Home | Technical Exhibits | Attendees | Meeting Program | Transportation | Past/Future Meetings | Newsroom | RSNA.org

  Hillier L. "Bud" Baker, Jr, MD

Hillier L. Baker, Jr, MD 1980 RSNA President

An RSNA member since 1959, Dr Baker died Dec. 22, 2008. He was 84.

2009 President Gary J. Becker, MD, recalled how, in a February 1980 Radiology editorial, John Hodgson, MD, wrote of his friend, Mayo Clinic colleague and incoming RSNA President "Bud" Baker: "If one is fortunate, in his lifetime he may come to know a few men of extraordinary ability—men endowed with superior intellect and reasoning capability. The incoming president of the Radiological Society of North America is such a man."

Dr Hodgson also described Dr Baker as "a man of great courage, with unique talents and character," Dr Becker noted.

Born the son of a Chicago physician, Dr Baker spent his entire 40-year career at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn, where he served as director of neuroradiology and chair and a professor of the Department of Radiology. After initially focusing on gastrointestinal radiology after the Korean War, Dr Baker began to concentrate primarily on neuroradiology in 1958 and stayed with the subspecialty for another 20 years.

Dr Baker's greatest success came in 1973, when he traveled to England to acquire the world's first nonprototype waterbag head CT scanner for the Mayo Clinic. As newly appointed chair of the Department of Radiology, Dr Baker was charged with integrating the new technology into clinical practice, a process that was fraught with challenges, as Dr Baker explained in a 1994 interview with RSNA. "The first body [CT] machine was to be tested in our department," he said. "We tried to get all members of the department involved in evaluating its examination of various parts of the body. There were lots of problems. It was a large practice and it was growing all the time."

Once CT had been successfully integrated into his department, Dr Baker was soon in demand for his expertise interpreting CT scans of the head and spine and later applied his skills to MR imaging as well. His pioneering work with CT earned Dr Baker international recognition as a foremost expert on the technology.

Dr Baker's medical career began after receiving a bachelor's degree in 1943 at age 19 from the University of Chicago, where he went on to earn his medical degree in 3 years. After serving a fellowship at Mayo, he became a military doctor at West Point, NY, in the early 1950s, before returning to Mayo for the remainder of his career.

A staunch supporter of RSNA, Dr Baker attended his first annual meeting in 1959 and earned a committee appointment in 1963, followed by a chairmanship of the Refresher Course Committee and election to Secretary of the Board of Directors in 1972. Dr Baker was instrumental in the expansion of RSNA's annual meeting and served on the committee to oversee its transfer from the Palmer House Hotel to McCormick Place, Chicago. Dr Baker earned the RSNA Gold Medal in 1982.

His expertise in neuroradiology led to numerous committee appointments and other positions with the American Society of Neuroradiology, which Dr Baker served as president from 1974 to 1975 and from which he received the gold medal in 2000. He played an important role in convincing the American Board of Radiology to award a Certificate of Added Qualification in Neuroradiology.

Dr Baker, who retired in 1989, received numerous honors including a designation as Mayo Foundation Distinguished Alumnus.

For his contribution to scientific advancement and dedication to radiology and neuroradiology, RSNA is honored to dedicate the 2009 RSNA Meeting Program to the memory of Hillier L. Baker.

 Henry P. Pendergrass, MD, MPH

Henry P. Pendergrass, MD, MPH

An influential leader in shaping RSNA history, Dr Pendergrass was a founding trustee of the Research & Education Fund (now the Research & Education Foundation).

Dr Pendergrass died Sept. 21, 2008. He was 83.

2009 RSNA President Gary J. Becker, MD, noted a 1998 interview in which Dr Pendergrass, asked to remark on future directions for RSNA and to offer advice, replied: "Don't let success go to your head. Don't try to be all things to all people. Concentrate on what you do well, which is to put on an annual scientific program, which is superb ..."

"It is fitting that we are here, dedicating this year's annual meeting program to Dr Pendergrass," said Dr Becker.

The son of renowned radiologist and 1954 RSNA President Eugene P. Pendergrass, MD, Henry Pendergrass was poised to enter medicine from a very early age. He grew up surrounded by his father's colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his MD in 1952.

In a 1998 interview with RSNA, Dr Pendergrass recalled the influence his father's career had on his own life choices. "I'm sure my father influenced me to go into medicine," he said. "I was thinking of going into law, but knowing all of these wonderful faculty members from the University of Pennsylvania was a key element in my decision to go into radiology."

Dr Pendergrass joined the staff of the University of Pennsylvania in 1953, leaving in 1958 to join the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and the faculty of Harvard Medical School, both in Boston. He earned a master's degree from the Harvard School of Public Health and served a fellowship at Queen Square Neurological Institute in London.

Known especially for his commitment to academic radiology, Dr Pendergrass served from 1976 to 1995 as a professor and vice-chair of the Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. After becoming professor emeritus, Dr Pendergrass became adjunct professor of radiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine for several years until the late 1990s. He retired in Gladwyne, Pa.

Dr Pendergrass' expertise in pulmonary diagnosis, particularly in occupational lung disease in miners and other workers exposed to toxic materials, led to international recognition.

Dr Pendergrass joined RSNA in 1956, the year he presented his first paper at an RSNA annual meeting. He served on the Scientific Exhibits Committee from 1957 to 1961 and the Refresher Course Committee from 1961 to 1966 and chaired the Scientific Exhibits Committee in 1966. Dr Pendergrass represented RSNA from 1987 to 1997 in the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates and from 1977 to 1981 on the American College of Radiology (ACR) Board of Chancellors. The decision to move RSNA's annual meeting from the Palmer House Hotel to McCormick Place, Chicago, was made during Dr Pendergrass' tenure on the RSNA Board of Directors from 1972 to 1978.

Dr Pendergrass was involved in many medical, educational, and research programs and published articles in numerous peer-reviewed journals including Radiology and The New England Journal of Medicine.

Along with receiving the RSNA Gold Medal in 1984, Dr Pendergrass earned the ACR gold medal in 1982 and AMA's Distinguished Service Award in 1994. RSNA's New Horizons Lecture is named in honor of his father.

Ensuring the younger Dr Pendergrass' legacy, Vanderbilt University created the Carol D. and Henry P. Pendergrass Chair in Radiology, endowed in 1992 by the Pendergrass family as a tribute to the achievements of Dr Pendergrass and his first wife.

For his valuable contributions to radiology and staunch commitment to education, RSNA is honored to dedicate the 2009 RSNA Meeting Program to the memory of Henry P. Pendergrass.