Anatomy and Art

Ok, so I had to come back in and edit this post a bit today.  When I first posted this I had a little laugh at CBS for suggesting UIC’s biomedical visualization program had remote control brain tumor attacking robots.  Well it turns out, we may not have robots, but there is in fact an “OR of the Future” project with which the program has involvement.  One of the interests of that program is the development of a micro catheter with a specialized operative tip, which utilizes advanced 3D visualization in it’s operation.  It actually would be used to get at previously inoperable tumors.  So I just thought that was really cool, and worth updating over.

And of course, all of this is regarding the CBS news team that popped by the biomedical visualization department a few days ago.  Nice interviews with Scott Barrows, Michaela Calhoun and Leslie (I’m afraid I don’t know her last name).  The link to the segment that aired is here.

http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=70335@wbbm.dayport.com

I still want the robots though!

Yesterday I met with a very interesting man on campus, Chet Childs, about doing an independent study with him.  The original thought was to learn about medical and scientific photography from him, but it looks like he’s doing a lot of surgical video work as well, which I have also been interested in for quite some time.  I have a strong background in both photography and video editing.  These were my primary means of income when I lived in LA.  So finding someone who is using those kinds of skills in this, my new world of medicine and anatomy is such a perfect move for me.  Sadly, I hear this is a dying niche, budget cuts, and these hard economic times, and all those lines we’ve all heard so very many times at this point.  But there seems to be a need.  So I’m going to look into this.

photo by Dexter Roberts