Blue Devil of the Week: Making the Invisible Visible through Imaging

Name: Ehsan Samei

Place: Duke Health Chief Imaging Physicist Duke University Professor of Radiology, Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering, Physics, and Electrical and Laptop Engineering

A long time at Duke: 22

What he does at Duke: Whether it’s an X-ray, a CT scan, an MRI, an ultrasound or a mammogram, professional medical imaging is at the heart of affected individual care. Duke’s roughly 500 imaging machines see around 700,000 to 800,000 clients for each year. In addition to technologists and radiologists, Duke has around a dozen imaging physicists overseeing the use of these equipment and making sure that, across the whole overall health process, the technological innovation and tactics are producing the most handy and accurate illustrations or photos. As the Main Imaging Physicist, Dr. Ehsan Samei sales opportunities this group.

Samei also spearheads study in clinical imaging, observing how existing engineering can be used to see issues in new approaches. And as the principal investigator of the Center for Virtual Imaging Trials, which was produced in 2021, he’s checking out the capabilities of employing digital clients and virtual devices to pace up the growth of prospective health-related breakthroughs.

“The crux of the trouble, the two in the clinical area and the investigate area, is that imaging is an approximation, not reality,” claimed Samei, who been given the 2022 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award from the International Organization for Health-related Physics. “It’s never a fantastic rendition of truth, but an approximation. So the issue I’m performing on is, how a great deal of an approximation is it, and can we make a much better one?”

What he enjoys about Duke: Samei is grateful to have a solid community of colleagues who incorporate ground breaking ideas with the collaborative and tough-functioning spirits desired to push those ideas ahead.

“What captivated me to Duke is that there are so several fantastic people below,” Samei said. “I come to feel that what will make systems and universities worthwhile isn’t the task, but the brilliance of the individuals who actually do the challenge.”

Most memorable day at do the job: In 2021, Duke turned just one of the number of services in the world to obtain a Photon-Counting CT Scanner. For Samei, who experienced been advocating for Duke to incorporate one, the possibility to lastly use it to enable clients was a thrill. He recalls seeing images with a amount of clarity and element that he’d earlier been not able to see. And when individuals visuals have been able to help health professionals diagnose patients’ vexing overall health complications, it validated the attempts put into bringing the technological innovation to Duke.

“You can discuss about photon counting and quantum mechanics and all of that stuff, but it only issues when you essentially treatment for the particular person and solve their challenge,” Samei stated.

When he’s not performing, he likes to: Classical audio, from these kinds of iconic composers as Bach, Schubert and Brahms, is 1 of Samei’s passions. He cherishes possibilities to see dwell performances, and odds to perform himself. Rising up in Iran, Samei commenced actively playing the flute, one particular of the number of devices tiny ample to enjoy discreetly in a state in which songs was banned. Much more recently, he’s savored participating in together with other musicians in semi-skilled ensembles.

“I made use of to engage in a great deal a lot more, but now I just really do not have the time,” Samei claimed.

A little something one of a kind in his workspace: On a shelf in his workplace in Hock Plaza, Samei has what appears like a framed history. But a closer seem reveals photographs of bones set inside the disc. The merchandise is what’s recognised as a “bone history.”Created in Soviet-era Russia, exactly where western tunes was strictly banned, these bootleg information – usually of jazz or early rock n’ roll – had been pressed on discarded X-ray slides. A mate gave just one to Samei as a gift.

“This embodies many of my pursuits,” Samei said. “There’s health care imaging in there. It has songs. And I grew up in Iran through the Islamic revolution when audio was banned, so I know that songs in by itself is an act of resistance.”

Lesson discovered in the course of the pandemic: Samei obtained an appreciation for the durations of time that exist among responsibilities, meetings and occasions that determine a day. Prior to the pandemic, when workplaces have been entire of persons and most interactions ended up in individual, these instances have been when colleagues could chat, or when minds had been allowed to wander.

“It’s wonderful how substantially everyday living transpires in the margins,” Samei mentioned. “On the days when you’re going from Zoom conference to Zoom conference, people margins are absent and your mind does not have a prospect to recalibrate.”

Some thing most people never know about him: Samei is an avid runner and has concluded 5 marathons. 1 of these was the 2013 Boston Marathon, which was remembered for terrorist attack that claimed a few life near the end line. Samei experienced finished the program and remaining the location about 45 minutes prior to the selfmade bombs were detonated.

“Thankfully my household decided not to accompany me,” Samei explained. “I was extremely grateful for that.”

Is there a colleague at Duke who has an intriguing career or goes above and outside of to make a change? Nominate that person for Blue Satan of the Week.