Lawrence W. Bassett, MD, FACR Awarded the ACR Gold Medal
07/01/2011
Each year the American College of Radiology (ACR) Board of Chancellors awards the College's highest honor, the ACR Gold Medal, to candidates chosen for their distinguished and extraordinary service to the ACR or to the field of radiology. UCLA Radiological Sciences is pleased to announce that Dr. Lawrence W. Bassett was selected as one of the three 2011 ACR Gold Medalists nationally.
"I'm very proud to be recognized by my peers for my contributions to breast imaging and radiology," Dr. Bassett said. "Receiving this award is an incredible honor for a radiologist."
Dr. Bassett is the Iris Cantor Professor of Breast Imaging and the director of the Breast Imaging at UCLA. He has dedicated most of his academic career to breast imaging research focused on improving the quality of patient care. This research has included participating in developing a new and advanced reporting system (the ACR Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System [ACR BI-RADS]), which is now used internationally and is now a model for other subspecialties in radiology. He also was the Chair for the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), Office of the Forum: Clinical Practice Guideline Panel on Quality Determinants for Mammography 1992-1994. This publication established national guidelines for appropriate management of patients referred for breast screening or breast problems for referring physicians and radiologists.
Dr. Bassett has also focused his research on improving breast imaging technologies, including the transition from Screen-Film to Digital Mammography (the UCLA Breast Imaging Section was the first totally digital mammography program in California), high resolution breast ultrasound, and breast MRI. A new research project evaluates the use of Digital Mammography Tomosynthesis, which presents conventional mammograms in numerous thin sections (like a CT exam) to address the problem of overlying breast tissue that can hide an underlying breast cancer.
Dr. Bassett is active in training fellows, residents, and medical students. As the director of UCLA Breast Imaging fellowship program, Dr. Bassett addressed the national shortage of breast imaging specialists by training breast imaging fellows using a year-to-year grant from Avon Foundation. UCLA Breast Imaging Fellowship program has been recognized as the first in the United States.
Dr. Bassett received his medical degree from UC Irvine in 1968 followed by one year internship in Northwestern University Hospitals & Clinics in Chicago. From 1969 to 1970, Dr. Bassett served as a captain and battalion surgeon for the United States Marines in Vietnam. From 1970 to 1971, he was a lieutenant and chief medical officer for the United States Navy in Oakland, California. Dr. Bassett came to UCLA as a resident in 1971 and has been staying here ever since.
Dr. Bassett is one of the three UCLA Diagnostic Radiologists that have received an ACR Gold Medal. The other two Gold Medalists are Leo G. Rigler, MD (1961) and Andrew H. Dowdy, MD (1970).
