RSNA Recognizes Gold Medalists

RSNA will award three members its highest honor, the Gold Medal, during RSNA 2023

Valerie P. Jackson, MD

A highly regarded educator and leader, Valerie P. Jackson, MD, has devoted decades to inspiring excellence in radiologic education. Dr. Jackson is the Eugene C. Klatte Professor Emeritus of Radiology at Indiana University School of Medicine. From 2014 until her retirement in 2020, she served as executive director of the American Board of Radiology (ABR).

An Indiana University alum, Dr. Jackson received her medical degree from the school in 1978 and completed her residency there in 1982, where she was a faculty member until 2014. During that time, she directed the residency program for a decade and served as department chair from 2003 to 2014.

At the ABR, Dr. Jackson played an integral role in the development and improvement of the ABR’s core programs. She oversaw the redesign and launch of a new website, the rollout of Online Longitudinal Assessment, and a revamping of volunteer committee organization and processes.

Throughout her career, Dr. Jackson has dedicated her expertise to research, teaching and national service, primarily in the breast imaging and radiology education arenas. She has authored more than 110 peer-reviewed publications, numerous book chapters and imaging textbooks including Diagnosis of Diseases of the Breast. Dr. Jackson also has served as a reviewer for journals such as the American Journal of Roentgenology, Journal of the American College of Radiology, Investigative Radiology, Medical Physics, Academic Medicine and Radiology.

Dr. Jackson was RSNA president in 2019, selecting the theme “See Possibilities—Together” for the annual meeting. During her President’s Address, she spoke of opportunities for radiologists to make meaningful connections with their patients, families and the health care team.

During her tenure on the RSNA Board of Directors, RSNA led the specialty in advancing AI technology, sponsoring an array of initiatives—including the AI Showcase and RSNA Deep Learning Lab—to help radiologists understand how data-driven tools can be used to improve patient care. She has been an RSNA member since 1982, the year she completed her residency, and has served the Society in capacities including chair of the Refresher Course Committee, chair of the Breast Imaging Subcommittee of the Scientific Program Committee and a member of the Public Information Advisors Network. She served on the RSNA Research and Education Foundation Board of Trustees from 2009 to 2015. 

Dr. Jackson was a member of the ACR Board of Chancellors from 1996 to 2003, chairing the Commission on Education. She also is a past president of the Indiana Radiological Society (IRS), the ACR, the Society of Chairs of Academic Radiology Departments and the Society of Breast Imaging.

Widely recognized for her meaningful career contributions, Dr. Jackson has been awarded gold medals from the IRS, SBI and ACR. She is an RSNA Honored Educator and a fellow of the ACR. The Valerie P. Jackson Education Fellowship recognizes her work with the ACR. The Association of Program Directors in Radiology honored her with its achievement award in 2015, and she is an honorary member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Joseph K.T. Lee, MD

Hailed throughout the world as a pioneer in the fields of MR imaging and computed body tomography, Joseph K. T. Lee, MD, has steered historic advances in the evolution of quantitative abdominal imaging.

Dr. Lee is professor emeritus and past chair of the Department of Radiology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. He practiced both at UNC and at the National University Hospital of Singapore until March 2022.

Born in Shanghai, Dr. Lee earned his medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1973. He completed his residency in diagnostic radiology at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, and he was promoted to full professorship at the Institute in 1986. While at Mallinckrodt, Dr. Lee directed the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Section and co-directed the Computed Body Tomography Section. In 1984, he became the first radiologist to demonstrate the potential of proton spectroscopic imaging—the Dixon method—for quantifying hepatic fat fraction, diagnosing geographic fatty infiltration and distinguishing focal infiltration from hepatic metastases. As principal investigator, Dr. Lee led a series of landmark studies during this period, exploring the efficacy of numerous new contrast agents.

He lent his expertise to the editorial staffs of multiple peer-reviewed journals, including Topics in Magnetic Resonance Imaging and the Journal of Clinical Ultrasound. He served as associate editor of magnetic resonance imaging for Radiology from 1986 to 1988, and as a consultant to the editor from 1988 to 1992.

Dr. Lee has published a series of award-winning abstracts, earning accolades from organizations including the American Roentgen Ray Society, the Society of Computed Body Tomography and RSNA.

A global leader in radiology, Dr. Lee has been recognized for his outstanding contributions to research and clinical care by multiple international organizations, including being honored with gold medals from the Asian Oceanian Society of Radiology, American Roentgen Ray Society and Society of Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging. He holds honorary membership from the Korean Society of Radiology, the Japanese Radiological Society and the Chinese Society of Radiology.

The author and editor of more than 170 scientific papers, 34 book chapters and seven books, Dr. Lee authored the groundbreaking 1982 textbook Computed Body Tomography, which delivered cutting-edge applications of body CT to practicing radiologists around the globe. The fourth edition, Computed Body Tomography with MRI Correlation, was published in 2006.

Dr. Lee is a beloved teacher. He is a two-time recipient of the UNC resident teaching award, and he received the highest scores for teaching from residents for several consecutive years at the National University Hospital of Singapore.

The first Asian American to serve as president of the American Roentgen Ray Society in its 123-year history, Dr. Lee also served the American College of Radiology’s Board of Chancellors. At RSNA he served on the Radiology editorial board, as chair of the genitourinary subcommittee of the Scientific Program Committee, and as first vice president from 2006 to 2007. 

 

Anne C. Roberts, MD

Renowned in clinical communities across the world, Anne C. Roberts, MD, is a dynamic lecturer, a prolific investigator and an authority in interventional radiology.

With more than 35 years of tenure at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, Dr. Roberts retired in 2022 and is a USCD distinguished professor of radiology, emeritus. She joined UCSD as an assistant clinical professor of radiology and rose to full professor in 1998.

Early in her career, Dr. Roberts took a sabbatical year to work with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Cardiovascular, Respiratory and Neurological Devices Office of Device Evaluation in the Center for Devices and Radiologic Health. During her time at the FDA, she gained insights into the processes for device approval—noting that delays often resulted from disconnects among developers and physicians—and she became a member of the FDA’s Circulatory System Devices Panel. She has served as a special representative on FDA panels including the Neurological Devices Panel and Gynecology Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee Meeting.

An early investigator of embolization techniques for uterine fibroids, Dr. Roberts rigorously explored the evidence base for the procedure through funded research within the Uterine Artery Embolization Fibroid Registry Outcomes Database of the Society of Interventional Radiology. In her decades of hands-on clinical research experience, Dr. Roberts has focused on treatment of uterine fibroids with MR-guided focused ultrasound surgery and uterine artery embolization, pelvic congestion syndrome, fallopian tube recanalization and treatment of patients with invasive placenta of the uterus. She has interest in IVC filters, thrombolysis, and treatment of dialysis graft dysfunction.

An insightful leader, Dr. Roberts has served as president of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) and of the Western Angiographic and Interventional Society. She served as chair of the RSNA interventional subcommittee of the Scientific Program and Refresher Course committees.

As a member of the American College of Radiology (ACR) Board of Chancellors she was appointed secretary and treasurer and then vice-president. In addition, she was a trustee of the American Board of Radiology and was named its first associate executive director for interventional radiology. Dr. Roberts has lent her clinical expertise to furthering radiology education, serving on the Radiology Residency Review Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

She has authored more than 200 articles, book chapters and abstracts, has served in numerous visiting professorships and delivered more than 700 lectures at scientific meetings across the globe.

Before deciding to pursue a career in medicine, Dr. Roberts studied history, earning a master’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her medical degree from UCSD, and then interned in obstetrics and gynecology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She completed a residency and fellowship in vascular and interventional radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

For her lifetime of accomplishments, Dr. Roberts has been awarded gold medals from the ACR and SIR. She is a distinguished fellow of the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe. She is an elected fellow of SIR, the ACR and the American Heart Association.