2022 Gold Medal, Honorary Member, Outstanding Contributions in Neuroradiology Education, and Outstanding Contributions in Research Award Recipients
The 2022 ASNR Awards Committee, chaired by Joshua A. Hirsch, MD, FACR, FSIR, FSNIS, has selected the following as recipients of the ASNR 2022 Annual Awards.
ASNR Awards Patricia A. Rhyner, MD, FACR, with the 2022 Gold Medal
Dr. Patricia Rhyner (previously Hudgins) is Professor of Radiology at Mayo Clinic Florida campus. Her former appointment was Professor with Tenure in Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA, where she practiced for over 30 years.
Dr. Rhyner attended the University of California, San Francisco for medical school, 2 years of Internal Medicine/Primary care residency, and Radiology residency, as well as Neuroradiology fellowship. After a short time in private practice in Northern California she and her family relocated to Atlanta where Dr. Rhyner joined the Radiology faculty at Emory University.
At Emory Dr. Rhyner was Neuroradiology (NR) Fellowship Director for 17 years. Under her leadership over 100 NR fellows completed fellowship, with a 100% CAQ pass rate. The fellowship grew from 4 fellows to 8 per year, and filled every year. It was and still is one of the few NR fellowships with dedicated Head and Neck experience. She is enthusiastic about promoting healthcare education internationally, and helped develop the first NR fellowship at Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
As Director of Head and Neck (HN) Imaging at Emory, Dr. Rhyner grew the section from one faculty to a total of 4, and developed a resident and NR fellow HN Imaging rotation with dedicated curriculum, guidelines, procedures and protocols specific to diseases and imaging of the head and neck. Throughout her career she encouraged multidisciplinary training, conferences and scholarly research and publications, ultimately leading to one of the first completely embedded reading rooms in the Outpatient Otolaryngology Clinic. With five PACS workstations, a Radiology resident and a NR fellow on service, active image-guided biopsy service and a collegial and cohesive group of NR attendings with extensive expertise, this was and is a unique, busy, vibrant service popular with Radiology, Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, and Oncology trainees. Dr. Rhyner considers consulting with patients and their families, especially when difficult decisions are made based on imaging findings, a critical component of her career.
During her long career, Dr. Rhyner has been especially devoted to two Radiology societies: the ASNR and American Society of Head and Neck Radiology, having served on multiple educational and administrative committees for both, including President of the ASNR from 2005-2006 and of the ASHNR from 2003-2004. She has presented every year at both society annual meetings, and remains active in society committees. In 2013 Dr. Rhyner was presented the Gold Medal from the ASHNR.
Dr. Rhyner has over 140 peer-reviewed publications, many with non-radiology collaborators, and is a popular presenter at national and international Radiology and other clinical conferences, where attendees frequently comment on her ability to make complex anatomy and disease processes easy to comprehend. Every presentation she delivers encourages the attendees, as healthcare providers, to keep high-quality patient care as the most important part of their job.
Dr. Rhyner’s family includes her husband, adult children, and 3 grandchildren. She is an avid tennis player, loves skiing, fitness activities and the outdoors. She is a lifelong ultimate Bruce Springsteen fan. Dr. Rhyner is committed to universal healthcare and efforts to decrease homelessness and food insecurity in the US. Increasing diversity in healthcare, especially Radiology, has been at the center of her entire medical career.
ASNR Awards Claudia Patricia Cejas, MD, with the 2022 Honorary Member Award
Dr. Claudia Cejas is Professor of Radiology in the School of Medicine of the Buenos Aires University, Associate Professor of the El Salvador University in Buenos Aires, and Professor of Specialist Course in Radiology of the Argentine Society of Radiology (SAR). She is also a Head of Radiology Department and Chief of MRI Division in Foundation of Neurological Research (FLENI) in Buenos Aires.
Dr. Cejas attended the University of Buenos Aires for both undergraduate education and medical school. She then did her residency in Diagnostic Radiology in Buenos Aires, and Fellowship in Neuroradiology and Head and Neck at Strasbourg University (Civil Hospital), France with Jean Louis Dietemann as her primary mentor.
Dr. Cejas has been the Editor in Chief of the Argentinian Journal of Radiology during 2010-2018. She is a Scientific Consultant of prestigious radiology journals such as Muscle & Nerve, Neurological Disorders,Radiology, Stroke, and Radiología (Spain).
She has won the scholarship granted by the American Roentgen Ray Association (ARRS): “2016 Lee F. Rogers International Fellow in Radiology Journalism” with Dr. Thomas Berquist as the Editor.
Her area of interest is Magnetic Resonance in the study of spine and neuromuscular disorders. To date, she has given more than 100 lectures in national and international courses and congresses of the specialty, has presented 100 papers (poster-free subject) in national and international congresses of the specialty, has written more than 50 scientific papers on topics of specialty in national and international journals, has published a book as the first author and has authored a chapter in 6 books of the specialty. She has written a new book “MR Neurography of Peripheral Nerve and Plexus” Journal Ed. 2020, and she was Associated Editor in “Surgical Anatomy of the Cervical Plexus and Its Branches”, Elsevier Ed. 2021, with Shane Tubbs.
Dr. Cejas has been a longstanding member of the Argentine Society of Radiology (SAR), RSNA, ARRS, SFR. She is a Vice-President of the SAR (2021-2023).
ASNR Awards Pamela W. Schaefer, MD, with the 2022 Outstanding Contributions in Neuroradiology Education Award
Dr. Pamela Schaefer received her Bachelor of Arts degree with highest honors in Biochemistry from Princeton University and received her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She completed her Radiology residency training and Neuroradiology fellowship training at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1994. She has been a MGH Radiology faculty member since 1994.
Dr. Schaefer is currently the Vice Chair of Education, the Clinical Director of MRI, and the Neuroradiology Fellowship Director at the Massachusetts General Hospital where she holds the Theresa McLoud, MD, Endowed Chair in Radiology Education. She is a Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Schaefer has been a longstanding member of the ASNR, RSNA, AUR, ARRS and ACR. and has served on multiple committees and in multiple leadership positions for these organizations. Dr. Schaefer is Past President of the American Society of Neuroradiology, the Eastern Neuroradiologic Society, and the New England Roentgen Ray Society.
She has previously served as the Co-Chair of the Introduction to Academic Radiology, the Co-Director of the RSNA Neuroradiology Case Based Review Course, the Chair of the Alliance of Directors and Vice Chairs of Education in Radiology, the Chair of the Education Committee of the Association of University Radiologists, the Chair of the Program Director’s Committee of the ASNR and the Chair of the Scientific Program Committee of the American Roentgen Ray Society.
Dr. Schaefer is a Fellow of the American College of Radiology, a Deputy Editor for Education of the Journal of the American College of Radiology and a past Senior Editor of the American Journal of Neuroradiology.
Dr. Schaefer is considered an international expert in diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and stroke imaging. She has been invited to give hundreds of national and international lectures She has co-authored 150 peer-reviewed publications, written more than 35 book chapters and edited four scholarly books.
ASNR Awards Max Wintermark, MD, with the 2022 Outstanding Contributions in Research Award
Dr. Max Wintermark is a Professor and the Chair of Neuroradiology at MD Anderson in Houston. Dr. Wintermark received his medical degree from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. He completed his radiology residency training at the University Hospital in Lausanne and his clinical fellowship in Neuroradiology at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). Additionally, Dr. Wintermark holds master’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering, Clinical Research and Business Administration.
His previous faculty appointments include UCSF, the University of Virginia and Stanford. Dr. Wintermark serves as the senior editor for Neuroradiology for the American Journal of Roentgenology, and he is a past president of the American Society of Functional Neuroradiology. He serves as chair of the Research Committee of the American Society of Neuroradiology.
Dr. Wintermark is an expert in advanced neuroimaging techniques applied to clinical conditions such as brain tumors, stroke, traumatic brain injury and psychiatric disorders.
His clinical lab serves as the imaging core lab for many clinical trials. He has published more than 500 peer-reviewed articles, authored four books and more than 100 book chapters, and holds 10 patents. Dr. Wintermark’s early research work was supported by a grant from the Foundation of the ASNR.
