Vicente Gilsanz, MD, PhD, selected for Prestigious Award by the Society for Pediatric Radiology
Vicente Gilsanz, MD, PhD, has been named the 2016 Presidential Recognition Award winner by the Society for Pediatric Radiology. The award recognizes his contributions to the Society and the specialty of pediatric radiology, including his accomplishments in imaging research at The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and his mentorship of junior faculty.
Under Gilsanz’s leadership, the Children’s Imaging Research Program (CHIRP) seeks to advance the use of imaging technology to study pediatric diseases and childhood antecedents of adult disease. It also provides a specialized imaging core facility to develop biomarkers and outcome measures associated with disease risk.
With the collaboration of a multidisciplinary group of experts in Imaging, Endocrinology, Pathology, and Orthopedic Surgery at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, and other Institutions, imaging was employed to identify the determinants of the amount of bone that is gained during growth and to delineate the complex structural bases accounting for much of the variations in bone strength among humans.
Gilsanz’ studies were the first to indicate that bone acquisition is greatest during puberty, and that prepubertal children with low bone mass mature into young adults with low bone mass at risk for osteoporosis and fractures later in life. In a recent study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, looking at measurements of the vertebrae in newborns, Gilsanz and his team found that differences between the sexes are present at birth. Results suggest that this difference is evolutionary – allowing the female spine to adapt to carrying a baby during pregnancy, but likely to impart greater susceptibility for osteoporosis in older women and scoliosis in adolescent girls.
Recognizing that clinical imaging equipment are manufactured for use with adults, Gilsanz has been an avid supporter of optimizing scanners for the clinical diagnosis of pediatric diseases in order to generate more accurate imaging data in children. He has fostered research at CHLA using multinuclear spectroscopy, functional imaging and cardiac imaging to identify early disease markers that may serve as a way to predict the later development of pervasive public health conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
As highlighted by the Society for Pediatric Radiology, Gilsanz has published 208 peer reviewed research papers, 16 book chapters and one text book. Since 1993, he has been awarded nearly 10 million dollars in federal funds, primarily from the NIH. He has successfully mentored numerous pediatric radiology fellows and 12 research assistants who subsequently were accepted into medical school.
Gilsanz will be honored during the awards ceremony of the International Pediatric Radiology (IPR) meeting, a collaborative initiative of the SPR and the ESPR, in Chicago, Illinois on May 16.
About Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Children's Hospital Los Angeles has been named the best children’s hospital on the West Coast and among the top five in the nation for clinical excellence with its selection to the prestigious U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll. Children’s Hospital is home to The Saban Research Institute, one of the largest and most productive pediatric research facilities in the United States. Children’s Hospital is also one of America's premier teaching hospitals through its affiliation since 1932 with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. For more information, visit CHLA.org or visit our blog at ResearCHLAblog.org.
Media Contact: Jenifer Marcus, jemarcus@chla.usc.edu
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