Department welcomes colleagues from the Netherlands at second international symposium
Strengthening a growing relationship rooted in shared values, faculty and researchers from the University of Wisconsin Department of Radiology and the Department of Radiology & Nuclear Medicine Erasmus University Medical Center (MC) gathered in Madison to connect at the second Radiology & Nuclear Medicine Symposium.
The department welcomed the visitors from the Netherlands June 3-5, 2026, for presentations from UW, Erasmus MC and GE HealthCare colleagues on a broad range of topics including musculoskeletal imaging, AI, sports medicine, abdominal imaging, and the sustainability of radiology.
Kenneth Lee, MD, MBA, one of the symposium’s planners, said expanding topics of interest was a goal of the event in addition to fostering connections and leveraging what was learned in 2025.
“It worked. People were more engaged. People felt more comfortable with each other, and so they were brainstorming ideas and collaborations,” Dr. Lee said.
Over 50 people attended the symposium, which was planned by Sandip Biswal, MD; Rianne van der Heijden, MD, PhD; and Edwin Oei, MD, PhD; in addition to Lee. In-person presenters from the department included Chair Scott Reeder, MD, PhD; Tyler Bradshaw, PhD; Thomas Grist, MD; Diego Hernando, PhD; Samuel Hurley, PhD; Alan McMillan, PhD; James Pipe, PhD; Ali Pirasteh, MD; and Pallavi Tiwari, PhD. Kendall Barrett, PhD, and Jason Mixdorf, PhD, researchers in the Cyclotron Research Group, also presented.
Bryan Heiderscheit, PT, PhD; Keith Knurr, DPT, PhD; and Jie Deng, MD, PhD from the UW Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation also shared their work on imaging for player health, identifying early signs of osteoarthritis in former college athletes after ACL surgery, and researching a tendon injury called “jumper’s knee.” Representatives from GE HealthCare also participated, as the Department of Radiology and Erasmus MC both operate the equipment from that manufacturer.
Shared Mission and Outcomes
While the two departments have similar infrastructure and equipment, they align in their mission and interests.
UW–Madison’s Wisconsin Idea emphasizes that research, education, and resources should influence people’s lives beyond the boundaries of the classroom and campus. Similarly, a pillar of Erasmus MC’s purpose is Valorization, defined as “the social or economic use of knowledge gained through research.”
Though the first symposium took place in 2025, faculty from both institutions have been connected for years.
Dr. Thomas Grist, former chair of the Department of Radiology, and Gabriel Krestin, MD, PhD, former chair of Erasmus MC, embraced the idea of a joint symposium, which Dr. Reeder and Erasmus MC Department of Radiology & Nuclear Medicine Chair Aad van der Lugt, MD, PhD continue to support.
Dr. van der Heijden and Dr. Biswal have worked closely on identifying musculoskeletal pain in patients, publishing papers on the same research topic and partnering on grant applications.
Dr. van der Heijden was pivotal in creating the event and solidifying the relationship between UW and Erasmus. She joined UW–Madison as a Bracco Fellow in 2022, worked in Dr. Reeder’s lab, and cultivated connections with faculty members across sections.
“This catapulted into this symposium, hoping we could encourage other people to do similar things – not necessarily in musculoskeletal but in other sub-specialty disciplines in radiology,” Biswal said. “The overall goal is to foster collaborations between the two groups.”
Coming Up
As a result of the investments both UW and Erasmus MC are making into this unique collaboration, Dr. Lee said the ideal outcome will be “shared papers, shared grants, and shared project development.”
Both Dr. Van der Heijden and Dr. Biswal share a common passion of helping individuals suffering from chronic musculoskeletal pain and have teamed up to use positron emission tomography (PET) and MRI to more accurately identify the exact peripheral source of pain generation.
Their collaboration has led to both institutions using FDG PET-MRI – a hybrid imaging technique that uses fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) – for low back pain. This technique is being used for persistent pain after hip arthroscopy at UW and hip prosthesis at Erasmus MC. A third collaborative project is radiotracer development at UW to translate to Erasmus MC.
Dr. Lee highlighted a coordinated effort to create a tendinopathy grading classification with ultrasound and MRI. The two groups are also looking at using Intravoxel Incoherent Motion (IVIM) MRI, a technique capable of evaluating tissue microstructure and microvascular blood flow, for sarcoma evaluation.
In the spirit of global collaboration, Dr. Grist left the two groups with a joint call to action to consider radiology’s environmental impact and implement solutions to reduce energy use.
A vocal advocate of the cause, Dr. Grist co-authored “Sustainability in Radiology: Position Paper and Call to Action from ACR, AOSR, ASR, CAR, CIR, ESR, ESRNM, ISR, IS3R, RANZCR, and RSNA” in 2025.
Presenters:
- Chair Aad van der Lugt, MD, Phd, Erasmus MC
- Chair Scott Reeder, MD, PhD, Department of Radiology
- Kendall Barrett, PhD, a researcher in the Cyclotron Research Group
- Sandip Biswal, MD, Department of Radiology
- Tyler Bradshaw, PhD, Department of Radiology
- Michael Carl, GE HealthCare
- Jie Deng, MD, PhD, Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation
- Thomas Grist, MD, Department of Radiology
- Bryan Heiderscheit, PT, PhD, Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation
- Rianne van der Heijden, MD, PhD, Department of Radiology
- Diego Hernando, PhD, Department of Radiology
- Jukka Hirvasniemi, PhD. Erasmus MC
- Samuel Hurley, PhD, Department of Radiology
- Stefan Klein, PhD. Erasmus MC
- Keith Knurr, DPT, PhD, Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation
- Gyula Kotek, PhD. Erasmus MC
- Kenneth Lee, MD, MBA, Department of Radiology
- Daniel Litwiller, PhD GE HealthCare
- Alan McMillan, PhD, Department of Radiology
- Jason Mixdorf, PhD, Department of Radiology
- Edwin Oei, MD, PhD, Erasmus MC
- James Pipe, PhD, Department of Radiology
- Ali Pirasteh, MD, Department of Radiology
- Yann Seimbelle, PhD, Erasmus MC
- J.A. Hernandez Tamames, PhD, Erasmus MC
- Maarten Thomeer, PhD, Erasmus MC
- Pallavi Tiwari, PhD, Department of Radiology
- Esther Warnert, PhD, Erasmus MC