CTSC:TTIC.092308

Back to Collaboration:Harvard_CTSC
Action Items (details below)

1. Review the updated consultation page on the wiki. (everybody)
2. Submit additional information about the medical imaging software analysis tools at your site. (everybody)
3. Connect with CTSC sites not represented in the Imaging Consortium and learn about the Imaging resources available at those sites.
4. Create a PowerPoint presentation for Division Heads meetings so the Imaging Consortium can connect with the broader Imaging Community
5. Refine the list of expertise on the CTSC wiki (everybody)
6. Review the draft of the Imaging Information and Analysis Liaison/Imaging Navigator/Triage Consultant job description. (everybody)

Harvard Translational Imaging Consortium Meeting Minutes September 9, 2008

In Attendance (via phone):

• Gordon Williams
• Bill Hanlon
• Laura Alice
• Randy Gollub
• Clare Tempany
• Carolyn Zyloney
• Gordon Harris
• Sarah McMordie
• Jeff Yap
• Annick D van den Abbeele
• Simon Warfield

1. Consultation Service
Several additional updates for the Imaging Consultation web-page have been completed and proposed.

• Gordon Harris has drafted the top-level text of the Imaging consultation web-page so that it is in harmony with the other consultation web-pages on the Harvard Catalyst website, and this text has been posted on the CTSC wiki page in the above link.
• A picture will be selected to appear at the top of the Harvard Catalyst Imaging Consultation Program web-page. Possible picture candidates include images of brains, courtesy of the Slicer program and Ron Kikinis, to be posted shortly.
• The TIMC Tumor Imaging Metrics Core can be listed on the consultation web-page as a resource for image acquisition and analysis.
• Consortium members are requested to submit additional information about the medical imaging software analysis tools that experts from their site can help to support. Freesurfer (MGH) and Slicer (BWH) have been posted on the consultation web-page draft.
• All Imaging Consortium sites are requested to refine the list of expertise at their site to include all available imaging modalities that the consortium members possess expertise in as well as any expertise in the areas of image acquisition, analysis, and experimental design.
• The Consult Request form was unanimously approved. The deadline to make edits to this document is Friday September 26th, after which a PDF copy of the form will be created and forwarded to CTSC Central.
• Concerns were raised about the possibility of consultation requests coming from researchers at sites not participating in the Imaging Consortium, such as McLean Hospital and Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary. The next step for the Imaging Consortium members is to learn more about these other sites and the resources available to researchers there.

2. Communication with Imaging Community
The Imaging Community within the Harvard CTSC is broader than the members of the Imaging Consortium. One of the goals of the Consortium is to learn more about the imaging resources available at sites not represented within the Imaging Consortium. Another goal is to identify medical imaging experts who are not currently involved in the Imaging Consortium but may be available to assist with consultation requests, particularly experts in modalities that are not currently represented within the Consortium. Opportunities to connect with the Imaging Community include

• Division Heads Meetings
• The Monthly CTSC Meeting

A PowerPoint presentation outlining the Imaging Consortium and the consultation service will be created and posted on the wiki for Consortium members to use.

• Zeke has created a draft of the Imaging Consultation Request Form. This document is similar to the consultation request forms already posted on the Biostatistics and Genetics consultation web-pages on the Harvard Catalyst website, but includes a list of consultation services that are specific to the Imaging group. Investigators will be able to download and submit the form. This request form will be discussed at the next imaging teleconference. The proposed web-based consultation request system with RSS feed will not be available for the first release of the consultation web-site but the Imaging Consortium still plans to develop this submission system.

• The Imaging Information and Analysis Liaison/Imaging Navigator/Triage Consultant job description will be posted by the next teleconference for discussion.

The Imaging Consortium plans on including this consultation service web-page with the next Harvard Catalyst web-site release on October 15th.

2. Image Analysis

• Annick commented and the group agreed that image acquisition is related to its analysis and both aspects of bioimaging research are equally important.
• The wiki page should be updated to include each site's analysis expertise.
  • Randy Gollub will talk with Bruce Fishel who is an analysis expert at MGH.
  • Ron Kikinis and Clare Tempany represent the analysis expertise at BWH.
  • Simon Warfield represents the analysis expertise at Children's Hospital.
  • Gordon Harris is an analysis expert at DF/HCC (MGH)
  • The Consortium requests an update on the analysis expertise at BIDMC
• Consortium sites have strong expertise in medical image software tools, many of which were internally developed and are internationally used. Analysis tools expertise at the consortium sites include:
  • Freesurfer - MGH
  • Slicer - BWH

In addition to these tools, the consortium possesses expertise in other externally developed analysis tools.

• The consortium possesses expertise in multi-site imaging studies and imaging projects that include image acquisition at one site and analysis at another site.
• It was proposed that the web-site can include a web based repository of suggestions based on clincial scenarios ("case studies"). Further discussion of this suggestion is on the agenda for a future teleconference.
• There is the possibility that, through collaboration and working with the existing imaging analysis services at our sites, the Imaging Consortium could potentially provide image analysis services to investigators. CTSC funds will not cover this service. Further discussion is needed to outline the means of supporting the costs of this service.

3. Update on Pediatric Neuroimaging

• Stephan Voss indicated that there is a great demand for more pediatric clinical imaging research but the resources at Children's Hospital are limited. The group supports pediatric imaging acquisition at sites that have the existing infrastructure to support it.
• Dr. Ellen Grant, who has been working with pediatric neuroimaging at sites within the consortium has agreed to provide consult services at the CTSC. Randy Gollub will meet with her and Rudolph Pienaar, the medical imaging and informatics expert, this week to learn more about the current status of Dr. Grant's support and how we can be most helpful going forward.
• Dr. Grant and Rudolph Pienaar have already begun to use XNAT as an imaging research data repository for multi-site projects and have image analysis workflows in place that would provide templates for other users. They can collaborate with the Imaging Consortium to share these resources.

4. Informatics Update
The proposal is currently under consideration at CTSC central. Bill Hanlon agreed to prepare additional text to outline specific details of transferring image data from each hospital's PACS system to an image repository, including the current status and problems and suggested solutions. Randy Gollub is working to collect driving biological projects and to identify and write up a list of initial clinical translational investigators to work with the Imaging Consortium to pilot the first use of these resources.

• Note: Jeff Yap circulated a manuscript from Clinical Cancer Research (National Cancer Institute) that includes information on translational medical imaging. There was no time to discuss the article during this teleconference. The points from this manuscript pertinent to the Imaging Consortium can be raised at next week's teleconference.