SU‐GG‐I‐130: National Assessment of Research Imaging Centers for Design of the C‐TRIC

Abstract

Purpose: The expanding capacity of biomedical imaging devices such as CT, MRI, US, PET, SPECT to measure in vivo distributions of tissue characteristics, blood flow, molecular concentrations, and other parameters in 4 and more dimensions increases demand and cost of research imaging. Past funding at NIH and NSF favored proliferation in multiple departments and/or centers. The University of Colorado Denver (UCD) has six such independent centers. Lack of coordination caused excessive charge‐back fees and inefficiencies. The purpose of this study was to review the structure and organization of research imaging centers of excellence to recommend restructuring of UCD research imaging resources to make researchers more competitive for future funding. Methods and Materials: A planning grant from the UCD School of Medicine funded nine 1.5 day events 1) 3‐person team visits to three research imaging centers of excellence, 2) participation of three Directors of Centers as visiting Professors to UCD, and 3) consultation with the research teams of three major imaging equipment manufacturers. In addition, 36 UCD research leaders were interviewed one‐on‐one to measure need. Results: The national study of architectural plans showed that ALL major medical research centers have consolidated research imaging resources. The research in Centers of Excellence has two major goals, 1) Design and construction of new, cutting‐edge imaging instrumentation and 2) Facilitation of biomedical imaging research by investigators from medical specialties outside of radiology. Conclusions: Following presentation of this report to research faculty of the University of Colorado the decision was made to incrementally consolidate existing research imaging resources into a single operational unit and initiate the process of physically consolidating research imaging resources to increase the productivity of research projects from the Rocky Mountain region as well as the UCD Anschutz Medical Campus.