SPR Pilot Grant - Cover Letter
Applicant Address of Correspondence:
Andrew Phelps MD
505 Parnassus Avenue, Box 0628, M-396
San Francisco, CA 94143
Phone: (415) 353-8355
Fax: (415) 353-1796
E-mail: Andrew.Phelps@ucsf.edu
Dear Committee members,
My research focus is to test and develop advanced imaging techniques to diagnose and monitor
pediatric disease. Although I am in the early stages of my career, I already have several ongoing research
projects that involve pediatric imaging. These are pilot projects that examine important and unresolved
questions in pediatric imaging.
My current research projects in pediatric CT are to evaluate low dose studies with advanced imaging
techniques. A study involving the application of model-based iterative reconstruction (MBIR) to better
delineate pediatric vessels on CT angiography was presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Society of
Pediatric Radiology, and a recent peer-reviewed manuscript was accepted for publication (Koc G, Courtier JC,
Marcovici PM, Phelps AS, MacKenzie JD Computed Tomography Depiction of Small Pediatric Vessels with
Model-Based Iterative Reconstruction. Pediatric Radiology. February 16, 2014). My research team is also
examining several strategies for lowering the exposure to ionizing radiation by applying the MBIR technique
to pediatric CT. I am lucky to work in a vibrant research setting and collaborate with post -doctoral candidates
and PhD scientists who focus on the basic science aspects of CT.
I also collaborate with my pediatric radiology colleagues who also have strong backgrounds in
biomedical imaging research and willing to help me either by assisting with parts of the project or by
providing valuable input. We hold a monthly pediatric imaging research meeting where we present our
projects; discuss study design, preliminary data and analysis, future projects, etc. This vibrant research
environment will be invaluable for the proposed research in this SPR grant.
This seed grant will help me launch my career and allow me to develop as a clinician scientist. The
goal of the proposed research is to investigate and implement methods for a substantial ionizing radiation dose
reduction in infant chest CT. We plan to design an optimized infant chest CT protocol, and to evaluate it clinically
both through image quality analysis and advanced dose simulations. In addition to the research data gathered, the
optimized chest CT protocol will be a valuable contribution to our routine and complex pediatric populations, as
UCSF is a referral center for congenital heart disease, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, congenital lung mass,
pectus excavatum, and other chest diagnoses. The results of this study will be very helpful for my team to develop
preliminary data for presentation as peer reviewed publications and solidify our working group for future
collaborations and to apply for additional significant research funding.
Sincerely,
Andrew Phelps MD