GE HEALTHCARE NAMES BARROW NEUROLOGICAL INSTITUTE’S JIM PIPE TO 2008 CLASS OF MR THOUGHT LEADERS

[Source: GE Healthcare] - In the annual effort to recognize and celebrate the top minds in magnetic resonance, Barrow Neurological Institute’s Jim Pipe was named a “GE Healthcare Thought Leader.” Pipe was hand-selected as one of 10 prominent inductees for 2008.

“In a time when everyone is pushing harder and faster to produce the next best answer for healthcare, GE has - for at least the last six years - maintained the thought leadership in MR research,” states David Handler, global marketing manager for GE Healthcare, MR. “Dr. Pipe’s work reinforces the important role our customers and collaborators have in maintaining the best solutions for tomorrow.”

Pipe, director of neuroimaging research for the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, was selected based on his cutting-edge contributions to the MR industry and forward thinking. He invented Propeller, the first commercial MR method to eliminate blurring in a scan during patient movement – a method developed in collaboration with GE and now available on most commercial scanners.

Along with furthering this technology, he works with GE to develop techniques that better capture images of brain structure, function and connectivity. In establishing the mathematical underpinnings for many next-generation MR methods, Pipe aims to reduce exam times greatly while increasing the information available to physicians.

Pipe is in good company. This year’s GE “Thought Leader Class” also includes:

Graham Wright, PhD – Professor, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto Research Director, Schulich Heart Program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada. Wright has pursued cardiovascular MR research for two decades.

Eddy Boskamp – Chief Scientist, RF Coils, GE Healthcare, Waukesha, Wis. Boskamp has designed RF coils for more than a quarter century.

Tony Vu, PhD – Principal Engineer, GE Healthcare Global MR PSD/Applications Engineering, Waukesha, Wis. Vu is the principal architect behind groundbreaking applications such as LAVA, COSMIC, MENSA, SWAN and FIESTA.

Makoto Sasaki, MD – Associate Professor, Advanced Medical Research Center, Iwate Medical University, School of Medicine, Morioka, Japan. Sasaki is leading the invention of imaging techniques to detect neuromelanin, a black pigment exclusively located in the catecholamine neurons.

Mitsuharu Miyoshi – Scientist, GE Healthcare, Japan Applied Science Laboratory, Hino, Japan. Miyoshi is a leading designer of pulse sequences for the non-contrast MR angiography technique.

David Alsop, PhD – Director of MRI Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Mass. Alsop develops and implements state-of-the-art techniques for imaging blood flow with arterial spin labeling.

Dwight Nishimura, PhD – Co-director, Magnetic Resonance Systems Research Lab, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. Nishimura harnesses the advanced capabilities of GE’s instrumentation to invent new pulse sequences and data processing methods.

John Pauly, PhD – Co-director, Magnetic Resonance Systems Research Lab, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. Pauly is best known for his work in designing RF pulses.

Sean Fain, PhD – Associate professor of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. Fain uses hyperpolarized contrast agents to develop and apply fast MR techniques for functional imaging.

These topics, while not commercially available, could be reality in years to come.