Congratulations to Prof. Bell, who was selected to receive a competitive ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, which is designed to help ORAU member institutions retain their best young faculty members. This award will provide seed funding for the project entitled, Robust Short-Lag Spatial Coherence Imaging of Hypoechoic Breast Masses, which focuses on development and patient testing of a novel beamforming method developed in the PULSE Lab to differentiate fluid-filled masses from solid breast masses with greater certainty than the current ultrasound beamforming methods used in breast clinics today. Fluid-filled masses are often benign, but with current uncertainty rates, many fluid-filled masses undergo the same costly, time-consuming, and anxiety-provoking diagnostic work-ups as malignant masses, which are often solid.
The long-term goal of this research is to improve breast cancer screening and detection for the benefit of patients and for the redistribution of more healthcare system resources to cancer patients who need them most.
Related Highlights:
- The PULSE Lab recently published supporting preliminary data related to this work in the journal IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control.
- A summary of this journal paper is available here.
- PULSE Lab graduate student Alycen Wiacek, first author of the above journal paper, recently won the Whiting School of Engineering Research Trainee Award for this work.
- This work is currently featured in the Spring 2019 Issue of Duke BME Magazine.