David S. Karow

Biography

 David S. Karow, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Imaging Officer at HLI, is an innovative leader in the medical imaging space who brings more than 10 years of experience in advanced MR Imaging, focused on the development and translation into clinical care of diffusion-based MRI techniques. Dr. Karow is the Chief Radiologist at HLI’s Health Nucleus. Before joining HLI, Dr. Karow was the Director of Body MRI within the Body Imaging Division and Director of Acute Care Imaging in the Department of Radiology at University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), where he still serves as Associate Professor, Health Sciences Clinical and Associate Director, Center for Translational Imaging and Precision Medicine. During his time at UC San Diego he, in collaboration with Dr. Anders Dale, Ph.D., in the Center for MultiModal Imaging and Genetics (CMIG), implemented a new, advanced diffusion method (RSI) that proved beneficial for the detection and in vivo characterization of prostate tumors. He worked to create a standard MRI protocol that is obtained on patients with proven or suspected prostate cancer. The protocol made it possible to obtain standardized, high quality quantitative imaging, which has greatly enhanced the ability to detect, localize and characterize prostate cancer. The work has yielded multiple published papers and led to multiple federal and private research grants on which Dr. Karow was Principal Investigator. Dr. Karow and collaborators continue to investigate using RSI-MRI as a biomarker for cervical cancer radiotherapy treatment response, and are compiling data showing that these techniques may be useful for the screening and staging of cancer across the whole body including breast cancer. Dr. Karow completed his fellowship in advanced body imaging at University of California, Los Angeles (UC Los Angeles). Prior to entering the Fellowship program at UC Los Angeles, he completed his residency in diagnostic radiology at UC San Diego in the 5-year research residency pathway. His research during residency was recognized with several awards, including the 2011 Elliott C. Lasser Award for Excellence in Research; 2009 American Roentgen Ray Society Executive Council Award; the 2008 RSNA Trainee Research Prize; and his work was also featured on the cover of the September 2010 issue of the journal RADIOLOGY. Prior to residency, Dr. Karow completed his medical training at the University of Michigan medical school in the combined M.D./Ph.D. Medical Scientist Training Program, graduating with a distinction in research.

Research Interest

 Genetics