Hedvig Hricak

Hedvig Hricak

Hedvig Hricak, 2010
Born September 23, 1946
Zagreb, Croatia
Nationality American
Fields Radiology
Institutions Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Weill Cornell Medical College
Alma mater University of Zagreb
St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital, Michigan
Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan
Known for Radiology
Notable awards Doctoris Medinae Gradum Honoris Causa, Ludwig Maximilians Universitat
Order of the Croatian Morning Star of Katarina Zrinska
Presidential Award, Croatia

Hedvig Hricak (born September 23, 1946) has been Chairman of the Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center since November 1999. She holds a senior position within the Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry Program at the Sloan-Kettering Institute and is Professor of Radiology at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University.[1]

Biography

Hricak was born in Zagreb, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia and earned her MD degree from the School of Medicine, University of Zagreb in 1970.[2] In 1972 she came to the US and completed a residency in diagnostic radiology at St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital, Michigan, followed by a fellowship at Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan. In 1982 she moved to the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she accelerated through the academic ranks to Professor of Radiology, Radiation Oncology, Urology and Gynecology in 1986; she later became the chief of the abdominal section of the Department of Radiology at UCSF Medical Center. While at UCSF, she earned her Dr. Med. Sc. (equivalent to Ph.D.) from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

Scientific career

Hricak's initial contribution was to the development of ultrasound applications for renal disease, specifically to the diagnostic evaluation of renal transplants. She has been involved in MRI research since the emergence of the field in the 1980s and helped develop clinical applications for gynecological cancers, kidney cancer, as well as MRI and MR spectroscopy.[3] She continues to investigate imaging methods for cancer detection, staging, and management and is leading important efforts in translational applications of molecular imaging in cancer.

She has authored or co-authored more than 450 research articles, reviews and editorial articles, 18 books and more than 130 book chapters.[4]

Awards and Membership

Hricak is a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies of Science. She serves as a member of the Nuclear Radiation Study Board of the National Academies and the Cancer Clinical Trials and the NCI Cooperative Group Program.[5][6] She has served on as a member of the NCI Board of Scientific Advisors, as committee chair for the National Academies, Committee on the State of Science of Nuclear Medicine, Advancing Nuclear Medicine Through Innovation and a member of the NIH Board of Scientific Counselors. She is also a correspondent member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.[2] She has been President of the California Academy of Medicine (1999), the Society for the Advancement of Women's Imaging (1997–1999), the Society of Uroradiology (2000–2003), the New York Roentgen Society (2004–2005),[7] and the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).[8]

She has received the Marie Curie Award of the American Association of Women Radiologists, the gold medals of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and the Association of University Radiologists, the Béclère medal of the International Society of Radiology, and the Morocco Medal of Merit.[9][10][11][12] She was named Honorary Member or fellow of several international radiological societies and Honorary Professor, University of Zagreb, Croatia.[2] In 2005 she was awarded an honorary doctorate in medicine from Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, and in 2010, she received the humanitarian award – the Morning Star Katarina Zrinska from the President of Croatia.[13]

Current activities

She is the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health training grant entitled, "Molecular Imaging: Training for Oncology."[14] This grant provides training for of basic and clinical researchers to perform basic, translational and clinical cancer research in molecular imaging.

Hricak has led efforts to expand training opportunities in oncologic molecular imaging for minority and underrepresented students. She has organized a minority recruitment committee for postdoctoral research in molecular imaging and has worked with collaborators at The City College of New York to develop a pilot program in molecular imaging for underrepresented undergraduate students.

She has received several globally directed grants to provide education and training to physicians and healthcare personnel around the world. She has received support from the National Cancer Institute to promote international educational imaging efforts in South East Europe. Dr. Hricak is also the recipient of a grant from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation supporting a global initiative to improve research and clinical practice in breast cancer imaging.[15]

Private life

She is married to Dr. Alexander Margulis, former Associate Chancellor and Chairman of Radiology at UCSF, now Clinical Professor of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medical College.

References

External links

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