Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Ranked Among Top 10 Hospitals In U.S. For Radiology Services

Philadelphia - Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia has been ranked among the top ten hospitals in the United States in the field of radiology by Medical Imaging.

The Medical Imaging Industry Top 10 also ranked six Jefferson University Hospital specialists--the only experts in Philadelphia to be among the honorees. Jefferson University Hospital was ranked third in the nation for radiological services. In addition, several of Jefferson's experts were ranked number one in their categories.

The first annual Medical Imaging Industry Top 10 will be featured as the magazine's January 2006 cover story. The Top 10 is a ranking of the industry's best in ten categories, including imaging facilities, physicians and technologists. Jefferson University Hospital was recognized among the best in the field for excellence in research, innovation, industry interaction and patient care. Outcomes, attitude, unique solutions and general knowledge were also factors in determining the rankings.

Jefferson University Hospital President and CEO Thomas J. Lewis said he is proud that Jefferson's imaging programs have been added to the list of nationally recognized, specialized services available to patients in this region and the nation.

"This honor reflects our staff's commitment to providing exceptional patient care through the most advanced diagnostic imaging technology," Mr. Lewis said.

Jefferson University Hospital imaging experts named by the magazine in six categories are:

• Radiologist:
  
  • Vijay M. Rao, M.D.
    Professor and Chair, Department of Radiology, Jefferson
    
  • Barry Goldberg, M.D.
    Professor, Radiology, Thomas Jefferson University Director, Division of Diagnostic Ultrasound, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and the Jefferson Ultrasound Research and Education Institute
  
  
• Radiation Oncologist/Cancer Researcher:
  
  • Walter, J. Curran, Jr., M.D.
    Professor and Chair, Department of Radiation Oncology, Thomas Jefferson University Clinical Director, Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson
  
  
• Women's Imaging Specialist:
  
  • Catherine W. Piccoli, M.D.
    Assistant Professor, Radiology, Thomas Jefferson University Director, Breast Imaging Center, Jefferson University Hospital
  
  
• Cardiovascular Imager:
  
  • Ethan Halpern, M.D., M.S.
    Professor of Radiology and Urology, Thomas Jefferson University, Co-director, Jefferson Prostate Diagnostic Center
  
  
• Nuclear Physicist/Nuclear Medicine Researcher:
  
  • James M. Galvin, D.Sc.
    Professor, Radiation Oncology, Thomas Jefferson University Director, Medical Physics Division, Department of Radiation Oncology

Medical Imaging created the Industry Top 10 to allow radiology's best to be recognized by their peers, thereby inspiring further accomplishments, research and goals among the magazine's readers across the country.

The Department of Radiology at Jefferson University Hospital offers comprehensive, state-of-the-art imaging examinations totaling more than 300,000 per year. While its facilities continue to grow, the department's current equipment consists of 10 high field MRI units, five helical CT scanners, two open MRI units, three multislice CT scanners (which includes two sixteen detector scanners), a PET scanner, four all-digital angiographic suites, four fluoroscopy rooms, 30 ultrasound scanners, eight nuclear medicine cameras, 11 general radiographic rooms, five portable x-ray units, a polytomography unit, eight mammography units and a stereotactic core breast biopsy device.

The faculty consists of 46 attending radiologists and five more in full-time research - three in physics and other basic aspects of diagnostic imaging, one in radiopharmaceutical drug development and one in health economics research.

Jefferson's radiation therapy cancer care takes place through the Department of Radiation Oncology at its Bodine Center for Cancer Treatment, Jefferson-Lower Bucks Radiation Oncology Center, the Jefferson-Chestnut Hill Radiation Oncology Center and the Jefferson-Frankford Hospital Radiation Oncology. Radiation oncologists subspecialize in tumor types and specialized therapies and are seeking to improve outcomes of cancer patients, in part through carefully combined and sequenced therapies enlisting the help of surgeons and medical oncologists.

In addition to a sizable core of patients who realize cures or palliation or resolution of their cancers through more traditional radiation therapy, other patients are benefiting from implanted radioactive seeds, radiation during surgery or tissue heating as a cancer-killing modality. In the department's modern, computerized facilities, treatment strategies are made more precise through the input and research of the department's staff of radiation biologists and medical physicists.

The department evaluates more than 2,000 newly-diagnosed cancer patients each year and offers clinical research trial participation to many. The department has a state-of-the-art system of image-based planning and treatment delivery.

U.S. News and World Report has consistently ranked many of Jefferson's services among the best in the nation. These include rehabilitation, cardiology/cardiac surgery, orthopedics, digestive disorders (gastroenterology), geriatrics, gynecology, neurology and neurosurgery, which are both based at Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience, otolaryngology - head and neck surgery, and urology. The hospital is also one of only a few in the United States that is both a Level I Trauma Center and a federally designated regional spinal cord injury center. Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center is designated as a clinical cancer center by the National Cancer Institute.

In addition, Jefferson physicians have been named among the best doctors by Philadelphia Magazine and by Best Doctors in America.

Jefferson has been ranked among "The Top Hospitals In America" by Modern Maturity, AARP's magazine for people over 50.

SOURCE: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital