Yale Professor Wins Dru Carlson Award for Ultrasound Research

Yale School of Medicine researcher Joshua Copel, M.D., professor in the Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences and Pediatrics, recently received the Dru Carlson Award for Research in Ultrasound and Genetics from the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) at their 27th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

Copel will also assume the Presidency of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) at its annual meeting in New York in March.

Copel is in the middle of a six-year term on the AIUM Executive Committee: As President-Elect (2005 to 2007) as President (2007 to 2009) and as Immediate Past President (2009–2011). He has also served as treasurer of the AIUM.

Copel, who is also Vice Chair and Director of Obstetric-Gynecologic Ultrasound at Yale, is an expert in high-risk pregnancies, prenatal diagnosis, fetal surgery, amniocentesis and first trimester screening and chorionic villus sampling. Copel’s research aims to increase the number of abnormal babies identified through less invasive and less costly detection methods.

Copel’s research abstract “Prospective Cardiac Monitoring in Fetuses at Risk of Congenital Heart Block: The PR interval and Dexamethasone Evaluation (PRIDE) Study,” at last week’s SMFM meeting won him the Dru Carlson Award. The SMFM program committee presents the award to the abstract with the best ultrasound or genetics research at the annual meeting. It was established in memory of Dru Carlson, M.D., a member of SMFM who was known for her expertise in ultrasound and genetics research. The Los Angeles physician passed away in 2003 from breast cancer.

The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine is a multidisciplinary association dedicated to advancing the safe and effective use of ultrasound in medicine through professional and public education, research, development of guidelines, and accreditation. The AIUM has promoted the safe and effective use of ultrasound in clinical medicine for 50 years.