MD Anderson educators receive AEIRS/Elsevier Innovator Award for outstanding work in imaging sciences

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced The 2013 AEIRS/Elsevier Innovator of the Year Award recipients. Mahsa Dehghanpour, EDd, MS, CMD, Program Director and Assistant Professor, and Jamie Baker, MEd, CMD, Instructor and Education Coordinator, both of the Medical Dosimetry Program at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center School of Health Professions (SHP), have been recognized for their outstanding work as educators in imaging sciences.

The AEIRS (Association of Educators in Imaging and Radiologic Sciences) / Elsevier Innovator of the Year Award recognizes the work of an outstanding educator in imaging sciences who shows exceptional innovation and effectiveness in regards to promoting student learning through technology.

"We are delighted to honor this year's award recipients," said AEIRS Board President Deborah Leighty, M. Ed., R.T. (R) (BD). "Our organization continues to see a rise in stellar submissions year after year, and we applaud the outstanding work done by so many educators working to innovate student learning."

The winning submission, CSI - Case Study Investigation Interdisciplinary Learning in the Virtual Clinic, addressed the need for effective staff communication between diverse medical practitioners for safe and effective treatment of cancer patients. For a patient to receive safe care, medical practitioners must communicate effectively in a coordinated effort to diagnose and treat the afflicted person. For this reason, the School of Health Profession's leadership and faculty decided to develop and implement an annual Interdisciplinary Case Study Conference for students to learn about other disciplines through an innovative and engaging program implemented in a simulated clinical environment. This program, which took place during a one-day conference, involved students from eight medical and health sciences programs working collaboratively on a fictional patient's visit to a virtual clinic and included students' diagnosis and treatment, and reviews of visit reports.

"This year's winners submitted exceptional work," said Sonya Seigafuse, Executive Content Strategist, Imaging Sciences, Elsevier. "We are proud to play a part in recognizing their efforts in innovation."

Examples of suitable areas of innovations for award consideration included, but were not limited to:

• Unique teaching methods to engage learners
• Innovative integration of electronic resources in the classroom/clinical experience
• Unique use of multimedia, technology, and e-learning tools
• Improve program outcomes using multimedia, technology and e-learning tools

Dehghanpour and Baker received their award and $1,000 prize at the AEIRS annual meeting in July in Salt Lake City.