Division of Neuroradiology

Optimize the quality of our clinical care in Neuroradiology and incorporate new advanced techniques in our practice. We are proud of the high quality of our clinical work, which is made possible by the availability of State of Art imaging equipment and excellent support staff. Neuroradiology has an extremely collegial relationship with neurosurgery, neurology, psychiatry, otolaryngology, orthopedic surgery and all of its divisions, we work closely together to ensure that our clinical colleagues are satisfied with the quality of our care, which we constantly improve by incorporating new techniques when available.

Develop close working relationship with clinical services and be fully aware of their needs. Our neuroscience clinical services at Keck School of Medicine have a very strong tradition and superb reputation both nationally and internationally. We are proud to be a part of the neuroscience team, enjoy the close working relationship with our clinical colleagues. We constantly communicate with our clinical colleagues and give full support to their clinical, research and academic enterprises such as Gamma Knife, stereotactic guided surgery or biopsy, movement disorder surgery, epilepsy surgery multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury and stroke therapy. We are also involved in their clinical research projects, such as treatment of neurodegenerative Diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and brain tumors. We also work closely with highly reputable orthopaedic and neurosurgical spine surgeons We perform a number of interventional spine procedures, such as myelography, discography, facet blocks, nerve blocks and epidural blocks.

Maintain and improve an outstanding Neuroradiology training program that satisfies ACGME requirements and continues to receive their accreditation and endorsement. The neuroradiology fellowship training program was created 28 years ago by Hervey D. Segall, MD, and was one of the first neuroradiology programs in the country accredited by ACGME. Since the beginning of the fellowship program, we have not only maintained but also significantly improved the training program. Our fellows rotate through Los Angeles General Medical Center, Keck Hospital of USC, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), and the Health Consultation Center. We have a total of nine State of Art Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) units, with two more units under construction (3T Prisma and 7T for neuroimaging research). New imaging techniques, such as diffusion imaging, functional MR imaging, perfusion, permeability and spectroscopy are being employed routinely. We have a total of nine modern Computed Tomography (CT) units and two dedicated neuroangiographic suites. Our Positron Emission Tomography suite is located adjacent to the Keck Hospital of USC. We have a total of nine attending staffs in Neuroradiology including a pediatric neuroradiologist and an ENT radiologist.

Maintain and improve the quality of teaching for residents and fellows, in radiology as well as related clinical services. We have an extensive teaching conference schedule for residents and fellows. In addition, we also participate in the teaching conferences for neurosurgery, neurology, and orthopedic departments. A detailed list of our conferences is available separately.

Encourage and mandate staff, fellows and residents participation in clinical research and other scholarly activities. We have a weekly journal club, a monthly research meeting to encourage the participation of clinical research in neuroradiology with subsequent presentation of the results at the scientific meetings and publication in scientific journals. Our attending staffs and fellows are involved at local as well as national level scientific meetings regularly. Our attending staffs are regular reviewers for neuroscience journals, such as AJNR, AJR, Radiology, Neurosurgery. Publication of books, chapters and review articles are also encouraged.Under the guidance and mentorship of the current Division Director, Dr. Paul Kim, the fellows and faculty are supported and encouraged to participate in intramurally and extramurally funded research.There are also strong collaborations with the Department of Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, in particular laboratories working on MR techniques (Dr. Krishna Nayak) and signal and image processing (Dr. Richard Leahy). Recently, new collaborations have been formed with the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute and USC Zilkha Neurogenetics Institute.

Maintain and improve an extensive teaching file and create a digitized teaching file in Neuroradiology.Due to our clinical exposure to a great variety of disease processes involving the central nervous system, we are able to compile an extensive teaching file. We endeavor to refine our teaching file by improving the organization and adding references to the teaching file. Our ultimate goal is to have a digitized teaching file that can be accessed on the Web.