Ernest V. Garcia, PhD, or better known as Ernie, is an endowed professor in cardiac imaging and the director of Emory’s Nuclear Cardiology R&D Laboratory. He specializes in medical imaging and bioinformatics, particularly quantitative analysis of cardiac images. Ernie has received numerous awards and honors but to highlight a few he was named a Medical Imaging Industry Top 10 Nuclear Medicine Researcher by the Medical Imaging Magazine and was named to the Council of Distinguished Investigators of the Academy of Radiology Research. What lead you to pursue cardiac imaging as part of your profession? I was trained as a scientist, a physicist. And I had a great deal of experience with computers and computer software, which was unusual for a scientist working in the 1960s. Back then, cardiology was the most quantitative modality that existed and it probably still is today. Meaning that the cardiologists were and are interested in numbers and quantitative data. So, I thought that I would apply my scientific background to the art of image interpretation. Who has impacted you the most in your career and why? That’s a tough question, there is the physicist part of me. So, I am definitely motivated by the life
Continue readingTag: Inventor
A series of interviews with inventor’s who have products on the market
It Started in My Basement, Now it Improves Patients Lives
Charles M. Epstein, MD, or “Chip” as he’s been known since childhood, is a professor of neurology specializing in epilepsy and the founder of the Laboratory for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). He is also a co-inventor for the technology that is utilized by Emory partner Neuronetics, Inc in their NeuroStar TMS Therapy® for treating depression. Neuronetics has safely administered more than 10,000 NeuroStar TMS Therapy® treatments with clinically significant results: among patients studied, 54 percent responded to the therapy and 33 percent found their depression in remission. Neurostar wasn’t the first technology you were involved with. Could you tell us about some of your previous technologies? NeoControl was actually the first magnetic technology that went on the market thanks to Neotonus. This company was the first to develop TMS to treat urinary incontinence in women. World wide, women have been more prone to urinary incontinence than men. This was especially true after childbirth and before modern obstetrics. Using electromagnetics, treatment is much more comfortable than prior methods. The magnets work right through clothing and are essentially painless. This was the foundation of Neotonus’ technology, NeoControl. Unlike brain stimulation, TMS in the pelvic area takes even more power and without our
Continue reading