Where are you going, where have you been

Lexington Kentucky

I recently visited the University of Kentucky as the Igor Laufer VP and the Bluegrass Radiological Society VP courtesy of my dear friend, residency program director, and fierce table tennis adversary, SAR member David DiSantis. While there, I gave a talk on the latest concepts in imaging of renal cell carcinoma as well as a resident review of focal liver lesions and conferences on pelvic floor MRI, MR angiography, and MRI artifacts/pitfalls.

The stellar radiology residents at University of Kentucky

While in Lexington, I gained some insights into how to combine imaging services for pediatric and adult patients to consolidate resources and learned about their innovative approach to resident education. I also learned how Bourbon is made during an unauthorized visit to the Town Branch distillery. Horses scare me, so I don’t really enjoy horse farms and race tracks. Besides, horses are expensive, and you can’t drink them. Of course, some bourbon might as well be a horse. SAR member Shailendra Chopra (the man behind the board prep company “Face the Core”) showed me some of his 23 year old Pappy Van Winkle bourbon that goes for about 2 grand a bottle. I briefly considered dropping the bottle and licking it off the floor, but who knows where his floor has been.

I was disappointed to learn that Kentucky bluegrass isn’t blue. Kentucky bluegrass (aka poa pratensis) is apparently named for its blue seed heads that are only seen when the plant is allowed to grow to its natural height. The leaves of the grass are as green as any other grass, so if you want to see blue-colored grass, you’ll have to stick to psychoactive substances. Studies done in Pennsylvania have shown that horses prefer Kentucky bluegrass to other varieties, but I could probably tell you anything in this blog and you would have a hard time knowing if it’s true.

The greatest single honor I received at U of K was the surrender of Dave DiSantis’s ping pong paddle. This might seem like a trivial act to most of you. However, this was no ordinary paddle. You see, it was custom made for Dave’s unorthodox (that’s the nice word for it) playing style. The wooden blade is rated as far to the defensive end of the spectrum as possible (which means the ball literally dies a slow, agonizing death when it contacts the blade). One side of the blade is coated with an equally fun-destroying anti-spin rubber, rendering all of my spin shots irrelevant, while the other side is coated with long pips that reverse any spin they encounter. Together, these components render an otherwise fun sport into excruciating tedium. At any rate, it is now in my possession, and I would sooner bring back the Death Star or Lindsay Lohan than let this paddle ever see action again.

Dave DiSantis surrenders his paddle

Getting back to the educational innovations at University of Kentucky… In addition to sequestering first year residents for their own specially targeted introductory lecture series, The Chair, Dr. Oates, has introduced multiple choice question writing into the residents’ curriculum. This latter concept was piloted for Nuclear Medicine and requires residents to participate in small groups in which they are assigned an image-based case and are asked to create MCQs centered on various themes related to Nuclear Medicine. At a second session, the teams present their MCQs for analysis and critique. Through this method, residents learn the material, are more likely to retain it, gain experience in question writing and test taking, and the program builds a data base of high quality practice questions (I see economic opportunity here- why not partner with Dr. Chopra?).

Personally, I think this is absolutely brilliant, but it stops short of its true potential. Why not adopt this method at the ABR! Can you imagine an exam full of clinically relevant, carefully crafted and researched, and thoroughly vetted questions with answers that make sense? At any rate, they are hoping to present this innovation at the RSNA, so be sure to look for it.

U of K Abdominal Imagers Dave DiSantis (aka the Arthur Lieber Professor), THE Arthur Lieber, Scott Stevens, and James Te-An Lee after an awesome dinner in Lexington