Frederick S. Keller, M.D., professor of interventional radiology and director of the Dotter Institute at Oregon Health & Science University, has recently received multiple honors recognizing his long-time national and international leadership in interventional radiology.
Keller, also chairman of the Department of Diagnostic Radiology in the OHSU School of Medicine, became the only practicing physician at OHSU to have an endowed chair established in his name after the Cook Group Inc. donated $2.5 million to create the Frederick S. Keller Chair of Interventional Radiology Endowment Fund.
The donation, made by the Bloomington, Ind., company in August, honors Keller's "outstanding contributions and service to Oregon Health & Science University, to the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, to the discipline of interventional radiology and to society ...," according to the fund agreement.
The endowment will be used to support a chair in interventional radiology for an outstanding clinical interventional radiologist of national and international stature within the Dotter Institute.
"This was extremely generous of the Cook Group and Mr. Bill Cook, its founder, with whom we've had an incredible relationship, and who has been a friend and supporter of the Dotter Institute over many years," Keller said of the endowment. "In the future, it'll be used to help maintain the Dotter Institute at the forefront of minimally invasive image guided therapies. It will also be useful in recruiting new outstanding interventional radiologists to the institute."
John A. Kaufman, M.D., professor of interventional radiology, OHSU School of Medicine, and chief of vascular and interventional radiology at the Dotter Institute, was chosen as the first Frederick S. Keller Professor of Interventional Radiology in September.
Keller also is only the second American to be named a distinguished fellow at the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE). The honor, which he received at the organization's annual meeting Sept. 10 in Nice, France, is given each year to individuals who have shown leadership in the field of interventional radiology, built bridges between interventional radiologists worldwide, and fostered the advancement of world-class interventional radiology technology, education and patient care programs.
"To be named a distinguished fellow by the European society is truly an honor," Keller said. He noted that he has always worked to maintain close ties between the CIRSE and the Society of Interventional Radiology in the U.S., assuring that high standards of interventional practice are adopted by physicians worldwide.
"Many medical devices used in interventional radiology are developed in the U.S., but clinical trials on these devices are often first conducted in Europe, so the sharing of information is paramount," Keller said, adding that interventional radiologists from other countries have become members, and sometimes fellows, in the American Society of Interventional Radiology.
Keller's endowed chair and the distinguished fellowship honors reflect OHSU's leadership not only in where interventional radiology has been, but also where it's going. The Dotter Institute has helped the field come a long way from the world's first percutaneous transluminal angioplasty procedure performed at OHSU in 1964 by medical pioneer and the institute's namesake, Charles Dotter, M.D.
Presently, the Dotter Institute performs all types of image-guided, minimally invasive therapy. The institute is looking to augment OHSU's oncologic interventional radiology program, which includes treatment of tumors with radiofrequency ablation and chemoembolization, in the near future. The institute also is working to perfect a bioprosthetic bicuspid venous valve its scientists have been developing with the help of the Cook Group.
"Clinically, that's where we're going, but we continue to conduct a great deal of device-related research and provide the best medical education in the field of interventional radiology," Keller said.
Keller has been chairman of the department of diagnostic radiology at OHSU since 1992 and the Dotter Institute's director since 1993. He has been active in the clinical and academic aspects of interventional radiology at OHSU and is the Cook Professor of Interventional Therapy. In April 2005, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Society of Interventional Radiology.
Keller graduated from Swarthmore College in 1964 and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968. He completed an internship at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in 1969 and a diagnostic radiology residency at OHSU in 1977.