, not just in how to use imaging to guide diagnosis, but also in improving the techniques of doing the scans and how they get used. Emory is giving me what I need to succeed.”
Second-year resident John "Danny" Comer, MD, PhD, also is employing machine learning in his Research Track work. Guided by mentor and associate professor Dr. Ranliang Hu, he is employing machine learning to craft 3D neural network architecture to predict ruptured aneurysm location utilizing non-enhanced CT head imaging for patients with non-traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage. Machine learning and cloud computing, he says, are powerful tools for advancing the speed and accuracy of diagnosing problems when every second affects morbidity and mortality. Dr. Comer also is working with associate professor Dr. Sarah Milla at Children’s Health Care of Atlanta and is drawing on an extensive set of MR neuroimaging studies from patients with and without epilepsy to design a 3-dimensional neural network capable of detecting cortical abnormalities in pediatric epilepsy patients.
Dr. Comer brings expertise from training and working as an electrical engineer before entering medical school, as well as a PhD in neuroscience, to his work. He aims to specialize in neuroradiology research and clinical care, which is why he chose Emory for his residency. “Emory’s Research Track and their emerging role in machine learning and medical imaging research were real draws for me to come to Emory,” he says. Collaborating with Emory’s experts in the field has helped him advance his research more quickly.
Dr. Chung and Dr. Comer appreciate the guidance from faculty involved in the Research Track on all aspects of research: structuring and executing the research project, generating publications, giving presentations at local and national scientific meetings, and applying for seed grants or other funding opportunities targeting trainees.
“I had experience with grant writing during my PhD years, and I am very appreciative of the additional training and guidance provided here on preparing competitive grant proposals,” he says. Dr. Comer has submitted a seed grant proposal for his research.
That guidance also helped Dr. Chung successfully secure an RSNA Resident Research Grant to support her work, and to present at national conferences.
Christopher Hesh, MD, a third-year resident in the Early Specialization in Interventional Radiology (ESIR) program, is focusing his research on the preclinical modeling of tumor microvasculature. Under the mentorship of pediatric hematologist-oncologist and biomedical engineer Wilbur Lam, MD, PhD of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Georgia Institute of Technology, Dr. Hesh has used vascularized microfluidic models to investigate questions that are not well suited to conventional animal models. Recently he explored the three-dimensional response of osteosarcoma, an aggressive malignancy of childhood, to cryoablative stress in differing physical microenvironments. This work has provided the foundation for an F32 grant submission to the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB).
In addition, Dr. Hesh works with faculty advisors Matthew Hawkins, MD, and Anne E. Gill, MD, on clinical research in the field of pediatric interventional radiology. These projects span vascular and oncologic interventions and have resulted in national and international presentations, including a first-place finish in the 2018 Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) Case Competition in Los Angeles, CA.
This holistic approach to research is helping Dr. Hesh prepare for a career in academic medicine where he intends to work as a pediatric interventional radiologist developing image-guided therapeutics for solid tumors of childhood.
“The research track has provided the support I need to take a non-traditional approach to image-guided therapeutics research that I otherwise would not have been able to explore,” Dr. Hesh says. “By drawing on the wealth of expertise of mentorship team I am able to ensure my research is both clinically relevant and scientifically robust.”