Katherine Ferrara
Katherine Whittaker Ferrara is a Professor of Radiology. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the IEEE, American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the World Molecular Imaging Society, the Acoustical Society of America and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. Dr. Ferrara received her Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of California, Davis. Prior to her PhD, Dr. Ferrara was a project engineer for General Electric Medical Systems, involved in the development of early magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound systems. Following an appointment as an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Dr. Ferrara served as the founding chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UC Davis. Her laboratory is known for early work in aspects of ultrasonics and has more recently expanded their focus to broadly investigate molecular imaging and drug delivery.
Ultrasound’s future within the medical imaging spectrum
Based on Dr. Ferrara’s career experience and current position as the Division Chief of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford, this presentation will describe translational opportunities and synergies for medical ultrasound within radiology. High channel count ultrasound systems, application specific integrated circuits and GPU computing each contribute to opportunities to advance ultrasound technology. The presentation will particularly focus on new technologies applied in early human studies and clinical trials. Particular areas of focus will include real-time volumetric imaging, personalized treatments with magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound, and opportunities for image-guided drug and gene therapy. In the realm of image guidance, the session will highlight synergies with positron emission tomography in the assessment of delivery and gene expression.
