How Your Donation Makes a Difference

The STR Research & Education Fund supports the advancement of medical care through the science of radiology and allied disciplines by providing ongoing educational activities and resources for our members. In education, the STR has created a pipeline to our future leaders by welcoming trainee input and representation in our society committees including Fellowship and Residency, Membership, Abstracts/Awards, Education, Social Media and Online Content. Your donations enable the STR to provide resources and access to online training. We are currently developing the Learning Management System, which will allow users to search and access lectures and other educational materials to produce a comprehensive resident and fellow educational curriculum. Our Travel Stipend awards fund resident and medical students to attend and present their work at our annual meeting.

Looking ahead to continue to expand the profile and impact of the STR globally, we have formed collaborative partnerships with our thoracic imaging counterpart societies in Asia and Europe as well as multiple countries including Canada, India, Australia and New Zealand. In expanding our reach to Latin America, we have leveraged the strong commitment of our Spanish-speaking members to translate videos of STR lectures and to promote our Spanish Twitter feed. These efforts resulted in the recent success of the Spanish Language webinar at our annual meeting with over 300 registrants.

Why I Donate: A Word From Our Most Generous Contributors

Jeffrey Klein, MD

“As a long-time contributor to the STR research and education fund, I believe that the future of our subspecialty lies with the work of our early career members that rely on our seed grants to further their efforts to investigate techniques that help us better diagnose cardiothoracic disease through screening, imaging and intervention. Supporting the STR’s educational efforts helps our members learn about and implement best imaging practices in caring for our patients. I know I have benefited tremendously from the STR’s R&E efforts these many years and feel it is important to “pay it forward” by supporting the society’s work to advance our field.”

Cristopher Meyer, MD

“I give to the STR because it is my professional family and is dedicated to the education of thoracic radiologists, general radiologists and medical and allied professional trainees. The annual meeting leads to wonderful research and teaching collaborations. Funding the STR allows me to “pay it forward.” It’s an investment in the future of thoracic imaging, junior faculty and ultimately, patient care. I have made important clinical diagnoses because of cases described at the STR.”

Jeffrey Kanne, MD

“I donate to the STR because this amazing professional society fosters growth of young careers, encourages exploration of new ideas, and harnesses the expertise of more experienced members to further our ability to provide the highest level of patient care.”

Research Your Donations Supported

In research, your donations have directly supported important research and professional excellence. Over the past 30 years, the STR seed grant support has allowed young investigators to pursue novel research in thoracic imaging. The projects funded by the STR seed grant have produced 33 publications (link to see update on STR website) and created an environment where trainees or junior faculty with the help of faculty mentors can contribute to the understanding of thoracic diseases, leading to other funding opportunities and become our future researchers and educators. In recognition of your support, below are words of gratitude from a few STR seed grant awardees.

Florian Fintelmann

2018 STR Seed Grant Awardee

Role of Imaging Biomarkers on Chest CT for Preoperative Risk Stratification of Lung Cancer Patients: A Multi-Center Precision Medicine Initiative using Machine Learning

Current affiliation:

Associate Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School

“The STR Seed Grant supported a multicenter study of muscle on preoperative chest CT as a predictor of adverse outcomes following lobectomy for lung cancer. The results were published in Annals of Surgery and Radiology: Artificial Intelligence.

I remain very grateful for the opportunity to advance imaging biomarker research with the support of the Society of Thoracic Radiology. The experience gained from the STR Seed Grant allowed me to build out a interdisciplinary research group and lay the foundation for future machine learning projects.

The body of work built on the study supported by the STR Seed Grant has resulted in multiple collaborations within academia and industry, a patent, as well as funding from philanthropy and the American Roentgen Ray Society. Applications for funding from the National Institutes of Health are pending.”

Henry Guo, MD, PhD

2015 STR Seed Grant Awardee

Assurance of Subsolid Pulmonary Nodule Visualization by Low-Dose CT, Facilitated by 3D Printing

Current affiliation: Associate Professor of Radiology, Stanford University

“With STR’s support we were able to create high-fidelity models of subsolid lung nodules and ground-glass opacities in COVID-19 pneumonia by developing a new iodine-based 3-D printing technology, and published the results in the JTI. Also with the STR’s financial support, we used more established 3-D printing techniques and conventional machining to create mini-phantoms with calibrated ground-glass densities and tubes simulating airways, which we published in the Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics, and have shared the phantoms with fellow thoracic radiologists.

Such phantoms can help advance research into pulmonary nodules, quantitative lung CT, and CT quality control, for example by providing ground-truth references with CT scanning for acceptable image quality while minimizing radiation dose. We are very grateful for STR’s generous support. Subsequently, we have also obtained funding from NIH and industry.”

Hiroto Hatabu, MD, PhD, FACR

1994 STR Seed Grant Awardee

High-Resolution MR Imaging of Lung Parenchyma

Current affiliation: Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School

“I received the seed grant from the STR in the middle of my residency at the University of Pennsylvania (1992-1995). Professor Warren B. Gefter, MD encouraged me to apply and kindly served as my mentor. This research opportunity formed the foundation on which my whole academic career is based and I remain very grateful.”