Dr. Vicente Gilsanz has been named the 2016 Presidential Recognition Award winner by the Society for Pediatric Radiology and was honored during an awards ceremony in Chicago on May 16.
Gilsanz was recognized for his contributions in pediatric radiology, including his accomplishments in imaging research at The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA).
The Pacific Palisades resident’s studies were the first to indicate that bone acquisition is greatest during puberty, and that pre-pubertal children with low bone mass mature into young adults with low bone mass, which puts them at risk for osteoporosis and fractures later in life.
In a recent study published in the Journal of Pediatrics examining measurements of the vertebrae in newborns, Gilsanz and his team found that differences between the sexes are present at birth.
The results suggest that this difference is evolutionary, because it allows the female spine to adapt to carrying a baby during pregnancy. This also means that adolescent girls are more susceptible to scoliosis and older women to osteoporosis.
In collaboration with of a multidisciplinary group of experts, Gilsanz used imaging 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, knowing that clinical imaging equipment is manufactured for use with adults, 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 predict the later development of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Under his leadership, the Children’s Imaging Research Program uses imaging technology to study pediatric diseases and childhood antecedents of adult disease.
Gilsanz has published 208 peer-reviewed research papers, 16 book chapters and one textbook. Since 1993, he has been awarded nearly $10 million in federal funds, primarily from the National Institute of Health. He has successfully mentored numerous pediatric doctoral radiology fellows—and also 12 research assistants who subsequently were accepted into medical school.
Born in Madrid, Spain, Gilsanz completed his undergraduate, medical and doctoral degrees at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid. He came to the United States and trained at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. While training at Boston Children’s Hospital, he met his wife, Dr. Ines Boechat, now a professor of radiology at UCLA. The couple moved to the Palisades in 1981 and have three children, Paola, Diego and Monica.
Visit: CHLA.org.
Dr. Vicente Gilsanz
You must be logged in to post a comment.