Campus News

Summer Decker | New technology tuned to benefit patients

Wayne Lewis October 14, 2024
Photo of Summer Decker (left) and Jonathan Ford (right) standing beside a 3D printer

Summer J. Decker (left) and Jonathan M. Ford (right) develop 3D prints of medical imaging data, allowing surgeons to plan more effectively and practice before operating. (Photo/Eden Dozier)

In her first year at the USC medical school, Summer Decker has already witnessed comeback stories hinging on her ability to turn medical imaging data into tangible 3D reproductions, from the correction of a potentially lethal birth defect to the removal of a precariously seated aneurysm from a patient’s brain. Her 3D prints enable surgeons to plan more effectively and practice before operating.

“The patient is essentially in their hands,” said Decker, the founding director of the USC Center for Innovation in Medical Visualization. “It allows those surgeons to do things that they never would have been able to do before.”

The tangible results of her work, and their life-changing impact, didn’t arrive overnight. They are based in foundational investigations by Decker and her longtime collaborator Jonathan Ford, PhD, center associate director and associate professor of clinical radiology, surgery and pathology. The duo has assiduously developed techniques and confirmed that printed objects accurately recapitulate minute real-life details.

“I’m only as good as the anatomy I give you, so we are perfectionists,” Decker said. “We are almost hypervigilant to make sure that our work is accurate.”

As a technology, 3D printing is less than 30 years old, and applications in medicine are newer still. Decker’s field didn’t even exist when she was first launching her career. The daughter of a physician and a nurse who worked together in the emergency room, Decker originally worked in forensic medicine performing autopsies (incidentally, as part of the Las Vegas team that inspired the first CSI television series).

“Medicine sometimes is hidden behind a wall of knowledge. We can actually put it right in their hands, and they can make that decision with true informed consent.”

Summer Decker

She found her entre to 3D imaging while pursuing graduate studies at the University of South Florida, where she would continue as a faculty member in her previous post. When medical-grade 3D printers became feasible, she and Ford were active in validating the technology.

“That’s how we grew in the field, being able to test printers and give our feedback on how we could do better,” Decker said. “In this last 13 years, we’ve seen an entire new field really develop.”

Her mission to improve clinical outcomes with 3D printing reaches beyond her research and her work with surgeons and other clinicians. It also harmonizes with the Keck School of Medicine’s focus in education and serving the community. Decker’s anatomical reproductions help medical students and residents learn, and give patients a clearer understanding of what they’re signing up for with a given operation.

“Medicine sometimes is hidden behind a wall of knowledge,” she said. “We can actually put it right in their hands, and they can make that decision with true informed consent.”

Decker, Ford and their colleagues have also developed a la carte medical devices informed by the needs of the clinic, with the COVID-19 testing swab as the most visible product.

“We have a number of patents from our research that simply started with, ‘This doesn’t work, and we need a tool for that,’” Decker said. “Some inventions are with residents, because they saw something they wanted to help fix. Rapid innovation is what makes this field so exciting.”

She identifies two burgeoning directions for 3D printing in medicine that are especially fascinating for her. Implants suitable for long-term placement and customized for individual patients are beginning to crop up. And printing actual tissue from stem cells at USC is a possibility that gains some momentum from the recent addition of Murry as head of USC Stem Cell.

“All of this is coming really fast,” Decker said. “We can now go in and make a 3D model of someone’s spine, then implant a 3D print that stays there permanently. There are also bioprinters being cleared by the Food and Drug Administration.”

The way forward for Decker is through collaboration. It is vital to her endeavor, from her partnership with Ford to her work with clinicians to future alliances advancing regenerative medicine.

“Siloed medicine breaks the system,” she said. “People working together makes the system strong. I’ve been excited to see that here at the Keck School of Medicine, we can all work together. We have our knowledge, our colleagues have theirs, and all of us join together in service of the patient.”