UNC Department of Radiology is pleased to announce Lauren Burke, MD, FSAR, has been named Matthew A. Mauro, MD, Distinguished Professor of Radiology. Dr. Burke is the first female recipient of this Distinguished Professorship. Endowed professorships are among the highest honors for recognizing the University’s most accomplished scientists and educators. In addition to honoring exceptional achievement, these professorships help the University recruit, retain, and support the highest-quality faculty for UNC Radiology. Dr. Burke was approved by the Board of Trustees, effective September 20. The Matthew A. Mauro Distinguished Professorship is meant for an esteemed faculty member with the field and institutional expertise to advance UNC Radiology’s tripartite mission of patient care, education, and research. Congrats, Dr. Burke, on an amazing and well-deserved honor. Dr. Burke is the Executive Vice Chair and Professor of Radiology at UNC. Dr. Burke completed her medical school training and Diagnostic Radiology Residency at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Subsequently, she completed her Abdominal Imaging Fellowship at Duke University Medical Center. She became a doctor to help improve patients’ lives and advance science, especially cancer research. She chose to pursue radiology because she loves problem-solving and putting pieces together to help clinicians diagnose,

Treating the Pregnant Patient with Dr. Nikki Keefe Synopsis Dr. Keefe’s personal experience with pregnancy during her IR training sparked her interest in this topic. A lot of IR patients are pregnant or breastfeeding, so it is important to be cognizant of radiation and medication exposures and how they should be altered. She emphasizes the importance of establishing a protocol when these patients present. We review radiation doses of various IR procedures and risk stratification based on gestational age. At each stage of pregnancy, there are different risks of disruptions in organogenesis, effects on neural tube development, and predisposition to cancer. Elective procedures should usually be deferred until after delivery. The most common and necessary procedures performed in pregnant patients are PICC line placement, nephrostomy tube, and treatment of postpartum hemorrhage. Dr. Keefe also shares her tips for minimizing fluoroscopy time and deciding between different diagnostic imaging modalities that present both maternal and fetal radiation risks. Next, we discuss medication safety. Iodinated contrast is safe to give during pregnancy, while gadolinium is not. Sedation with opioids is generally safe, but their sustained use or administration around the perinatal period can cause neonatal withdrawal symptoms. Benzodiazepines can also be used for

Celebrating 30 years of improving breast cancer screening, detection, and outcomes through research! The CMR was established in 1994 by Dr. Bonnie Yankaskas as a community-based mammography registry and has served as a resource for researchers interested in studying the breast cancer screening and diagnostic care continuum across North Carolina for the last 30 years. Over time, the CMR has grown to incorporate the study of emerging breast imaging modalities, including digital mammography, digital breast tomosynthesis, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging. Dr. Louise Henderson assumed the leadership of CMR in 2011 and in September 2024, Dr. Sarah Nyante became Director of the CMR. Since 1995, CMR has received funding from the National Cancer Institute to study community-based breast imaging, and to function as a member site for the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC). The BCSC combines data from breast imaging registries across the United States (e.g., California, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Vermont, and North Carolina) to form a national resource for the evaluation of risk-based breast cancer screening and generate evidence to inform USPSTF recommendations, American Cancer Society guidelines, and the ACR BI-RADS Atlas.  The CMR has also been supported by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, The American Cancer Society,