Nuclear Medicine

Dr. William Allan Dear Jr., an internist and former head of the division of nuclear medicine at Mercy Medical Center who also was a practicing magician, died July 20 of heart disease at Union Memorial Hospital. The longtime Guilford resident was 80. "He was the father of nuclear medicine at Mercy," said Dr. Louis E. Grenzer, a Baltimore internist and cardiologist who had known Dr. Dear since they both were residents at Mercy. "In the early 1970s, when they were new, he was doing the first echocardiograms and ultrasounds at Mercy.

Dr. Henry N. Wagner Jr., a retired Johns Hopkins nuclear medicine professor who did early research in his field, died of complications from heart disease Tuesday at his Mount Washington home. He was 85. Born in Baltimore and raised on West Fayette Street, he attended St. Martin's School and Calvert Hall Country School. He was a 1944 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School and served in the Coast Guard. He earned a bachelor's degree at the Johns Hopkins University and a medical degree at the Hopkins School of Medicine, with which he was associated for more than 60 years.

Dr. Henry N. Wagner Jr., a retired Johns Hopkins nuclear medicine professor who did early research in his field, died of complications from heart disease Tuesday at his Mount Washington home. He was 85. Born in Baltimore and raised on West Fayette Street, he attended St. Martin's School and Calvert Hall Country School. He was a 1944 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School and served in the Coast Guard. He earned a bachelor's degree at the Johns Hopkins University and a medical degree at the Hopkins School of Medicine, with which he was associated for more than 60 years.

Dr. William Allan Dear Jr., an internist and former head of the division of nuclear medicine at Mercy Medical Center who also was a practicing magician, died July 20 of heart disease at Union Memorial Hospital. The longtime Guilford resident was 80. "He was the father of nuclear medicine at Mercy," said Dr. Louis E. Grenzer, a Baltimore internist and cardiologist who had known Dr. Dear since they both were residents at Mercy. "In the early 1970s, when they were new, he was doing the first echocardiograms and ultrasounds at Mercy.

On Thursday, November 11, 2004, at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, JOSEPH BERKELEY WORKMAN, M.D., 83. He was an Associate Professor of Radiology at Duke University until his retirement in 1986. From 1950 to 1971 he served as Associate Professor of Nuclear Medicine at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore, where he was the Director of the Radioisotope Laboratory and maintained a private practice. The son of Shirley F. Workman and Madge Turley Workman, he was born in Kokomo, IN June 26, 1921.

WESTMINSTER - Carroll County General Hospital has began construction on a three-phase project to improve its nuclear medicine services.Nuclear medicine is an important part of the hospital's Imaging Department, which provides diagnostic testing.In addition to providing more efficient use of space for both new and current diagnostic equipment, the new design separates patients visiting for brief tests from the hospitalized patients requiring nuclear medicine testing.The new access corridors and waiting areas will change traffic patterns through the area.

Leasure named official on judicial advisory board Howard County Circuit Judge Diane O. Leasure has been named vice chairwoman of the Maryland Conference of Circuit Judges. Prince George's County Circuit Court Judge William D. Missouri has been named chairman. The Maryland Conference of Circuit Judges serves as a policy advisory body to the Robert M. Bell, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, and to the Court of Appeals, and other judicial branch agencies in Circuit Court matters. Howard woman to direct Mercy hospital radiology Patricia A. Sheehan of Ellicott City has accepted the position of director of radiology at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore.

BEAUTIFUL Persian cats, two spoiled dogs, a sailboat and each other. ''I guess you could say this is our life,'' says Lillian Davidson, who lives in Perry Hall with her husband, Robert.He caters to the dogs, a dachshund and a Rottweiler, and she owns and shows Persian cats.Sandtraps Snappy Affair is her blue-cream Persian, not yet a year old, who took a second in the blue-cream Persian class at the Chesapeake Cat Show this year. His color is a mottled cream and pale blue-gray.According to breed information, the longhaired Persian cats are called Persians in the United States and Longhairs in England.

Sister Elizabeth McKay, 95, cared for orphaned children Sister Elizabeth Rose McKay, S.S.N.D., who spent many years caring for children in orphanages, died of a heart attack Saturday at Maria Health Center in Baltimore. She was 95 and lived at Villa Assumpta, motherhouse of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in the Woodbrook section of Baltimore County. Sister Elizabeth was born in Dorchester, Mass., and attended high school for two years in Manchester, N.H., before leaving to work as an aide at the Children's Hospital of Manchester.

Nancy Baraloto Heckel was a bright, 40-year-old on a new career path as a nuclear medical technologist last February when she was killed in a murder-suicide in rural Harford County.Now, a year later, her family and fellow members of the class of 1994 at Johns Hopkins Hospital are preparing to award a scholarship in her honor recognizing a 1995 graduate who demonstrates the same qualities that made Mrs. Heckel a prize student."Nancy never lost sight of her patients or her colleagues. She had a sense of humor and it was contagious," said Jay K. Rhine, director of the Nuclear Medicine Technology Program that is jointly sponsored by Essex Community College and the hospital.

A shortage of imported radioactive material widely used to diagnose heart problems and other maladies has had doctors locally and across the country scrambling for alternatives, including some with higher costs and lower quality. The nation's supply of technetium has been low for the past 15 months since its main supplier, a Canadian nuclear reactor, went offline. And while production is now ramping back up, the incident has put a spotlight on the country's dependence on foreign sources of the workhorse isotope.

Dr. Bruce Line, a cancer researcher, professor in the Department of Diagnostic Radiology and director of Nuclear Medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center, died Tuesday of cancer at his home in Cockeysville. He was 59. Dr. Line's most recent work focused on molecular targeted therapy in cancer as part of the American-Russian Cancer Alliance. Dr. Ruben Mezrich, chairman of the Department of Diagnostic Radiology at Maryland, called the research being done by Dr. Line and his colleagues "groundbreaking" in cancer treatment.

Leasure named official on judicial advisory board Howard County Circuit Judge Diane O. Leasure has been named vice chairwoman of the Maryland Conference of Circuit Judges. Prince George's County Circuit Court Judge William D. Missouri has been named chairman. The Maryland Conference of Circuit Judges serves as a policy advisory body to the Robert M. Bell, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, and to the Court of Appeals, and other judicial branch agencies in Circuit Court matters. Howard woman to direct Mercy hospital radiology Patricia A. Sheehan of Ellicott City has accepted the position of director of radiology at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore.

On Thursday, November 11, 2004, at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, JOSEPH BERKELEY WORKMAN, M.D., 83. He was an Associate Professor of Radiology at Duke University until his retirement in 1986. From 1950 to 1971 he served as Associate Professor of Nuclear Medicine at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore, where he was the Director of the Radioisotope Laboratory and maintained a private practice. The son of Shirley F. Workman and Madge Turley Workman, he was born in Kokomo, IN June 26, 1921.

Baltimore's convention business showed strong growth during the first three months of this year, historically a slow period because of winter weather, and partnerships among various city sectors have placed the region in the final running for two major national conventions. But the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association expects a 2 percent drop in visitors and spending between April and June, compared with the similar time last year. BACVA said today that 80,331 people attended conventions in Baltimore between January and March, the third quarter of the city's fiscal year.

Dr. Jeffery A. Williams, associate professor of neurosurgery and oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine who devised a method of treating brain tumors with radiation that spared surrounding tissue, died Saturday of a heart attack while exercising at the hospital's fitness center. He was 50. The Canton resident was one of the world's foremost radiosurgeons and director of stereotactic radiosurgery, a division of the department of neurosurgery at Hopkins that treats tumors with focused radiation.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has notified the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Baltimore of four apparent violations its inspectors discovered, including inadequate security for radioactive materials in the nuclear medicine department.The NRC is scheduled to meet with hospital officials April 30 at the federal regulatory agency's regional offices near Philadelphia to discuss the apparent violations, which were cited in inspections Feb. 26 and 27 and March 13, NRC officials said yesterday.

Dr. Bruce Line, a cancer researcher, professor in the Department of Diagnostic Radiology and director of Nuclear Medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center, died Tuesday of cancer at his home in Cockeysville. He was 59. Dr. Line's most recent work focused on molecular targeted therapy in cancer as part of the American-Russian Cancer Alliance. Dr. Ruben Mezrich, chairman of the Department of Diagnostic Radiology at Maryland, called the research being done by Dr. Line and his colleagues "groundbreaking" in cancer treatment.

Sister Elizabeth McKay, 95, cared for orphaned children Sister Elizabeth Rose McKay, S.S.N.D., who spent many years caring for children in orphanages, died of a heart attack Saturday at Maria Health Center in Baltimore. She was 95 and lived at Villa Assumpta, motherhouse of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in the Woodbrook section of Baltimore County. Sister Elizabeth was born in Dorchester, Mass., and attended high school for two years in Manchester, N.H., before leaving to work as an aide at the Children's Hospital of Manchester.

MAYBE IT would be desirable for the state to take over operation of the Baltimore Convention Center, as Comptroller William Donald Schaefer suggests. But in the end it really does not matter who runs that taxpayer-built facility -- as long as the city lacks adequate hotel capacity to attract major conventions.Nearly two years after Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's Baltimore Development Corp. selected the site farthest from the Convention Center for a new city-subsidized hotel, prospects for additional hotel rooms are uncertain.