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Monthly News & Updates

January 2023 | Vol. Issue 1

Message From Leadership

Department Chair

Neil Rofsky, M.D, M.H.A.


The Department of Radiology is a beacon of success in our discipline and is well known locally, regionally, nationally with increasing international recognition. This prominence is the result of your diligence and creativity that continue to deliver on our goals for innovation so that we can improve patient outcomes. 

 

Speaking of innovation, we are always striving for ways to improve communication throughout the Department of Radiology and this newsletter is our latest example. Here, we seek to highlight your accomplishments, while sharing important personal and professional updates. Through this vehicle, we hope to generate improved awareness, increased connection and some fun! Please feel free to send feedback and suggestions you may have regarding this newsletter to our able and creative Communications Coordinator, Marissa Wathern-Tovar.  

 

Department Administrator

John Hundt, M.H.S.


Almost six months have passed since I moved back to Texas and started my position here in Radiology. A primary driver of my return was my wish to spend time with my extended family on our farm near the Red River and Gainesville. I have been able to visit the farm every single weekend since I moved here. Frequently, I am a bit sore on Monday mornings from the projects I have going on there, but it has been worth it.  The farm has been in our family since 1903 and I hope my more than thirty nieces and nephews and great nieces and great nephews get to enjoy it as will.

 

Not only has it been great to get back to my family, but my expectations about joining this department have been greatly exceeded.  Everyone has been so welcoming. We have a great team in Radiology. I hardly miss that other place that I worked for thirty-three years. It has been invigorating to learn new things and apply my experience to our challenges. Meeting Dr. Rofsky was important to my decision to take this job but our extended leadership team gives me great confidence that we will do well through the coming transitions. Thanks to everyone for the support I have received thus far.

What's Happening in Radiology


Institutional Observances & Events


National Observances


Announcements

  • Bass Center Garage permanently closes January 30, 2023 at 5:30pm.
  • Alternate parking is available in lots 21 and 17. Staff may purchase parking permits for North Campus Garage 1, which is located underneath buildings NA-NH.

Welcome, New Faculty!

November 2022-January 2023


Brandy Conner, D.O.

Assistant Professor

Breast Imaging


Atul Taneja, M.D. Ph.D

Assistant Professor

MSK


Flavio Duarte Silva, M.D.

Assistant Professor

MSK

Ali Baiomy, M.D.

Assistant Professor

VIR

Rosan Patel, M.D.

Assistant Professor

Abdominal Imaging

Abtin Doroudinia, M.D.

Clinical Associate Professor

Nuclear Medicine

  • Connor Middlekauff PA-C VIR
  • Shannon Burke, PA -C VIR
  • Shelby Adams, RDMS, RVT APS Abdominal Imaging
  • Andrea Shearman, Sr. Admin II, Neuro
  • Emily Lim, AS, Sr. Admin II, Neuro
  • Marissa Galvan, Accounting Clerk II
  • LaToya Wright, BBA, C-TAGME, Manager Ed Programs
  • Ali Ahad, Sr. Research Scientist CRP Lab
  • Maria Mora Alvarez, PhD, Postdoc MRI Lab



  • Shahab Ranjbarbahadori, Postdoc Researcher, CRP
  • Lalit Chudal, Postdoc Researcher,TRUST
  • Ali Stinchcomb, Grad Student, TRUST
  • Lauren (Taylor) Maclaskey, GME Program Coord I
  • Sarah Lewis, Sr. Admin II- Pediatrics


Leadership Spotlight

Jessica Porembka, M.D., FSBI

In June 2022, Jessica Porembka, M.D., FSBI, Associate Professor in the Breast Imaging Division, became the Vice Chair of Strategy and Quality in the Department of Radiology.


Dr. Porembka joined UTSW faculty in 2014 and became the Quality Assurance Medical Director for Parkland Health in 2015 and the Medical Director of Parkland Breast Imaging in 2017. Dr. Porembka says that quality has always been an interest of hers and she is excited to be a department leader for progress, “Quality touches all aspects of what we do. There is now an increasing focus on efforts to improve the quality and safety of patient care. We should always try to make things better.”



At UT Southwestern, Dr. Porembka's commitment to quality improvement including population health management strategies is demonstrated by her participation in the Quality Committee, Quality Of Care and Patient Safety Committee, and the ACR Population Health Committee.


Dr. Porembka shared that part of her goals for the near future is to establish a Quality Collaborative as a way for faculty and trainees to learn, network, and engage in quality and safety initiatives in the department. She would like to create departmental synergy for faculty and residents interested in and involved in quality projects. She approaches her initiatives with an open mind, knowing that change is gradual but steady, leading by example with the mindset of, “Try something, if it doesn’t work, pivot, and try again.” She would also like to see process development regarding closing the loop on actionable findings by tracking these findings on imaging studies and then navigating patients to the appropriate care.


Dr. Porembka shared that improving quality and safety in patient care is multi-faceted; considering all levels of care: patient level, provider level, the radiology department and health system levels. She also stated that while quality assurance in healthcare is often viewed as “check boxes” to meet standards of care and compliance, she views strategic quality as a gradual approach to improve both access to care and the care delivery process to ultimately impact patient outcomes.


We are very excited to hear about Dr. Porembka’s vision as the Vice Chair of Strategy and Quality. There are big things coming!

Kudos & Congratulations!

Society of Breast Imaging Fellowship Inductions


Dr. Stephen Seiler and Dr. Jessica Porembka were recently accepted as Fellows of SBI.

Congrats!




Dr. Park accepted as a Fellow in the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology






Wow!


As of November 2022, the TULSA team treated the 100th patient! What a milestone to celebrate!







Faculty Recruiter's Corner



Melanie Yenchai

In May, I joined the Office of the Provost – Academic Recruitment Support Services team and began piloting focused recruitment efforts with Radiology. Prior to joining UT Southwestern, I worked at a large national healthcare system for 8 years, also doing physician recruitment. 


Goals

  • Help attract top talent from all parts of the world.
  • Retain our residents/fellows and faculty members.
  •  Make sure each and every candidate gets the red carpet experience with us.
  • Guide candidates through the recruitment process and keep them engaged at all times.
  • Bridge any communication gaps along the way.


Overview of the Initial Stages in the Recruitment Process


Source Candidates: Referrals, combing through databases, attending annual meetings, cold calling and email blasts, engaging with residents/fellows, contacting other programs, posting on specialty specific job boards, and any and every other method possible!

Obtain CV& Screen: The purpose is to learn more about the candidate, their interests, career goals, deal breakers, community needs, and what motivates them. This is also our first chance to really make a good first impression with them. By doing this, we can effectively highlight different aspects of our program and build on their interests when they visit us. 

Present Candidates to Department: Time is of the essence with recruitment. It is imperative to provide feedback within 24-48 hours after their information is sent. If you are unable to review right away, please let me know so I can give the candidate a heads up. Our goal is to keep them engaged as much as possible. 

Department Provides Feedback: If there is an interest, RAD Faculty Affairs will work with your admin to help schedule an initial phone call with the candidate. 

Initial Phone Call w/ Division Chief & Start Scheduling Interviews: If all goes well and we have approval, RAD Faculty Affairs will make sure the candidate applies in TAM and work with the department/division to start scheduling their interviews.  

 

I am here to help!

In the event you identify potential candidates and/or specific programs of interest and would like me to further explore, kindly reach out to me via email. Recruitment is a team effort and I look forward to partnering with you.



Email Melanie Yenchai

The Good Stuff


Dr. Richard Batz, Associate Chief of Community Radiology Division, founded a non-profit in honor of his mother, Louise H. Batz, who lost her life in 2009 due to a preventable medical error after a routine surgery. The Batz Foundation exists to help prevent future medical errors. Our Goal is to empower patients, families, and healthcare providers to work together as a TEAM to improve patient safety. We accomplish this through providing education, creating awareness, and supporting efforts of advocates and organizations as we ALL work to eliminate preventable harm, globally.


Read More about The Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation


We want to know about "Good Stuff", the positive things and good stories! Submit any "Good Stuff" content that you or a fellow colleague does or participates in, outside of UTSW, to be featured in next month's edition!

Celebrating Successes & Big Wins




RSNA Chicago

&

SABI New Orleans



Congratulations all presenters, awardees, and contributors!



Radiographics Awards- Resident Contributions

  • Dr. Meng Zhang and team recieved a "Cum Laude" award for: "You've Got a Friend in Me: How Radiologists Can Help Patients and Multidisciplinary Colleagues in the Diagnosis and Management of Fibroepithelial lesions"


  • Dr. Dogan Polat: "Mimicking of an Abscess of Hematoma: Complex Mass presentations of Triple Negative Breast Cancers"


  • Dr. Layne Kelley: "Mesh Mash: Multimodality Imaging of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction Repair"


  • Dr. Pooyan Khalighinejad: "Direct MRI-Guided In-Bore Targeted Biopsies of the Prostate"


  • Dr. Ali Tejani and team received "Cum Laude" award for "Bias in Imaging Artificial Intelligence" & received a Certificate of Merit for "Standardized Operational Log of Events for Artificial Intelligence"


RSNA Certificates & Recognitions

  • Dr. Waleed Abdellatif and teams awarded with two Certificates of Merit!
  • "An Approach to Acute Traumatic & Non-traumatic Diaphragmatic Abnormalities"
  • "Dual Energy CT in the Emergency Room: Tips To Play Your Best Game"
  • Dr. Kanu Vijay and team received a "Cum Laude" award for "Mesh Mash: Multimodality Imaging of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction Repair"
  • Dr. Bersu Ozcan and team received "Magna Cum Laude" award for "Serving the Underserved: A Safety-net Framework to Provide High-quality, Comprehensive and Culturally Competent Breast Imaging Care"


Congratulations

Society for Advanced Body Imaging (SABI) Awardees



Additional Exceptional Trainees Who Presented at SABI:

Shan Su, MD

Robert Rasmussen, MD

Viktoria Topper, MD

Appreciation of

Team, Culture, & Engagement

Painting With A Twist- Administrative Team Builder

July 2022

ICE! at The Gaylord Texan- Operations Team Builder

December 2022

UTSW Radiology Holiday Party

December 2022

Research Office Highlights

Reminders


*FEATURED*

UTSW Newsroom


New technique improves HIFU treatment for brain disorders

UTSW physicians have developed an improved targeting method, four-tract tractography, to personalize MRI-guided, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to treat medication refractory tremor in essential tremor and tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease. Results of the clinical cases utilizing this approach, published in Brain Communications, suggest that it enables more precise targeting of the brain, decreases treatment times, reduces side effects, and improves treatment response.


Read The Article


Education Highlights

We are very excited to welcome back, LaToya Wright, who has rejoined the department as the Manager of Education Programs, replacing Carrie Cohen. We are grateful for the service Carrie gave to the department and wish her well in her new role in the Department of Emergency Medicine. LaToya has recently been appointed to the ACGME's Coordinator Advisory Group for a 3-year term, beginning July 2023. We would also like to congratulate three Program Coordinators on new career accomplishments!

LaToya Wright, BBA, C-TAGME

Manager Education Program

Recently Appointed to ACGME Coordinator Advisory Group

Lisa Farmer, MS

GME Prog Coord I

Recently Graduated with a Masters in Organizational Leadership

Allendice Young, C-TAGME

GME Prog Coord II

Received TAGME Certification in December

Adrienne Rickett, C-TAGME

GME Prog Coord II

Received TAGME Certification in November

Trainee Tidings, Transmissions, and Teachings

Education Announcements (January-February)


Thank A Resident Day! Friday, February 24th, 2023

Special annual day to celebrate resident physicians and fellows. Share your activities on Twitter by tagging @GoldFdtn and #ThankaResidentDay! Don't Forget to include a mention or tag for @UTSW_Radiology so we can retweet!

Department Announcements

Schedule Your UTSW Headshot


If you have not taken an official UTSW headshot (taken at CUH), please sign up for your free headshot session through CMPA.


The department is working on a number of projects for which having updated headshots of the members of our team will be integral. A few of these projects include staff and faculty listings on our Intranet and faculty academic and clinical provider profiles as well as RADPoint announcements, newsletter features, etc.

Schedule A Headshot

Join Us in Celebrating Leeona Yardley & Wishing Her a Wonderful Retirement

PACT Card Recognitions

PACT cards honor UTSW employees and faculty who demonstrate superior organizational values through quality customer service, providing the highest level of care and service to our patients, fellow colleagues, and UTSW community through exceptional teamwork and respect.

Recognition can come from managers, co-workers, internal or external customers, faculty, patients, or visitors.

We wish to recognize those employees who do whatever it takes to solve problems and exhibit compassion and professionalism.


The PACT program has three pin award levels: Blue (four PACT recognitions), Silver (eight PACT recognitions), and Gold (16 PACT recognitions). Submit a recognition online for UTSW members each time great service is noticed. Congratulations to all our recipients!

Submit A PACT Card

Recent PACT Card Recipients:

December

  • Heather Craigen, Community Division
  • Michael Long, Dept Administration, Informatics
  • Sophia Lopez, Research
  • Vida Rhodes, RCRO
  • Keith Hulsey, PhD, Informatics Research
  • Richard Ahn, MD, PhD, Community Division
  • Anil Pillai, MD, VIR Division Chief


January

  • Stephen Seiler, MD, Breast Imaging Interim Div. Chief
  • Fabricio Feltrin, MD, PhD, Neuro
  • David Fetzer, MD, Abd Imaging
  • Eric Pepin, MD, PhD, Abd Imaging
  • Emily Knippa, MD Breast Imaging
  • AuhWhan Park, MD VIR

SOP & Policy Library

Click 'Read More' to see the full list of SOPs and Policies that has been recently revised:

Read More

Social Media Reminders

Guidelines

  • All associated personal and business accounts posting content related to UTSW activities or representing UTSW, must adhere to UT Southwestern guidelines and policies outlined by the institution’s office of Communications, Marketing, and Public Affairs (CMPA).
  • Do not “friend” patients or engage with patients on social media
  • Be transparent about your role at UT Southwestern​
  • Respect copyright, HIPPA, and FERPA laws​
  • Do not respond to media inquiries directly; all media inquiries should go through CMPA or the RAD Communications Coordinator.
  • Report inappropriate activity​
  • Do not engage in controversial political or healthcare-related debate while representing UTSW on a branded or affiliated account.
  • Do not post photos of unpublished research, sensitive patient material, EPIC screens, etc.
  • I


Reminders

  • Feel free to post content on your own twitter and either tag or mention UTSW_Radiology to have it retweeted!
  • Submit Content via the Content Submission Form or email for urgent requests.
  • If you need assistance with branding your business social media account, please reach out, we would love to help.


-New Year, New Recipes for Healthy Habits-

Recipe of the Month

Chickpea, Pesto, Tomato, and Mozzarella Salad

Recipe by Marissa Wathern-Tovar


I love a good salad packed with protein and tons of herby fresh flavor and fresh mozzarella cheese is always a bonus! Try this recipe and make it your own. Enjoy!


  • one can drained chickpeas
  • one can drained kidney beans
  • fresh mozzarella, cubed
  • halved cherry tomatoes
  • one avocado, diced
  • your favorite pesto
  • Get creative and add frozen corn, red onion, cucumber, etc.

Get In Touch

Is this newsletter engaging, informative, and relevant?
Yes
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Room for Improvement!

Marissa Wathern-Tovar

Communications Coordinator


Email Marissa | Email Creative Services

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