New Member Highlight: Gary X. Gong
Meet Gary X. Gong, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Radiology, Program Director, Diagnostic Radiology Residency, new CAPA-CT board member, and a practicing physician at UConn Health.
1\ "Hi Gary, we'd love to hear about your journey. What pivotal moments or experiences led you to join UCONN Health, and what excites you most about being in Connecticut?"
I keep thinking that this is such a good question to reflect upon myself to search for reasons why I give up my position at The Johns Hopkins to come to UConn Health. My very favorable experiences with Connecticut were the foundation that I like CT. After I earned my PhD in Philadelphia, I was fortunate to secure my intern resident position at the then Yale-Norwalk Hospital internal medicine residency program and later on to finish my Diagnostic Radiology residency at the same hospital and Yale New Haven Hospital. Those 5 years in CT were among the most memorable time I had in the US. Roughly 20 years have passed but I can still remember the name of a State Park ranger who gave me a free copy of the CT State map. People are generous and genuinely nicer then. When I was working at Hopkins in Baltimore, I kept telling people there that those CT towns are God's country. If I were to use a song by Ed Sherran as the motivation to seal the pivotal moment that led me to CT, that would sound very naive. But that is true. The song is Perfect.
2\ "Can you tell us about the specific aspects of your research that you're most passionate about? What drives your curiosity and dedication in this field?"
I came to the US as a PhD graduate student, so my research interest then was electrophysiology, specifically cell membrane ion channel pharmaceutical modulations. Since I was a Physician in China, so I pursued the clinical medicine pathway as my career after my PhD. After my residency training, I did not go to private practice but pursued an academic physician practice route. I stayed on as faculty after my neuroradiology fellowship at The Johns Hopkins University Hospital. The complexity of the human brain and ever advancing medical imaging technologies inspired my curiosity to the field of neuroradiology imaging. The desire to serve the patients' needs and the gratification from helping them propelled my dedication to this field. Besides regular clinical work and teaching duties, I have been drawing to AI research in human central nervus system imaging, such as brain tumor diagnosis and prognosis.
3\ "Who or what has influenced your research the most? Have particular theories, researchers, or experiences shaped your approach?"
When I was about to finish my resident training, brain functioning intrigued me the most since we know so little about our brain. For example, we have already known a lot about human brain structure or anatomy but very little about the functional part of the brain. For example, what is memory? Is it a substance stored in our brain cells, or an electricity circuit? These are fundamental questions, yet we do not have an answer. Those unknowns drawn me to my practice and research.
4\ "What are some of the exciting research projects you're currently working on?"
When I was at Hopkins, my research projects were diagnostic spine imaging and therapeutic intervention procedures. One of our projects was using AI technology to transform MRI data into CT imaging. At UConn, my current projects were using AI to identify early Alzheimer disease and normal pressure hydrocephalus. In addition to research and clinical patient care, one of the most gratifying works I am engaging on is being the residency program director. As we know, when a medical student is about to graduate from medical school, he or she will need to decide what kind of specialty doctor s/he wants to be. Once that decision is made, the next step is to go through a formal residency training program. Where to get trained as a resident has a very important role in determining the career trajectory and maybe life path of that medical student. This process has been extremely challenging for the foreign medical graduates. I used to be on the other side of the equation as a foreign medical graduate applicant hoping somewhere somehow, I could be chosen to be trained in their residency program. Now I am the residency program director responsible for choosing the best candidate to go through the resident training at UConn Health, I am extremely lucky to be in this role.
5\ "Beyond academia, what are some of your personal interests or hobbies?"
I am an avid gardener. At least one of the reasons I like Connecticut is because of the beautiful four seasons in which I get the chance of exploring my backyard garden. I like music, being it classic, jazz, or popular. I used to be an audiophile hogging expensive electronic tube amplifiers. Being a radiologist who are trained to detect minute imaging variations, I love photography from old film cameras to nowadays digital imaging.
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Gary’s Short Bio: I am currently an associate professor in radiology and senior faculty physician in interventional and neuroradiology at UConn JDH hospital, also serving as the UConn Health Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program Director. I joined UConn in the fall of 2022 after spending 18 years at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Hospital as neuroradiology faculty physician to the rank of associate professor. I was interim chair of the radiology department of Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital for 3 years. I am also a faculty member of the Johns Hopkins International. Before that I did a 2-year clinical fellowship in Neuroradiology at Johns Hopkins Hospital, proceeded by a diagnostic radiology residency and Internship at Yale-Norwalk Hospital. Before my residency, I earned a PhD from Temple University in Philadelphia, my first stop in the US, in electrophysiology. I was born and raised in Jinan, Shandong Province of China, finished medical school and a master's degree graduate school trainings in China.