The Birth of a Section
Alexander Baxter is the most recent addition to our division. He completed residencies in internal medicine at the University of Michigan and diagnostic radiology at the University of California, San Francisco. After completing a fellowship in neuroradiology, he spent six years on the faculty at the University of Washington Medical School, working at Harborview Medical Center, the primary trauma center for the states of Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. His work there was focused on trauma and emergency neuroradiology. His interests include resident and medical student education, and he has assumed a leadership role in developing the ED division’s didactic curriculum. Dr. Baxter sits on the Education Committee of NYU Radiology, and is a member of the American Society of Emergency Radiology. He is also interested in radiology information systems and has developed an ED imaging database application, which has proven invaluable for teaching and research purposes. He has written numerous articles and book chapters, and is an active reviewer for American Journal of Radiology.
Which brings us to me, Haskel Fleishaker. I have had a long, varied (and some might say unusual) history at NYU. I completed my radiology residency training at SUNY–Downstate Medical Center in 1991. I first arrived on the shores of NYU for an abdominal imaging fellowship in 1992, and then stayed on as an abdominal imaging faculty member through early 1996. This was followed by a bittersweet four-year interlude in private practice on Long Island. The experience of working in a busy private practice was definitely useful in expanding my skill set, and developing my appreciation of the business and service aspects of radiology practice. Ultimately, though, I learned some important lessons, and discovered that I preferred the unique challenges and dynamic stimulation of the academic environment. With the encouragement of my former mentor and guru, Alec Megibow, M.D., I returned to NYU in 2000, taking a position as abdominal imager at the Hospital for Joint Diseases (HJD). Although we were providing full radiology services at HJD, I quickly learned that there was simply not enough abdominal material there to keep my plate full. On the other hand, the range of musculoskeletal case material was extraordinary. I took the opportunity to learn, “on-the-fly”, musculoskeletal imaging. I achieved this under the superb guidance of then Section Head Mahvash Rafii, M.D., and successfully metamorphosed into a “bone” imager.
In 2003, I was recruited to join the newly expanding ED Radiology division. With the departure of Philip Jeffery, M.D., who left the ED Radiology section, and, in fact, medicine altogether, to pursue a career in childhood education, I became Acting Section Chief, and in 2004, permanent Section Chief of ED Radiology. Working closely with Drs. Grossman and Birnbaum and Vice Chair for Financial Affairs Andrew Litt, M.D., I was guided through hammering out a workable structure for the division while cultivating nascent administrative skills, an experience which has been incredibly fulfilling for me.
Despite the diversity of our backgrounds, what all section members share is an appreciation for the wide scope of clinical material encountered at the Tisch Hospital and Bellevue Hospital Emergency Departments, the ample teaching opportunities, and the chance to be actively involved, in “real time,” with patient management. We also all share an appreciation of the flexibility that comes with unorthodox work hours!
As a small and somewhat far-flung group, rarely are any of us in the same place at the same time. Invariably, about 25% of the section is in transit or otherwise recovering from night work. This makes otherwise routine activities, such as section meetings, unusually challenging, and necessitates innovative solutions such as video teleconferencing.
Section Chief Haskel Fleishaker, M.D., reviews an image with ED radiologist Mark P. Bernstein, M.D.
The past year saw the debut of our independent ED Radiology CME course, which received glowing reviews from participants. The course, co-directed by Drs. Bernstein and Baxter, included lectures and workshops given by members of our section, other NYU radiology department members, Dr. Miglietta, and invited guest speakers. The course material was embraced as a practical primer for both ED radiologists and clinicians, as well as any physician dealing with patient imaging in an acute setting. This year we will also present a “mini-course” during the final day of NYU’s storied Head-to-Toe Imaging Conference.
Going forward, new opportunities and challenges are anticipated on the clinical, educational, and research fronts. We are assuming an expanded role in patient triage, diagnosis, and management, as we offer newly emerging modalities and techniques such as cardiac CT angiography and stroke perfusion imaging on a 24-hour basis. Indeed, maintaining expertise in multiple rapidly developing modalities is, perhaps, the toughest and most interesting aspect of ED radiology. Additionally, ever-widening ventures in off-site teleradiology services present unique Information Technology demands, including effectively interfacing with multiple clinical information systems. We look forward to further expanding and refining a curriculum in ED radiology for resident and inter-disciplinary education, as well as initiating a fellowship training program. Based on our recent success, further involvement in CME course offerings is inevitable, and most welcome. As the clinical and administrative components of our section fall into place, we hope to increase our pursuit of research opportunities.
The past year has been a turning point as we have “settled in,” and the maturation process of the section continues within the larger Radiology Department. Many of these challenges are, I think, not specific to NYU, but rather typical for the evolution of a relatively new subspecialty. Emergency radiology, in a sense, still suffers from an identity crisis, and is mistaken by some to be a glorified “nighthawk” service. Traumatology, an important component of what we do, is, in itself a relatively young, interdisciplinary field, encompassing radiology, trauma surgery, emergency medicine, and neurosurgery, among other disciplines. Working to integrate the insights of this specialty into overlapping areas of radiology, including neuroradiology and abdominal imaging, is part of the larger goal. The beauty of giving birth to a new section is that the opportunities are limitless and the path chosen is for us to decide.
<< Previous Page
Page:
1
2