WLAD THEODORE SOBOL
Occupation: Medical physicist specializing in diagnostic radiological physics with a special interest in MRI
Born: June 27, 1949 in Katowice, Poland.
Education:
Ph.D Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland 6/1/1978
M.S. Silesian University, Katowice, Poland 6/1/1972
Certifications:
1993 American Board of Radiology: Diagnostic Radiological Physics
1998 American Board of Medical Physics: Magnetic resonance Imaging Physics
Career:
Wlad T. Sobol was born on June 27, 1949 in the industrial city of Katowice in southern Poland. His mother died early when he was four, and he was raised by his father, a lawyer, and a stepmother, who was a professional musician playing a viola in the local Symphonic Orchestra. After receiving a Baccalaureate in 1967 and passing an entrance exam Wlad started studying physics at the local Silesian University. He finished Magna Cum Laude with a Master’s Degree in 1972. As a valedictorian of his class, he was offered a tenure track teaching position in the Department of Molecular Physics at his Alma Mater. While teaching full time with 300 contact hours per year, he was given eight years to complete a doctorate, essentially in his spare time. Wlad’s project was to study the NMR lineshapes of deuterated ammonium ions undergoing rotational tunneling in molecular crystals. He managed to complete his doctoral studies in six years and received his Ph.D. degree from the Jagiellonian University in CracowMagna Cum Laude in 1978. The crowning moment of this hard work came during the diploma award ceremony, where he and his fellow diplomates signed their names in the same registry as Copernicus signed his, AD (in the year of our Lord) 1491.
After graduation, in addition to a freshly minted Diploma, Dr. Sobol received an award from the Minister of Higher Education in Poland for the outstanding quality of his doctoral work and was promoted to an Adjunct (a junior tenure track faculty) at the Silesian University. At that time, he actively started seeking opportunities to further his education by studying abroad. After several years of efforts, Wlad received an offer for a postdoctoral position from Professor M.M. Pintar, who ran an NMR Lab at the Physics Department of the University of Waterloo in Canada. In January of 1983 Wlad left Poland for Canada, in the company of his wife, Barbara, and a young daughter, Ania, who was five years old at that time. During his three years at Mik Pintar’s lab, Wlad worked mostly on NMR relaxation properties of molecular groups tunneling in solids, but also became involved in several ancillary experiments that explored “roads less traveled” by mainstream physicists. One of these projects involved studying relaxation properties of tissue in vitro, investigating the physics of relaxation mechanisms in these complicated materials. As a part of this activity, Wlad was sent to Toronto, to visit Dr. Henkelman’s lab, where a first whole body MRI scanner in Canada had just been installed. At that time, the MRI technology was just emerging; there was a huge demand for people who could work in this field and Dr. Sobol obtained an offer to join the faculty of the Bowman Gray School of Medicine to do MRI research.
In 1986, Dr. Sobol immigrated to the United States and joined the Department of Radiology at Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC as an Assistant Professor. In addition to MRI research, Wlad further integrated himself into the medical environment by focusing on diagnostic radiological physics. Dr. Bob Dixon, the BGSM’s one and only diagnostic radiological physicist, provided the very much appreciated mentoring for a budding medical physicist. In 1991, Dr. Sobol moved to the Department of Radiology at University of Alabama in Birmingham, where he provided clinical MRI physics services while continuing to grow his experience in diagnostic radiological physics by working with Dr. Gary Barnes and Dr. Mike Yester. In 1993, Dr. Sobol passed the boards and became a diplomate of American Board of Radiology in Diagnostic Radiological Physics. He is now a Professor of Radiology at UAB.
Since joining the AAPM in 1986, Dr. Sobol has been very active in the Society. He served in several capacities in the AAPM, mostly in various committees working on MRI quality assurance and performance evaluation, acceptance testing of MRI scanners, and site planning issues for MRI installations. He was instrumental in developing several task group reports on MRI issues. In 1999 he served as a President of the Southeastern Chapter of AAPM and for six years as an Associate Editor of Medical Physics. He serves as a reviewer for Radiology, AJR, AJNR, and occasionally for JMRI and MRM.
Dr. Sobol is board certified by the American Board of Radiology in Diagnostic Radiological Physics and by the American Board of Medical Physics in Magnetic Resonance Imaging Physics. He also chaired an MRI Examination Panel of the ABMP that developed the MRI Examination for the Board. Dr. Sobol has published over 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals and received several awards for outstanding scientific quality of his publications. He also developed 10 continuing education and refresher courses that he taught in several countries, including the USA, Chile, Brazil, and Poland. During the years of service as a medical physicist at a major medical teaching institution, Dr. Sobol has also been very actively involved in education, helping radiology residents and fellows master the mysteries of MRI physics. For the past nine years, he has been a Director of Clinical Medical Physics (Imaging) Residency Program at the Radiology Department of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Health System, recruiting, supervising, and mentoring a dozen fellows who have chosen to pursue a career in diagnostic radiological physics.
Publications [Up to 15]:
Sobol WT. MR contrast agents: physical basis of relaxation. Neuroimaging Clinics of North America 1994; 4:27-42.
Sobol WT. Artifacts in Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Applied Radiology 1994; 23:11-16.
Sobol WT, Gauntt DM. On the stationary states in gradient echo imaging. JMRI 1996; 6: 384-398.
Sobol WT, Wu X. Parametrization of Mammography Dose Tables. Med Phys 1997; 24: 547-554.
Kenney PJ, Sobol WT, Smith JK, Morgan DE. Computed Model of Gadolinium Enhanced MRI of Breast Disease. European Journal of Radiology 1997; 24: 109-119.
Sobol WT, Gauntt DM. Stationary States in Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Bull Magn Reson 1997; 18: 193-203
El Gammal T, Sobol WT, Wadlington VR, Dillers MJ, Crews C, Fisher WS, Lee JY. Cerebrospinal Fluid Fistula Detected by Magnetic Resonance Cisternography. AJNR 1998; 19: 627-631.
de Almeida A, Sobol WT, Barnes GT. Characterization of the Reciprocity Law Failure in Three Mammography Screen-Film Systems. Med Phys 1999; 26: 682-688
Sobol WT. MRI Physics of the ACR MRAP Tests. Accreditation Programs and the Medical Physicist - 2001 Annual AAPM Summer School, Seattle, Washington, June 24-28. AAPM Monograph #27, pp. 31-53. Medical Physics Publishing, Madison, WI, 2001.
Sobol WT. MRI Physics of the QC Program. Accreditation Programs and the Medical Physicist - 2001 Annual AAPM Summer School, Seattle, Washington, June 24-28. AAPM Monograph #27, pp. 81-100. Medical Physics Publishing, Madison, WI, 2001.
Sobol WT. A Model for Tracking Concentration of Chemical Compounds within a Tank of an Automatic Film Processor. Med Phys 2002; 29: 90-99.
Sobol WT. High Frequency X-Ray Generator Basics. Med Phys 2002; 29: 132-144
Sobol WT, Cure JK. Science to Practice: Can in-Vivo Assessment of Tissue Hemodynamics with Dynamic Contrast-enhanced CT Be Used in the Diagnosis of Tumors and Monitoring of Cancer Therapy Outcomes? Radiology 2004; 232: 631-632.
Sobol WT. Advances in and Specifications for Radiographic X-ray Systems. Specifications, Performance Evaluations, and Quality Assurance of Radiuographic and Fluoroscopic Systems in the Digital Era - 2004 Annual AAPM Summer School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 29- August 1. AAPM Monograph #30, pp. 1-68. Medical Physics Publishing, Madison, WI, 2004.
Awards:
1972 M.Sc. Magna Cum Laude, Silesian University: President’s Award for the highest-ranked student in the Class of 1972.
1978 Ph.D. Magna Cum Laude, Jagiellonian University.
1979 Award of the Polish Minister of Science, Technology and Education for the outstanding quality of the Ph.D. thesis research.
1997 SEAAPM Annual Award for the best scientific paper published in 1996.
1999 ABMP Award for leadership and distinguished service as the Chair of MRI Panel
2000 Radiology Editor’s Recognition Award for reviewing with Distinction
2001 Radiology Editor’s Recognition Award for reviewing with Distinction
2002 SEAAPM Annual Award for the best scientific paper published in 2001
2002 Radiology Editor’s Recognition Award for reviewing with Special Distinction
2003 Radiology Editor’s Recognition Award for reviewing with Distinction
2004 Radiology Editor’s Recognition Award for reviewing with Distinction
American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Activities:
MR Committee TG #6 from 1987 to 1995
Chair, MR Committee TG #1 from 1993 to 1995
Chair, MR Committee from 1994 to 1999
MR Committee TG #1 from 1995 to 2004
Co-Director, 2001 AAPM Summer School from 2001 to 2001
Additional Professional Organization Activities:
Medical Physics Journal - Associate Editor from 1995 to 2001
American Board of Medical Physics - Chair, MRI Examination Panel from 1997 to 1999
SouthEastern Chapter of AAPM - President from 1999 to 2000
American College of Radiology - Member, Phantom Reviewer Group from 1998 to 2002
International Electrotechnical Commision - Member, 62B Group, MR Task Advisory from 1995 to 2003
Avocations and Special Interests:
Outside the busy professional schedule Wlad enjoys woodworking and light construction projects. In his large basement workshop, he builds custom furniture, overhauls and refurbishes major appliances (such as a hot tub). He takes pride in building his own phantoms. He relaxes by remodeling a kitchen or a bathroom, laying a new floor in the bedroom, of solving puzzling wiring problems. But it gives him a special pleasure to drive his new car, a Ford Excursion MPV, dubbed the “big white” by his friends. On long rides to remote locations, the menacing snarl of the big diesel engine announces to the world that a medical physicist is coming…
Wlad is a voracious reader and an avid book collector (he has amassed more than 10,000 books on topics varying from professional books including computer literature to good fiction). He also enjoys working with computers, especially digital drawing and photography.
Family:
Wlad enjoys the company of Barbara, his wife of 30 years, and is mightily proud of his only daughter, Anna, who recently graduated from medical school.