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Perry Sprawls, Ph.D., PE
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Retirement of Professor Perry Sprawls At the end of August, 2005 Perry Sprawls concluded
a 45-year tenure on the Emory University Faculty and became Professor Emeritus of Radiology.
On the event of his retirement some of the highlights of the Emory years
and beyond are reviewed. |
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The Beginning Perry Sprawls joined the Emory Faculty in 1960 in the Department of Physics as an Instructor specializing in nuclear physics. During that first year three things occurred that were to give direction to his career and personal life. 1. Soon after beginning to teach large physics classes in the traditional lecture room format, he saw the opportunity to develop a variety of technological enhancements to produce more enriched learning environments. Research and development leading to innovations in the educational process has been a major component of his career that continues today with significant impact at the national and international level. 2. With a background in nuclear physics, he began to look for applications that would benefit society. He soon found that opportunity to apply nuclear physics to medicine in the Department of Radiology. His first summer at Emory was as a research physicist in Radiology and that led to a full-time Radiology faculty appointment the next year. This was the beginning of a career in medical physics. 3. In those early days the office next to the physics classroom was occupied by another young instructor and member of the English Department staff, Charlotte Williams. Charlotte and Perry were married on the Emory Campus in 1961. |
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Research His early research addressed patient radiation dose issues associated with advances in fluoroscopy. With a Ph.D. in Bioengineering and graduate study in cardiovascular physiology he was an active research collaborator with the Departments of Surgery and Physiology for many years. Within Radiology much of his research contributed to the development of mammography as we practice it today. Of special significance has been his development of mathematical models of the x-ray imaging process that are used for optimizing procedures. His development of a method for the computer interpretation of medical images (radionuclide scans) in the 1960s was a first step in this long-time evolution. |
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Clinical For many years Dr. Sprawls provided physics support for x-ray imaging, mammography, etc., at Emory and Grady Hospitals and the Emory Clinics and the introduction of MRI at Emory. |
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Education The greatest career contributions of Dr. Sprawls have been in medical imaging and medical physics education, not only here at Emory but around the world. At Emory he has developed, directed, and taught in programs at all academic levels including undergraduate, graduate school, medical school, medical post-graduate (residents and fellows), and continuing medical education. The highly effective Physics for Radiology for Residents program developed and taught by him has been recognized nationally and used as a model for a syllabus by the ACR and AAPM some years ago. The companion textbook by Dr. Sprawls is used both nationally and internationally and is now becoming available online at http://www.sprawls.org/ppmi2 Radiology residents and radiology faculty throughout the country are now using the "Sprawls Course" through the multifunction web resource at http://www.sprawls.org/resources The Emory Magnetic Resonance Education Center (MREC), developed and directed by Dr. Sprawls provided the Radiology Faculty with the opportunity to provide high-quality education both to the national and international radiology communities in the early years of MRI. Much of the MRI physics taught by Dr. Sprawls in this program is available today in his textbook, Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Principles, Methods, and Techniques. It is currently being used in many countries along with the Sprawls MRI Course that is available online through the Philips Online Learning Center. He has had major leadership roles in the educational activities of the professional organizations: AAPM, RSNA, ACR, and SMRI. He currently serves as Director for Medical Imaging Continuing Education for the AAPM and recently was Chair of the committee responsible for the Physics Tracks for the RSNA Refresher Courses. |
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Innovations in Education Throughout his career a major interest has been the processes of learning and teaching and how they could be improved. This has often been achieved by the application of technology to produce enriched learning environments and to enhance human performance for both learners and teachers. The fruits of this work that began in the Emory physics classroom in 1960 are now benefiting education around the world, especially in the fields of medical imaging and medical physics. The Sprawls visuals produced with digital technology are used extensively in printed textbooks, classrooms, and web-based resources to enhance the learning of physics as it applies to medical imaging. Dr. Sprawls is recognized as an international leader in the process of developing shared and open web-based resources to improve education in all countries. He is now working with institutions and organizations around the world in the process of re-engineering the educational process (http://www.sprawls.org/RE ). The desired outcomes are models for more effective and efficient learning activities, ranging from individual courses to the global practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology. His seminars and classes on the learning and teaching process help faculty apply established principles along with modern technology to increase the effectiveness of educational activities. The innovative teleteaching system developed by Dr. Sprawls is now used to combine the values of live classroom sessions with web-based resources both in the the Emory curriculum and internationally. |
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International and the Developing Countries In the 1980s his career took on a new dimension with a desire to improve medical imaging and medical physics in the developing countries of the world. A first activity was his development of the Emory Radiology-Xi'an (China) Cooperative Program in Medical Imaging and his serving as an Honorable Professor at Xi'an Medical University. The resulting innovative program to move a year of medical imaging into the senior year of the medical school curriculum for a select group of students was soon recognized as a model for other Chinese medical universities to address the need for young physicians to enter the specialty of medical imaging. The translation of the Sprawls Physical Principles of Medical Imaging into the Chinese language continues to serve many educational programs in China. Xi'an Medical University is the location of the technology based Medical Imaging Education Center sponsored by the Sprawls Educational Foundation. He has worked onsite with institutions and organizations in many developing countries and through the Sprawls Educational Foundation provides resources for program development and improvement in most of the developing countries of the world. As the Senior Director of the College on Medical Physics at the International Centre of Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, sponsored by UNESCO, he provides leadership and classroom instruction for the periodic programs for medical physicists and scientists from most of the developing countries. |
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Awards and Honors In 1999 the American Association of Physicists in Medicine honored Dr. Sprawls with its annual Achievement Award for "his outstanding career achievements in medical physics and contributions to the profession." In 2004 he received the Harold Johns Medal from the International Organization of Medical Physics (representing 77 countries) at their meeting in Sydney, Australia, for "excellence in teaching and contributions to international education." In 2006 the IEEE, the international electrical and electronic institute, presented Dr. Sprawls with it's Achievement Award in Continuing Education “in recognition of extensive career contributions of continuing education to enhance global health through the effective utilization of medical imaging technology and the application of science and engineering principles” |
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After Emory Perry and Charlotte now live in Montreat, North Carolina (in the mountains near Asheville) where he works from the office of the Sprawls Educational Foundation, PO Box 1208, Montreat, NC 28757 (sprawls@emory.edu ) Their son, Charles Perry Sprawls, lives in New York where he is a classical vocalist with the Metropolitan Opera Chorus and other performing groups. Perry's current professional activities include:
On the non-professional side...
On the lighter side and recreation...
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