Ronald Arenson, MD
Professor Emeritus
Radiology
School of Medicine

From 1963 to 1970, Dr. Arenson was a systems engineer for IBM. After serving in the Navy at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, he joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in 1976. At the University Pennsylvania, he served as the Associate Chairman of Clinical Services in Department of Radiology, where he also served as the interim Vice-Provost for Computing and President of the Medical Staff.

Dr. Arenson has conducted research and written extensively on Radiology Information Systems, Picture Archival, and Communication Systems. His special interests include picture archival and communication systems, workload and finances in radiology, the future of academic radiology and research training. He is a fellow in the American College of Medical Informatics, the American College of Radiology, and the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine.

In 2015, Dr. Arenson had the honor of serving as the 100th President for the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). He recently finished his term on both the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and the NIH Council of Councils. He has served as the President of the Association of University Radiologists, the Society of Chairman of Academic Radiology Departments, the Board of GE-Radiology Research Academic Fellowship (GERRAF) and the Academy of Radiology Research. He is the past President of the medical staff at UCSF, and also the past Chairman of the Credentials Committee. Dr. Arenson was the recipient of the UCSF Holly Smith Award for faculty in 2017, awarded for his outstanding service to the School of Medicine, the Campus and the Medical Center. Dr. Arenson was awarded the 2020 RSNA Gold Medal for his visionary work leading the early implementation of Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) in radiology.

Expertise: Radiology

Specialty: Computer technology, PACS, RAD13

Professional Interests: PACS, medical informatics, clinical productivity, departmental management, computers, applications of computer technology to imaging

Education and Training:

• Medical School: New York Medical College, New York
• Internship: Beth Israel Medical Center, New York
• Residency: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston - Diagnostic Radiology
• Diplomate of National Board of Medical Examiners
• Diagnostic Radiology, American Board of Radiology

• Bits and bytes: the future of radiology lies in informatics and information technology.
  European radiology 2017 Brink JA, Arenson RL, Grist TM, Lewin JS, Enzmann D
• Endovascular MR-guided Renal Embolization by Using a Magnetically Assisted Remote-controlled Catheter System.
  Radiology 2016 Lillaney PV, Yang JK, Losey AD, Martin AJ, Cooke DL, Thorne BR, Barry DC, Chu A, Stillson C, Do L, Arenson RL, Saeed M, Wilson MW, Hetts SW
• 2015 RSNA Outstanding Researcher.
  Radiology 2015 Arenson RL
• Patient-directed Internet-based Medical Image Exchange: Experience from an Initial Multicenter Implementation.
  Academic radiology 2015 Greco G, Patel AS, Lewis SC, Shi W, Rasul R, Torosyan M, Erickson BJ, Hiremath A, Moskowitz AJ, Tellis WM, Siegel EL, Arenson RL, Mendelson DS
• When Vision Prevails: A History of the International Society for Strategic Studies in Radiology.
  Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR 2015 Hricak H, Ringertz HG, Thrall JH, Dixon AK, Arenson RL, Bradley WG, Muellner A, Krestin GP
• New-Generation Laser-lithographed Dual-Axis Magnetically Assisted Remote-controlled Endovascular Catheter for Interventional MR Imaging: In Vitro Multiplanar Navigation at 1.5 T and 3 T versus X-ray Fluoroscopy.
  Radiology 2015 Moftakhar P, Lillaney P, Losey AD, Cooke DL, Martin AJ, Thorne BR, Arenson RL, Saeed M, Wilson MW, Hetts SW
• Digital subtraction MR angiography roadmapping for magnetic steerable catheter tracking.
  Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI 2014 Martin AJ, Lillaney P, Saeed M, Losey AD, Settecase F, Evans L, Arenson RL, Wilson MW, Hetts SW
• Magnetically assisted remote-controlled endovascular catheter for interventional MR imaging: in vitro navigation at 1.5 T versus X-ray fluoroscopy.
  Radiology 2014 Losey AD, Lillaney P, Martin AJ, Cooke DL, Wilson MW, Thorne BR, Sincic RS, Arenson RL, Saeed M, Hetts SW
• Meaningful use for radiology: current status and future directions.
  Radiology 2013 Morgan TA, Avrin DE, Carr CD, Dreyer KJ, Flanders AE, Khorasani R, Langlotz CP, Arenson RL
• Magnetic catheter manipulation in the interventional MR imaging environment.
  Journal of vascular and interventional radiology : JVIR 2013 Wilson MW, Martin AB, Lillaney P, Losey AD, Yee EJ, Bernhardt A, Malba V, Evans L, Sincic R, Saeed M, Arenson RL, Hetts SW
• Magnetically-Assisted Remote Controlled Microcatheter Tip Deflection under Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
  Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE 2013 Hetts SW, Saeed M, Martin A, Lillaney P, Losey A, Yee EJ, Sincic R, Do L, Evans L, Malba V, Bernhardt AF, Wilson MW, Patel A, Arenson RL, Caton C, Cooke DL
• CT radiation dose: what can you do right now in your practice?
  AJR. American journal of roentgenology 2011 Coakley FV, Gould R, Yeh BM, Arenson RL
• RF Heating of MRI-Assisted Catheter Steering Coils for Interventional MRI.
  Academic radiology 2010 Settecase F, Hetts SW, Martin AJ, Roberts TP, Bernhardt AF, Evans L, Malba V, Saeed M, Arenson RL, Kucharzyk W, Wilson MW
• Steerable catheter microcoils for interventional MRI reducing resistive heating.
  Academic radiology 2010 Bernhardt A, Wilson MW, Settecase F, Evans L, Malba V, Martin AJ, Saeed M, Roberts TP, Arenson RL, Hetts SW
• "Hyperscrutiny" of academic-industrial relationships: potential for unintended consequences--a response.
  Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR 2010 Seltzer SE, Menard A, Cruea R, Arenson R
• Recommendations for additional imaging in radiology reports: radiologists' self-referral or good clinical practice?
  Radiology 2009 Arenson RL
• An update survey of academic radiologists' clinical productivity.
  Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR 2008 Lu Y, Zhao S, Chu PW, Arenson RL
• The disruptive professional case scenarios.
  Academic radiology 2008 Metter D, Harolds J, Rumack CM, Relyea-Chew A, Arenson R
• Magnetically-assisted remote control (MARC) steering of endovascular catheters for interventional MRI: a model for deflection and design implications.
  Medical physics 2007 Settecase F, Sussman MS, Wilson MW, Hetts S, Arenson RL, Malba V, Bernhardt AF, Kucharczyk W, Roberts TP
• Blueprint for imaging in biomedical research.
  Radiology 2007 Ehman RL, Hendee WR, Welch MJ, Dunnick NR, Bresolin LB, Arenson RL, Baum S, Hricak H, Thrall JH
• Quality--a radiology imperative: report of the 2006 Intersociety Conference.
  Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR 2007 Dunnick NR, Applegate KE, Arenson RL
• Training a better radiologist.
  Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR 2006 Arenson R, Dunnick NR
• Training for the future of radiology: a report of the 2005 Intersociety Conference.
  Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR 2006 Dunnick NR, Applegate K, Arenson R, Levin D
• The academic radiologist's clinical productivity: an update.
  Academic radiology 2005 Lu Y, Arenson RL
• The inappropriate use of imaging studies: a report of the 2004 Intersociety Conference.
  Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR 2005 Dunnick NR, Applegate KE, Arenson RL
• Addressing the coming radiology crisis-the Society for Computer Applications in Radiology transforming the radiological interpretation process (TRIP) initiative.
  Journal of digital imaging 2004 Andriole KP, Morin RL, Arenson RL, Carrino JA, Erickson BJ, Horii SC, Piraino DW, Reiner BI, Seibert JA, Siegel E, SCAR TRIP Subcommittee, TRIP Subcommittee
• infoRAD 2004: why you need informatics education at RSNA 2004.
  Radiographics : a review publication of the Radiological Society of North America, Inc 2004 Avrin DE, Arenson RL
• National radiology fellowship match program: success or failure?
  Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR 2004 Arenson RL
• Creative approach to financing a PACS.
  Academic radiology 2004 Arenson R
• Informatics at RSNA 2003: evolution and maturation on all fronts.
  Radiographics : a review publication of the Radiological Society of North America, Inc 2003 Avrin DE, Arenson RL
• Prototype medical image management system (MIMS) at the University of Pennsylvania: software design considerations. 1987.
  Journal of digital imaging 2003 Seshadri SB, Arenson R, Khalsa S, Brikman I, van der Voorde F
• The digital imaging workstation. 1990.
  Journal of digital imaging 2003 Arenson RL, Chakraborty DP, Seshadri SB, Kundel HL
• Avoiding unread images with PACS.
  Academic radiology 2002 Avrin DE, Arenson RL
• Time for change: new emphasis on training for radiology research.
  Academic radiology 2002 Arenson RL, Dunnick NR, Hillman BJ
• Design and applications of a multimodality image data warehouse framework.
  Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA 2002 Wong ST, Hoo KS, Knowlton RC, Laxer KD, Cao X, Hawkins RA, Dillon WP, Arenson RL