It is a pleasure to welcome you (virtually) to our department. Everyone feels they are unique, as does every department, but having worked around the world I can confidently say Radiology at Stony Brook is unique.
We are one of the very few departments that is co-located with an exceptional university. Stony Brook has arguably the finest physics and mathematics departments in the world, with biomedical engineering not far behind. Many of the most important advances in imaging including the inventions of MR, CT colonoscopy, and computer aided image diagnosis were made here.
Imaging is intrinsically exciting and in some ways that's unfortunate. Technology is exciting and Radiology is the most technologically advanced medical specialty. New pieces of equipment bring us back to our childhoods when we received a new game for our birthdays. Through this all, I sometimes worry that many radiologists lose sight of our primary responsibility-to the patient.
Radiology has one role that is to help diagnose and follow the effects of treatment on disease. In the research end our goal is to further the understanding of disease by following its natural history in in vivo and in animal models. To do these tasks we need four things. First we need exceptional equipment. We are fortunate enough to have 8 MR’s in our system, PET/CT, the first PET/MR on Long Island, dual energy and 320 slice CT, as well as one of the first tomosynthesis units on Long Island. Second, we need MD’s and PhD’s who can optimize this equipment and use the newest sequences, techniques and post-processing. Third, you need exceptional subspecialized radiologists to interpret the images. Lastly, you need a collegial, mutually supportive environment to allow our staff and trainees to reach their potential.
My only goal as Chair is to allow our environment to provide exceptional, caring patient service, outstanding training, and groundbreaking research. To reach that goal we have a superb faculty spanning all subspecialties supplemented by an equally strong physics group, with deep relationships with the departments of computer science, biomedically engineering and psychology.
I am very proud of our department. I am proud of the patient care we provide. I am very proud of the training our residents and fellows receive. Lastly, I am proud of the effects our research has on the practice of medicine. Welcome to our department.
Sincerely,
Mark Schweitzer, MD, FRCPSC
Chair
Department of Radiology
Stony Brook University