University of Illinois Hospital Staff in the 70s

 When the class of 1971 started our residency Dr. Liebner was the Acting Chairman and his secretary was Mrs. Silverstein a nice elderly lady who soon retired. When Dr. Capek became our Chairman, he hired a new secretary Maria Helene Surowiecki.  Maria in addition to being young and beautiful made us welcomed when we wanted to discuss issues with our new chairman. 

The department's administrative director was Joe Wander.  Joe was a wonderful man who directed the daily operations of the department with kindness and made  them from marginal to most efficient.  Joe's secretary was Pat Ryband and Pat's assistant was Maria Razo. When Joe realised how busy the division of Interventional Radiology was he assigned Maria to us to help us for half a day.  Maria who was Hispanic was one of the nicest persons I got to know and she was my first secretary during my career.

On the East wing of the department conventional studies like chest and skeletal x-rays were performed. Rudy Champa was the clinical instructor who helped the rad techs students.  Rudy was kind and experienced and was the students' favorite instructor.

On the South wing of the department contrast studies such as upper and lower gastrointestinal studies, hypotonic duodenograms and intravenous pyelograms were performed.  Dexter Sandrick, was the supervisor  and Fred Hanna was the clinical instructor.  Ginny was the instructor who taught students on how to do mammograms. The director of the school was Mary Carson an Illinoian who studied at Northwestern University in Chicago.  The person who coordinated the technical operation of the department was Miss Veronica Demers who was very busy making sure all patients had their studies and returned to the wards promptly.  She was the maestro of an outstanding orchestra. 

In the file room Mr. Curry a most pleasant man from Jamaica was the supervisor.  He and his staff received the developed films from the darkroom by Rueben who was blind.  Mr. Curry and his assistants who were mostly immigrants made sure the patients' files were catalogued and were readily available to radiologists and the hospital doctors.  File rooms operating well were critical as the studies were recorded on films and kept in individual files.  Two decades later in the 90s file rooms cease to exist as the studies were digitally recorded and kept in servers.

The division dear to my heart was that of Interventional radiology which was in a renovated floor of the hospital.  The supervisor was Charles Blackman a quiet and pleasant man that made sure the operation of the division was efficient as our patients were the sickest in the hospital.  The technologists were Karen Sandrick, Cheryl Fulanovich and Janet Kmiechic.  Janet in addition to being beautiful was the star tech. The paper she wrote on magnification angiography was the best treatise ever written in the history of the school.  Janet in addition to her Bachelor's degree got a Masters' degree in Speech Pathology. In the division we also had a practical nurse Marie a kind lady from Mississippi.  Marie was most attentive to the patients needs and also acted as an unofficial psychologist when the staff became nervous or excited due to the difficulty of work. Finally, I should not forget Mr. Mathews who was the departmental orlderly who was most responsive to our needs because he as all of us he was fond of Marie. Two Registered Nurses joined later the division, Barbara Sexton and Louise Engert.  Barbara was an extrovert while Louise was quiet and worked in the department until her retirement.  It was in the late 70s when I performed the first successful splenic embolization in the country. Several patients had died when splenic embolizations had been done in other very good university departments.  In the 80s another radiologist the late Dr. Walter Tan joined me.  Walter a native of Burma which now is known as Myanmar was the most hard working and pleasant individual I have ever known. 

A room in the division was used for diagnostic ultrasound.  The supervisor was Judy Cinke and the rad tech was James Reeva.  Both were very skilled and hard working.  It was in ultrasound that I performed the first renal biopsy in the country which up to that time they were performed blindly.  The patients were referred to me by Dr. Olga Jonasson a very competent and hard working physician and the only female surgeon in our hospital.

The division of Nuclear Medicine was on the same floor as interventional radiology. Dr. Virginia Patterson was the director.  When she retired Dr. Dan Pavel became the director.  The supervisor was Kathy Baron a hard working and attractive Irish-American.

In 1984, Dr. Capek asked me to take a sabbatical and learn Magnetic Resonance Imaging.  I went to the University of Pennsylvania and spent six months observing and using their MRI.  I also volunteered to having a study on myself in order to observe on how patients who were claustophobic tolerated being in small space inside the magnet.  Interesting, they performed the first cardiac MRI on myself.  Upon my return to UIC, I became the first director of a 1.5 Tesla MRI which was considered high field at that time. I initiate a policy for scientists from the entire school of Medicine to have access to the unit.  I will mention three, Drs. Barani, Fiat and Gotsis.  All three advanced the field of MR spectroscopy.  Dr. Gotsis returned to his native Greece where with Dr. Kapsalakis pioneered the use of MR imaging and spectroscopy in Greece.

This post is dedicated to the late Joe Wander a wonderful man who I was lucky to call a friend.  Joe a dedicated family man loved sailing.  Joe and I sailed together and participated in races the most notable of which was the Chicago to the Mackinac island.  Joe and his wife Jeri moved to Colorado upon their retirement to be close to their daughter Sheri.  Joe and Sheri baptised my son Mark in the medieval town of Monemvasia in Greece.  This post is also dedicated to Maria Surowiecki whose beauty and pleasant personality made our department special.  Maria was the youngest of ten siblings of a family who left Ukraine after the end of WWII moving originally to France and then to Chicago. Maria currently lives with her husband, her children and grandchildren in Wisconsin.  Maria loves gardening, listening to music  and reading books about the history of Ukraine.  Both Joe and Maria enrich my life for which I thank them.

Univ of Illinois Radiology Affiliated Attendings

 We had many "outside attendings" radiologists who treated us like sons and brothers.

Drs. Leonard Berlin and Antone Pantone practiced at Skokie Valley Community Hospital. Dr. Berlin became known when he defended himself against an unjust malpractice suit.  He wrote and lectured extensively on this topic.  Dr. Pantone lived next door to Dr. Valvassori in Winnetka and upon retirement he moved to southern California and bought an orange orchard. 

Dr. Sheldon Nasitir practiced at Loretto Hospital in Oak Park. He was a friendly man who came once a week and showed us interesting cases.

Dr. Enrique Schwarz came once a month always wearing a flamboyant American flag necktie and sported a prominent moustache.  His associate was Dr. John Nyden (passionate Playboy Club member.  John was the chief resident when the we were junior residents.  They both practiced at South Suburban Hospital.

Drs. Martin Hockhauser and Roderick Darby practiced at Hinsdale Hospital which was founded in 1904.  The hospital is currently called UChicago Medicine Advent Health. It is the only reaching hospital in DuPage County.  Incidentally two of my children (John and Mark) were born in Hinsdale Hospital. 

Dr. Samuel Leder practiced at Chicago Tuberculosis Sanitarium which at one time had 905 beds. Dr. Julius Heideman at Ingalls Hospital in Harvey, Illinois which in 2016 merged with the University of Chicago.  Drs. Leder and Heidman came once a month for the "old people's conference" and quizzed us the hapless junior residents making it an entertaining conference.

Our affection as residents were to all mentioned affiliated UIC attendings who came and taught us in our formative years.

This post was written when my fellow resident Al Zuska and I combined our memories of our residency period which was magical.

This post is dedicated to Dr. Ahmad Parvin an Iranian national who received his radiology training at George Washington University in Washington D.C.  His father was the mayor of Isfahan, Iran. Ahmad was liked by all as he was a gentleman the kind someone could meet in the gilded era. He is currently practicing in Poughkeepkie, New York.  The post is also dedicated Dr. Nicholas Patronas.  He was a senior resident when the class of 1971 was starting. Nick moved to Washington DC and became the Chairman of Radiology at NIH.  He authored a book on the physical and psychological trauma of Greeks during the civil war that followed the completion of WWII (1944-1949). The 1985, the book Eleni is a memoir by Greek-American journalist Nicholas Cage. It looks back to the effects of the Greek Civil War in a remote village in Epirus where his mother lived.  Among many atrocities his mother was murdered by the communist guerrillas.  Thankfully due to the assistance of the United States and Britain Greece remained in the countries allied to the West.

Radiology Attendings Universiry of Illinois, 1971-1975

1. Galdino Valvassori trained as an Otorynolarygologist and is considered the father of Head and Neck Radiology.  He was an excellent teacher and gave specialized and personalized lectures on the plain views of the head and neck imaging, as well as writing a definitive text based on sectional imaging of temporal bone sections.

2. Glenn Dobben was a highly skilled and busy neuroradiologist.  Residents had to schedule training sessions with him.  He once diagnosed a brain abscess on plain films, saving the patient's life.

3. Ahmad Parvin received his Radiology training at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.  He was a polished man of the world with an engaging personality, great sense of humor, and incisive teaching style.

4. Harris J. Feldman came to the University of Illinois from Baltimore, Maryland.  He graduated from the University of Maryland Medical School, and did his residency training at George Washington University.  Harris was an anglophile and was visiting England yearly.  He had a great sense of humor and assisted greatly in preparing research papers for publication.

5. Paul Sevilla was an affable Pilipino and a kind teacher.  He staffed general radiology.  He adopted a child in order to enjoy a complete family life. He later went to join the staff of North Chicago VA hospital.

6. Edward Paggio was the chief of Angiography when we were senior residents.  When he left UIC he moved to the State of Michigan.

7. James Hoffman came from the University of Minnesota and joined the angioraphy staff.

8. Gabriel Chan was a general radiologist. He proudly hand wrote in Chinese the order for our ethnic meal of the month, featuring China.

9. Drs. Virginia Patterson and Dan Pavel covered Nuclear Medicine.

10. Dr. Edwin Liebner the chieff of Radiation Therapy, obtained the Oldelft simulator and tomographic units for radiation therapy planning.  He served as interim chief of Radiology between 1970 and 1974.

11. Dr. Prasad Mantravadi was an attending in Radiation Therapy.  He was a most pleasant and competent therapist.  His most notable work was in the intra-arterial injection of Itrium-90 for the prevention and treatment of hepatic metastases from colon cancer.

12. Dr. Vlastimil Capek a native of Czechoslovakia graduated from Charles University in Prague where he worked as a staff radiologist.  He escaped after the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia. He moved to Austria and then to the United States. He was first hired as a dark room technician.  When Dr. Harvey, the Chairman of Radiology realized the potential of the immigrant he advised him to take the State and Radiology boards which Dr. Capek passed.  He was hired as the chief of angiography. Dr. Capek who had learned the Seldinger technique while in Europe, he introduced it at UIC and maybe Chicago.  Residents learned this advanced technique of catheterizing vessels without a cut down or direct stick.  When Dr. Harvey retired Dr. Capek was appointed the Chief of the Department in 1975. 

13. Dr. Roger Harvey was the Chairman of University of Illinois Radiology between the years 1946 and 1970. He received his MD degree from the University of Rochester.  Dr. Harvey carried out the first radiation treatment with a Betatron unit and reported good results in 23 inoperable cancers. He was a research associate of the Manhattan Project in WWII.  In 1968, when he was the President of the American Cancer Society, he cautioned that lung cancer death rate in women, historically lower than men, was beginning to show a steady rise.  Dr. Harvey was the longest serving Radiology Chairman at the University of Illinois.  Unfortunately, the 1971 class of residents did not meet him but we learned from the staff of the Department that he was a great radiologist and a very kind man.

This post was written by Al Zuska and I.  We dedicate it to Harris Feldman who has been a loyal friend with a refreshing sense of humor. Harris was our favorite attending during our residency period.  It is also dedicated to Dr. Harvey whose kindness was well known to all who worked with him.  As a pioneer in Radiology he won the respect of physicians in multiple specialties at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

My Fellow Radiology Residents; University of Illinois 1971

On the 1^st of July 1971, five young residents started a 3-year radiology residency. The department of Radiology had three divisions; Diagnostic, Therapy and Nuclear Medicine. In the Diagnostic division of that era chest x-rays and skeletal x-rays, were the majority of the studies. Upper and lower GIs were more numerous and detailed.  Intravenous pyelograms were fewer and more involved. Angiography was performed with needle sticks of the arteries of the organ to be studied.  Nuclear Medicine concentrated mainly on the thyroid gland, renal perfusion and bone and liver scanning. Radiation Therapy was performed with Ortho-voltage and Cobalt 60.  No hospital in Chicago and the country had Computed tomography.  Dr Huckman at Presbyterian Saint Lukes acquired the first EMI CT scanner in 1973, capable only of limited head CT imaging.  The fist high field 1.5T MRI by GE was acquired by University of Illinois in1977.  Interventional radiology was performed in few centers like University of Oregon but it was not done in Chicago when we completed our residency.  The first interventional procedure was a splenic embolization that was performed by Dr Spigos in 1977 on a patient with low platelet count.

My fellow residents in alphabetical order were:

James Doran.

A sociable young man from Ireland.  Upon his graduation he moved and worked in Saint John, New Brunswick in Canada.  This move brought him close to his native Ireland on the other side of the Atlantic.

Yuichi Inoue.

A young man from Japan.  Yuichi was always available to assist if workload required additional manpower. He did a fellowship in Neuroradiology.  Upon his graduation he returned and practiced in Osaka, Japan becoming one of the best Japanese neuroradiologists.

Frank Lopez 

A most pleasant Mexican American who began his career as a family practitioner . He struggled with the effects of multiple exostosis. He  unfortunately passed at an early age due to colon cancer.

 

Dimitrios Spigos

A young man who graduated from the University Athens Greece.  Upon his graduation he served in the Greek Navy as a physician assigned in destroyers and other vessels.  When he completed his residency in 1974 he stayed at UIC as faculty and chief of Angiography. His academic career was impressive and thus he was promoted to the rank of Professor.  In 1986 he became the Chairman of Radiology at Cook County Hospital and in 1992 he became the Chairman of Radiology at the Ohio State University. 

Albert Zuska

Al received his MD from the University of Illinois. As a native Chicagoan he was always helpful to us his fellow residents from abroad.  Al started his career at Saint Anne’s Hospital in Chicago.  In 1988 he moved to Allsaints Hospital in Racine, Wisconsin.  In 2004 he was the founder of Elk Grove Radiology and he and his group practiced at Alexian Brothers Hospital in Elk Grove, Illinois.  An eponymous disease, the Zuska's disease was first described by Al's uncle Joseph Zuska at the Cleveland Clinic in 1951. The patient involved was his wife with the only cure for this disease being surgical. A recent article by Serrano et al describes the breast imaging and histopathological findings of the disease.   

During our residency we were guided by our beloved Chairman Dr. Vlastimil Capek, his secretary Maria Surowiecki-Bass and Drs. Edwin Liebner in Therapy and Virginia Patterson in Nuclear Medicine.

This post Is dedicated to my wonderful friend Al Zuska who helped me to overcome the difficulties all new immigrants experience when first arrive to a new country.  We became and stayed friends although upon completion of our residency geography kept us apart.  I cannot find enough words to thank you Al for being a good friend during our formative years.  I also dedicate the post to Gianfranco Fizzotti who graduated from University of Pavia, Italy.  He did his residency at Cook County Hospital a program affiliated with UIC.  Gianfranco became attending at Grant Medical Center in Chicago.  He return to Italy for a brief period.  Upon his return to the States he joined the staff of Radiology at CCH and became the chief of mammography. After CCH he practiced in Glendive Montana and Kellogg Idaho.  The final of move of Gianfranco and his most gracious wife Pia was to Santa Fe, NM.  I visited the Fizzottis several times during their sojourn in the wild west.

Radiation Oncology; the years of maturity

As it was discussed in last month's post several doctors led the early developments of Radiation Oncology. The ones listed below led the specialty to maturity.

Frank Ellis (1905-2006) was a world leader in the field of Radiation Oncology.  He studied medicine at the University of Sheffield in England.  In 1943 he became the director of Radiation Therapy's department at Royal London Hospital.  Ellis was the President of the British Institute of Radiology and remained active until his passing at the age of 100.

Gilbert Fletcher (1911-1992) was born and educated in Paris.  He was a polymath and in addition to his medical degree, he had several others such as in Greek and Latin languages, Engineering and Physics.  He did a fellowship at Royal Cancer Hospital in London.  He was recruited to head the department of Radiology at M.D. Anderson hospital in Houston.  Dr. Fletcher practiced both diagnostic and therapeutic radiology something common in that era.  He rejected the prevailing opinion that large tumors should receive a lower radiation dose. He was instrumental in the designing of first Cobalt-60 unit and pioneered the high energy beam units such as the Betatron and the Linear accelerator. 

Herman Suit (1929-2022) was born in Waco Texas and got his MD degree from Baylor Medical School.  He got a PhD in Radiation Oncology at the University of Oxford where he studied the effect of Radiation on the cellularity of bone marrow.  Upon his return to the US he went to the National Cancer Institute to soon move to M.D. Anderson hospital in Houston.  It was at M.D. Anderson that under the tutorship of Dr. Fletcher he established the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas with radiation therapy and conservative therapy instead of amputation.  He also developed the Fletcher-Suit applicator for intra-cavitary radiation of women with cervical and/or endometrial cancer. In 1970, he became Professor at Harvard and Head of  Radiation Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.  Dr. Suit's lifetime achievements cannot be overstated regarding his studies of the response of tumors and normal tissues to radiation therapy.  He used his wide radiobiological and clinical knowledge to advance the safe and successful use of radiation therapy whether through fractionation, radiation doses based on tumor size or integration of radiation therapy with surgery and chemotherapy. 

Ellis, Fletcher, Suit and many others created the specialty of Radiation Oncology as we known it today.

This post is dedicated to the late Drs Edwin Liebner Chief of Radiation Therapy and Virginia Patterson Chief of Nuclear Medicine who offered me a position in the University of Illinois residency in 1971.  Also to the late Dr. Vlastimil Capek the Chairman of the Department who took me under his wing and was a second father to me.

Radiation Oncology, the early years

Radiation oncology is the medical specialty focused in the treatment of patients with cancer using ionizing radiation.  Before a treatment is initiated patients undergo imaging (CT, MRI, PET scans) to map out the location, size and shape of the tumors. Radiation oncologists then determine the appropriate dose and angles of radiation beams to maximize tumor control while minimizing damage to adjacent healthy tissues.

Radiation is delivered either with Linear Accelerators (LINACs) or with Proton Beam Therapy (PBT), brachytherapy with specialized applicators or with radioactive isotopes such as Iodine-131 for thyroid cancer. 

Diagnostic Radiology, Radiation Oncology and Nuclear Medicine were practiced for many decades as distinct divisions of departments called Radiology.  All three are now operated as separate departments and their residents upon the completion of their training take separate boards.  The individuals listed below are pioneers who advanced the field of Radiation Oncology and made it a distinct specialty.

Leopold Freund (1868-1943) a Viennese physician founded Radiation therapy 100 years ago.  He provided the first scientific proof of the biological effectiveness of ionizing radiation when he treated a 5-year-old girl with a huge nevus pigmentosus on her back with x-rays.  

Victor Despeines (1866-1937) treated a patient with stomach cancer with radiation therapy in July 1896.  He was also the first physician who published a radiation therapy paper in 1896, one year after publication of the discovery of x-rays by Wilhelm Röntgen.

Emil Grubbe(1875-1960) was likely the first American to use x-ray therapy in the treatment a 55-year-old woman suffering from inoperable recurrent breast cancer. 

Radiation Oncology is a dynamic field that plays a vital role in the multidisciplinary approach in the treatment of patients with cancer.

This post is dedicated to Reinhard Gahbauer MD who established the Radiation Oncology Division at James Cancer Hospital.  I met Dr. Gahbauer during my tenure as Radiology Chairman.  Dr. Gahbauer and his associates offered the most   advanced therapies to their patients.  His devotion to the wellbeing of his patients was recognized by all. I was fortunate that met and worked with him and for staying friends for many years after our retirement.

Nuclear Medicine; Part II

Rosalind Yalow and her colleague Solomon Benson were nuclear medicine and internal medicine physicians at Bronx Municipal Hospital in New Yolk.  Rosalind Yallow received the Nobel Prize for developing the radioimmunoassay in the 1950s.  Yalow and Benson employed Iodine 125 in their assay after years of failure attempting to employ Iodine 131 as the tracer.

William Myers at the Ohio State University introduced several radioisotopes including Iodine 125 and Cobalt 60.  He was able to convince Benson and Yalow to switch to Iodine 125 as a tracer leading to their success. 

Dr Myers and Charles Doan who was the Dean at Ohio State University College of Medicine introduced the first treatments of an overactive thyroid gland with Iodine 131. 

Drs Myers and Doan also assisted in the production of the first to commercial Nuclear Medicine camera as initially developed by Paul Anger. This production was contracted to Nuclear Chicago which was acquired by Searle and then by Siemens in the late 70s.  Their original camera is now in the Smithsonian Institute. 

Michel Ter-Pogossian, the father of PET, using filtered back projection mathematics introduced his PET scanner and enabled many companies such as General Electric, Siemens and others to copy the CT technology originally developed by EMI without regard to patents leading to the the rapid advance in CT imaging. 

Both computed tomography and immunoassay which were among the greatest medical developments in the second half of the 20th century had their roots in Nuclear Medicine.

Dedicated to Drs Mark Tetaleman and Ernest Mazzaferri.  Mark who was the chief of Nuclear Medicine at OSU met an untimely death when he was murdered while attending a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.  Ernest Mazzaferri was an endocrinologist and Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at OSU.  Ernie was an ardent supporter of Nuclear Medicine and world recognized for the treatment of thyroid cancer.