Rethink Imaging

In this episode of Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John sits down with Dr. Ehsan Samei to explore the paradigm shift of Medical Physics 3.0. Moving away from traditional machine-focused compliance, Dr. Samei breaks down why medical physics must shift directly toward patient-centric care, task-based image quality, and closer collaboration between radiologists, technologists, and physicists.

In this episode of Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John sits down with medical physics legend Dr. Ehsan Samei to dissect why medical imaging often treats patients as population aggregates rather than individuals. Dr. Samei breaks down the hidden "degrees of freedom" in scan acquisitions, challenges the industry's reliance on rigid manufacturer default protocols, and outlines how physicists and rad...

In this episode of Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John sits down with Dr. Kalpana Kanal and Dr. Thomas Griglock to discuss the newly updated Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs) and Achievable Doses (ADs) published ten years after the benchmark 2014 study. Analyzing a massive dataset of 5.2 million CT exams from 2025, they break down the 22% reduction in national DRLs, explain why low dose isn't al...

In this episode of Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John sits down with Dr. Nina Kottler, Associate Chief Medical Officer of Clinical AI at Radiology Partners. Moving past basic lesion detection, Dr. Kottler addresses the massive 10x capacity-volume mismatch causing severe turnaround delays across healthcare systems. She breaks down the shift from fragmented, narrow AI tools to agentic foundation m...

In this episode of Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John sits down with Tobias Gilk, an internationally recognized MRI safety expert and founder of The Invisible Force podcast. Moving beyond standard compliance checklists, Tobias exposes the critical gaps in modern MRI safety training, regulatory oversight, and physical environment workflows. From analyzing the fatal 2025 Long Island projectile acc...

In this episode of Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John sits down with Tobias Gilk, a world renowned healthcare architect and certified MRI safety expert. Moving beyond the standard industry assumption that MRI is entirely risk free due to its lack of ionizing radiation, Gilk pulls back the curtain on the critical, unique physical hazards lurking inside the magnet room. From analyzing tragic proje...

In this episode of Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John sits down with Brandon Smith, the historic first-ever back-to-back sitting president of the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT). Moving past the typical industry discussions around staff shortages, Brandon challenges the medical imaging community to reject quiet martyrdom, step out from behind the "ancillary" shadow, and trans...

In this episode of Frame by Frame: Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John sits down with Dr. Tessa Cook, Vice Chair of Practice Transformation and Director of the Imaging Informatics Fellowship at Penn Medicine. Moving beyond the standard industry hype surrounding artificial intelligence, Dr. Cook pulls back the curtain on the critical infrastructure required to make advanced technology actually wor...

In this episode of Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John sits down with Dr. Aaron Sodickson, Division Chief of Emergency Radiology at Mass General Brigham and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, to pull back the curtain on how advanced CT technology is transforming patient care. Moving from standard grayscale imaging to full-body photon counting scanner operations, Dr. Sodickson reveals...

In this episode of Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John sits down with Jill Shuman, a board-certified diagnostic medical physicist at the Marshfield Clinic, to pull back the curtain on the gritty reality of rural healthcare. Far removed from the massive budgets of big academic institutions, Jill oversees imaging safety and quality across a broad network of underserved facilities in Wisconsin and M...

In this episode of Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John sits down with Dr. M. Mahesh, a world-renowned medical physicist from Johns Hopkins, to deconstruct the myths and misinformation surrounding medical radiation. Dr. Mahesh reveals how sensationalist headlines, like the "600% increase" in population radiation, often lack the scientific context necessary for patient safety. From the hidden dange...

In part two of this deep dive, host Chris St. John and Dr. Mina Makary explore the "sci-fi" reality of modern interventional radiology. From ultrasound waves that destroy tumors without a single incision to embolization procedures that treat chronic pain and enlarged prostates, Dr. Makary reveals how the "fourth pillar" of cancer care is making major surgery a last resort rather than a first step.

In the first of a two-part series, host Chris St. John sits down with Dr. Mina Makary, a dual board-certified radiologist at The Ohio State University, to explore the rapidly evolving world of Interventional Radiology (IR). Dr. Makary clarifies the vital distinction between burnout and "moral injury" the psychological toll of being prevented from doing what is ethically right by systemic barriers,...

In this episode of Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John sits down with Dr. Julie Bauml, a radiologist and clinical informatics expert, to dismantle the "replacement" narrative in medical AI. Dr. Bauml explains the concept of the "cognitive ceiling", the hard limit on human image processing, and argues that AI’s true value lies in automating the "non-doctoring" tasks to alleviate burnout rather tha...

In this episode of Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John speaks with Chalonda Jones-Thomas, founder of the Thomas Institute of Health Professions, about the urgent need to modernize medical imaging education. As technology outpaces traditional textbooks, Chalonda discusses her pioneering work in creating fully online, simulation-based training programs that serve working parents, rural communities,...

What if nearly half of traditional autopsies could be avoided without sacrificing diagnostic certainty? In this episode of Rethink Imaging, host Chris St John speaks with Dr. Kalpana Kanal, Director of Diagnostic Physics at the University of Washington, and Dr. Jonathan Medverd, Chief of Radiology at Harborview Medical Center, about building one of the most advanced postmortem CT programs in the U...

In this episode of Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John sits down with Dr. Francesco Ria to explore a critical but often misunderstood concept in CT imaging: total risk. While radiation dose often dominates conversations around CT safety, Dr. Ria explains why clinical risk including missed diagnoses, delayed treatment, and underutilized imaging — frequently outweighs radiation risk when exams are...

Dr. Claudia Kirsch joins Rethink Imaging to discuss how viruses like SARS-CoV-2 reshape the brain through inflammation, vascular injury, and immune pathways. From unexplained smell loss to the discovery of the nervus terminalis as a potential viral pathway, this episode highlights how advanced imaging is uncovering new insights into neuroinflammation and viral-driven disease including implications...

Medical imaging faces a workforce crisis that cannot be solved with short-term staffing fixes. In this episode of Rethink Imaging, Chris St. John speaks with Geoffrey Roche, SVP of Healthcare at RizePoint, about why imaging remains a hidden profession, why more than 20,000 students sit on waiting lists every year, and how outdated accreditation models are limiting access to care. Geoffrey shares a...

James leads one of the region’s most advanced nuclear theranostics programs, using molecular imaging not only to diagnose cancer, but to guide and deliver treatment. This conversation stays grounded in practice: how patients are selected, how imaging drives decisions, and how programs actually get built. In this episode of Rethink Imaging, Chris St. John sits down with Dr. James Cassuto to unpack...

In this episode of Rethink Imaging, Chris St. John sits down with Dr. Ali Tejani, a neuroradiology fellow at UCSF and a national leader in radiology education, imaging informatics, and AI literacy. Ali shares why radiology training programs must evolve now to prepare trainees for a future where AI is embedded in everyday clinical workflows. From launching an imaging informatics and business intell...

In this episode of Frame by Frame: Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John sits down with Jason Schneck, CEO of One Physics, to unpack how medical physics is evolving as care shifts beyond hospital walls. Jason shares a frontline view of how outpatient expansion, workforce shortages, regulatory complexity, and emerging technologies like molecular imaging and theranostics are reshaping the role of med...

In this episode of Frame by Frame: Rethink Imaging, Chris St. John speaks with Dr. Ian Weissman, a nationally recognized radiology leader and advocate for clinician wellness, patient-centered care, and workforce strategies. Ian breaks down how the U.S. shortage of 1,500 radiologists is reshaping imaging workloads, delaying critical studies, and putting pressure on a system that is already stretche...

In this episode, Chris St. John speaks with Dr. Thomas Griglock, former section chief in radiology and associate professor at OHSU, now Executive Director at LUCIR. They explore why medical physicists are overwhelmed by Level 1 regulatory tasks, how this burden limits innovation, and what it means for AI adoption in radiology.

In this episode of Frame by Frame: Rethink Imaging, host Chris St. John sits down with Dr. Kristin Beinschroth, a radiologic technologist and researcher, to explore how moral courage shapes student success, why confidence does not always predict achievement, and what it really takes to prepare the next generation of technologists for the ethical dilemmas they will face in practice. From navigating...