Biography: Eric Russell, 37th President of the American Society of Neuroradiology

Eric Russell was installed as the 37th President of the American Society of Neuroradiology on May 25, 1999 at the society’s annual meeting in San Diego. With a broad experience of service both to this and other major radiologic societies, Eric is well prepared to tackle this job.

Born in Brooklyn, Eric became interested in a career in medicine when, in his youth, the illness of a family member significantly impacted his life. Eric remained in New York State for his undergraduate education, medical school, and training in radiology. After graduation from Brooklyn College, Eric attended medical school in Buffalo, where he received the MD degree in 1974 and where, as a presage of things to come, he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha in his junior year. He then returned to New York City and to the Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center and began what he believed was to be a career in internal medicine. Fortunately for radiology, Eric became increasingly interested and intrigued by medical imaging during his internship and applied for a radiology residency at that same institution. Harold Jacobson, then Chairman of the Department of Radiology at Montefiore, told Eric that a person who he had hoped would fill a recently vacated residency position in radiology had not answered a letter of offer (actually she was on vacation). Because Eric happened to walk into Dr. Jacobson’s office just before the letter was answered, he was offered that position. Eric was able to step right in and fill that post and, during his final residency year, was selected as Chief Resident by Dr. Jacobson. It was not until years later, after his marriage to Sandra Fernbach, that he discovered that the person who had been away on vacation and whom he had displaced in the residency program was none other than his future wife-to-be. To round out the story, Sandra did eventually enter that radiology training program a year later and finished her training in 1979. As Sandra’s chief resident, Eric was able to tell her what to do—/early the last time that was possible. Sandra is now a well-known pediatric radiologist in practice at Evanston Hospital. Eric and Sandra, coresidents at Montefiore, were married in Chicago in 1982.

After his residency was completed, Eric began his fellowship in neuroradiology, under the direction of Irv Kricheff at New York University Medical Center. During his second year there, in 1979, he worked closely with Alex Berenstein in interventional neuroradiology and, in those days, that field was truly in its infancy. Because nearly everything that was done in neurovascular intervention was new or was in the early developmental stage, it was in Eric’s words a year of “trial under fire.”

Eric broke ties with New York City in 1980 when he accepted a faculty position at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Hospital in Chicago. With his training in interventional neuroradiology, he was the first formally trained neurointerventionalist in Chicago and was able to integrate all areas of neuroradiology, including interventional neuroradiology, head and neck imaging, and conventional neuroradiology into his academic career. When the position of Director of Neuroradiology at Northwestern University Medical School opened up, Eric was selected to lead that section and quickly rose through the academic ranks. He now holds the rank of Professor of Radiology at Northwestern University and serves as the Clinical Practice Director for the Department of Radiology.

Eric has contributed to radiology and neuroradiology at many levels both locally and nationally. Our society knows him best for the positions he has held in the ASNR. He has been a member of the Program, Scientific Exhibit, Nominating, Rules, Strategic Planning, Education, Financial Management, and Publication Committees, to name a few. He has served as ASNR treasurer (1995–1997), vice president, and, most recently as president-elect and program chairman for the 1999 ASNR meeting in San Diego. The Ad Hoc Committee on the Annual Meeting, which he chaired, recommended changes that were incorporated into the format of this year’s annual meeting; specifically, the ASNR maintained general control of the meeting while integrating a repeatable yearly meeting format for the specialty societies (ASITN, ASHNR, ASPNR, and ASSR).

Eric’s academic output has been remarkable, not only in sheer volume of articles, book chapters, presentations at national meetings, guest faculty work for CME courses, and as investigator/co-investigator of numerous grants, but also for the breadth of this body of work, which has covered virtually the entire spectrum of our specialty. He has been a manuscript reviewer for six journals and has served as an editorial board member for Radiology and the AJNR. I can attest to the superlative job Eric does as a manuscript reviewer. He is one of our journal’s very best.

Having a goal and working toward its successful realization is one of Eric’s hallmarks. As president, he plans to implement many of the recommendations of the Strategic Planning Committee. This, in part, will include: establishing a neurointerventional training program acceptable to both neurosurgeons and radiologists; encouraging more activity in the various committees of the ASNR by its members; having the ASNR more involved and more visible in clinical societies that deal with management and treatment of stroke; connecting the ASNR with reimbursement, coding and credentialing issues; taking steps necessary to develop a more inclusive membership of the society, so that basic scientists and physicians in allied neuroscience fields become actively involved in the ASNR; and supporting the goals of the ASNR and ASITN so that the disciplines of imaging and intervention will advance simultaneously. Importantly, Eric will continue to serve as a link between the ASITN, the ASNR, and the Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology, where he sits as a member of their Executive Council.

In Eric Russell, the ASNR has at its helm a calm, dedicated, deliberate, thorough, and considerate president. He sees and understands all sides of an issue—a quality that is critical in presiding over an increasingly complex and growing society. We are fortunate that Eric will be leading us into the next century.