William G. Bradley Jr, MD, PhD, FACR

Perhaps more than any other single figure, Bill Bradley (1948–2017) both educated us regarding clinical MR imaging and popularized clinical MR imaging during its early days in setting the trajectory of the field. Bill was a larger-than-life figure with magnums of charisma, ebullience, and

chose to discover and investigate in private practice settings. Bill joined Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California, and then Long Beach Memorial Hospital, Long Beach, California, transforming both institutions with his delightful touch and his keen intellect. In private practice, Bill proved the headroom for discovery and novel implementation outside traditional academic centers while training outstanding fellows who would popularize and establish MR imaging. In private practice, Bill was a 1-man university, pursuing discovery, innovation, teaching, and clinical practice at a level that was the envy of fully established and broadly staffed world-class academic radiology departments.
In 2002, Bill started a new chapter in his professional life. Across the years, Bill's insatiable thirst for knowledge, his unique ability to connect individuals, and his extroversion drew him to true university settings, where he could interact with engineers and scientists on a more sustained basis and deliver innovation as an expected and central product of his work. Bill enthusiastically accepted the charge of leading the Radiology Department at the University of California, San Diego, which he did for the next 13 years. During the first 8 years of his chairmanship, Bill intentionally and thoughtfully improved the rating of the radiology department in terms of National Institutes of Health funding from the mid-40s to the number 8 position. He achieved this by establish-ing a team of world-famous faculty members within the department and as a brilliant talent scout, through identifying and recruiting inevitable future field leaders. Bill possessed a unique and infectious vision of the future and was able to share this vision with numerous industrial partners. Despite the competitive relationships among the industrial giants supplying radiology, Bill's charisma and imagination were such that he was central to all the vendors' conversations regarding their individual futures, whether the industrial friends were world leaders or new on the scene.
Attempting to quantify Bill's achievements is challenging because any such accounting fails to effectively convey his singular charisma and the subjective nature of his enduring impact on our field through each of us who knew and loved him. In addition, a distinguished Professor Emeritus, Bill published more than 200 articles, 54 chapters, and 20 additional textbooks. His accomplishments and service to organized radiology resulted in a collection of gold medals for distinguished and exceptional lifetime achievements from the most prestigious radiology societies, of which Bill was rightfully proud and grateful. Bill's gold medals were awarded by the Radiological Society of North America, the American College of Radiology, the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, the American Roentgen Ray Society, and the Association of University Radiologists. For an individual to receive all 5 medals is truly exceptional and a testament to Bill's service and enduring impact on our field.
Bill's extensive contributions included his serving as President of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and serving on the Board of Trustees of the Radiological Society of North America Research andEducation Foundation (1995-2001) and as the Chairman of the Fund Development Committee of that organization from 1996 to 2008. Bill was on the Board of Chancellors of the American College of Radiology, where he chaired the Commission on Neuroradiology and MR imaging from 1999 to 2005 and served as Vice President from 2005 to 2006. Bill was Chair of the Steering Committee for the Coalition for Imaging and Bioengineering Research and on the Boards of the Academy of Radiology Research, Association of University Radiologists, International Society for Strategic Studies in Radiology, and Academy of Radiology Leadership and Management. A simple tabulation of his offices fails to fully convey the impact and influence he had on every one of these organizations.
As with his other contributions, quantitating Bill's effect on organized radiology is akin to capturing lightning in a bottle. In pushing the analogy, even though the rest of us would never consider capturing lighting in a bottle, I imagine my friend Bill would be captivated by the idea, would imagine and iterate through myriad ways of doing just that, and would ultimately succeed. That, exactly, was our friend Bill.