50th Anniversary of CT at Mayo Clinic Scientific Symposium

Monday, June 19th, 2023

On June 19, 1973, the first patient CT scan in North America was performed at St Marys Hospital in Rochester, MN. The 50th Anniversary of CT at Mayo Clinic Scientific Symposium was held 50 years later to the day, with the original scanner right in the building. See below for a documentary about that first scan (which premiered live at the Symposium), as well as recollections from original Mayo staff present at the start of this revolution in medicine, and lectures from leading CT scientists whose vision and ingenuity have helped shape the field as we know it today.

Building on the rich legacy of scientific discovery and clinical research at Mayo Clinic, the Mayo Clinic CT Clinical Innovation Center was founded in 2004 to develop and translate high-impact CT technical innovations into patient care. The Center, along with the Department of Radiology, and each member of our respective teams – physicians, scientists, engineers, research fellows, and trainees –welcome you to enjoy the Symposium!

Videos

Full Playlist

  • 50th Anniversary of CT at Mayo Clinic Scientific Symposium: Introduction: Cynthia H. McCollough, PhD (Video) (Slides)
  • A New Way of Seeing — The First CAT Scan at Mayo Clinic (video)

Session I: The Birth of CT Imaging

  • Patient #1 and Other Recollections: Glenn S. Forbes, MD (Video) (Slides)
  • The Birth of Body CT: Patrick F. Sheedy, III, MD (Video)

Session II: Technology Development and CT Imaging

  • CT Technology: The Early Years: Norbert J. Pelc, ScD (Video) (Slides)
  • X-ray CT in the ‘80s and Early ‘90s: the Introduction of Helical Scan: Jiang Hsieh, PhD (Video) (Slides)

  • Multi Slice CT and Newer CT Concepts: Thomas G. Flohr, PhD (Video) (Slides)

Session III: Current Developments in CT Imaging

  • Radiation Dose Reduction in CT: Lifeng Yu, PhD (Video) (Slides)
  • Visualization of CT Data: Terri J. Vrtiska, MD (Video) (Slides)
  • Photon-Counting-Detector CT: A Major Breakthrough in CT Imaging: Shuai Leng, PhD (Video) (Slides)
  • CT Innovation and 3D Printing: Advances in Clinical Use: Jonathan M. Morris, MD (Video) (Slides)
  • Current Developments in Cardiovascular CT: Eric E. Williamson, MD (Video) (Slides)
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) Applications in CT: Harnessing the Potential of Human and Artificial Intelligence: Guang-Hong Chen, PhD (Video) (Slides)
  • CT at the Mayo Clinic: Past, Present, and Future: Cynthia H. McCollough, PhD (Video) (Slides)

Meet the Speakers

Cynthia H. McCollough, Ph.D. is the Brooks-Hollern Professor of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering at Mayo Clinic, where she directs the CT Clinical Innovation Center and X-ray Imaging Research Core.

Glenn S. Forbes, M.D. was a radiology physician and hospital executive with Mayo Clinic beginning in the 1970s, retiring in 2009 as the Chief Executive Officer of Mayo Clinic Rochester.

Patrick F. Sheedy, III, M.D. worked for the Mayo Clinic Radiology Department for over forty years, with a special focus on angiography and body computed tomography. He led the body CT practice for many years.

Norbert Pelc, Sc.D. began his research in CT in the mid-1970s and has worked for both GE Medical Systems and as faculty in the Radiology Department at Stanford University.

Jiang Hsieh, Ph.D. was a chief scientist at GE Healthcare before his retirement in July 2021, and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Thomas Flohr, Ph.D. led CT Physics and Application Predevelopment at Siemens Healthcare until 2022 and is now Senior Principal Key Expert at Siemens Healthcare and an adjunct professor of Medical Physics at Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen, Germany.

Lifeng Yu, Ph.D. is a Professor of Medical Physics at Mayo Clinic, with research interests including CT physics, image quality assessment, radiation dose reduction, and multi-energy CT.

Terri J. Vrtiska, M.D. worked for 34 years at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science as a diagnostic radiologist, including 10 years as the creator and director of the Clinical 3D Imaging and Post-processing lab, and the Section Head of Vascular CT imaging.

Shuai Leng, Ph.D. is a Professor of Medical Physics, Section Head of CT Physics, and Director of the Medical Physics Residency Program at Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic.

Jonathan M. Morris, M.D. is an Associate Professor of Radiology with the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science and is the Director of the 3D Printing Anatomic Modeling Lab.

Eric E. Williamson, M.D. is a Professor of Radiology at Mayo Clinic, where he currently serves as Associate Chair for Radiology Informatics and supervises the Radiology Artificial Intelligence Program.

Guang-Hong Chen, Ph.D. is the Charles A. Mistretta Professor of Medical Physics and Radiology at UW-Madison, and a pioneer in x-ray and CT imaging systems development and CT image reconstruction algorithm development.

Photo Gallery