POCUS World Conference: Keynote Spotlight

About Our Guest Fouad Al Noor is the Co-Founder and CEO of ThinkSono, an ultrasound AI company. Fouad has a Master of Engineering in Electronic Engineering with Nanotechnology from the University of Southampton, where he wrote his thesis on paper-based medical diagnostics using image processing. Prior to ThinkSono, Fouad worked as a medical Software Engineer at SAP in California, and as a Research Assistant at Imperial College London.

About Our Guest Dr. Pei-Chun McGregor, MD, FACC (she/her) is currently the Director of Ambulatory Cardiology and Stress Laboratory at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force Reserves. She is a board-certified general cardiologist with a focus on adult echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, and vascular imaging. Dr. McGregor is a graduate of New York University School of Medicine. As a recipient of the Health Professions Scholarship, she went on to complete her internal medicine residency and cardiovascular fellowship at San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Consortium. She served in the United States Air Force for over 11 years and continues her service as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserves to date. Throughout her academic career, Dr. McGregor has demonstrated dedication to medical education as a regular lecturer to trainees and has had a significant contribution to the literature on topics in echocardiography. She has also been featured online by both OncLive and PracticeUpdate. She is an active member of the American College of Cardiology, American Society of Echocardiography, American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonography and Society of Vascular Ultrasound. Recently, she was chosen to be part of the first ever I.D.E.A. Group at Inteleos.

About Our Guest Dr. James Wilcox is originally from Indiana. He earned his MD from Indiana University in 2014, and completed his Family Medicine Residency at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital in 2017. He then completed his Sports Medicine Fellowship at Western Michigan University in 2018. He first served in the rural community of Austin, Indiana, practicing the breadth of family medicine: inpatient, outpatient primary care, emergency medicine, sports medicine, and substance use treatment. He recently relocated to Indianapolis in 2020, and he is now working at Eskenazi Health in outpatient primary care. In 2021, he accepted a grant-funded position at Indiana University School of Medicine teaching Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) and coordinating POCUS integration into the 4-year curriculum as the HRSA PRIME POCUS Thread Director, and Indiana University School of Medicine Assistant POCUS Director. His clinical interests include sports medicine, point-of-care ultrasound, hepatitis treatment, and substance use disorder management.

About Our Guest William Cherniak, MD, is an Emergency physician with training in family medicine and global public health. He is a cofounder and board chair of Bridge to Health Medical and Dental Canada & USA and the founder and CEO of Rocket Doctor Inc. Bill has had research published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, Academic Medicine, PLOS ONE and given numerous speeches in Europe and North America on global health and development. Bill completed his medical school at the University of Calgary and residency at the University of Toronto. He completed a cancer fellowship at the U.S. Federal Government’s Center for Global Health in the National Cancer Institute/National Institutes of Health as well as a Master in Public Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with a concentration in health in crisis and humanitarian assistance, while a Sommer Scholar with a full-scholarship. He is an Adjunct Professor with Northwestern University, Associate Faculty at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine, Division of Emergency Medicine.

About Our Guest  Dr. Alan Tai received his PhD in physics, specializing in quantum well research, from Boston College. Alan has worked at various medical ultrasound technology companies, including Philips as an engineer and GE Healthcare as a scientist. He has managed new medical ultrasound transducer products from development conception to successful commercial release. During his career in the engineering field, Alan has twelve issued patents. Alan is currently a Scientist and author at scienceandlife.org with research in DNA, Ultrasound and Quantum well structure of nanoelectronics.

About Our Guest  David Zajc, RDMS, RVT, MBA, is the Senior Clinical Specialist at Longeviti Neuro Solutions with responsibilities in business development and Transcranioplasty ultrasound imaging. Prior to this, he worked in point of care ultrasound at GE, also in process improvement and as a quality consultant in hospitals. He also has a long tenure with various roles in a hospital ultrasound department.

About Our Guest Larry Istrail, MD, is a hospitalist physician, entrepreneur, and author of The POCUS Manifesto. He has been covered by NPR and the Washington Post for various medical startups he has founded. He is the creator of the online POCUS educational site POCUSMedEd.com, and is certified in point-of-care ultrasound by the Society of Hospital Medicine and the American College of CHEST Physicians.

About Our Guest Kate Deiling has been the Ultrasound Instructor at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford, NJ, since the inception of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in the pre-clerkship medical curriculum in 2019. As part of the school’s simulation center, she teaches first and second-year medical students all modules of POCUS that include online education, a manikin-based high-fidelity simulator, and live hands-on training sessions utilizing 10 ultrasound machines. Together, these sessions help to facilitate the learning and development of essential psychomotor and cognitive skills for ultrasound probe handling, image interpretation, diagnoses, and clinical decision-making. In addition, a 2-week comprehensive POCUS elective is offered to fourth-year students with POCUS sessions for residents and faculty being developed. Kate graduated from Thomas Jefferson University and has been practicing ultrasound for over 30 years in various capacities. Most recently, she worked extensively as a staff sonographer and was designated as the ultrasound education coordinator for a large multi-office radiology center. Early in her career, Kate worked exclusively in pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and then moved on to a position as a clinical consultant for a major manufacturer. Following her work as an applications specialist, she went to work in perinatology at several antenatal testing units in both academic institutions and private settings. Her husband is also a graduate ultrasonographer from Thomas Jefferson University. For many years, Kate and her husband operated as independent contractors providing ultrasound services to radiology centers and several private offices. They have 3 adult children, including their oldest, who is a physician specializing in regional anesthesia at the University of Virginia and uses POCUS daily. Kate very much enjoys outdoor activities and traveling with family and friends, especially to US National Parks.

About Our Guest As a Family Nurse Practitioner and the President and CEO of St. Mary’s Health Wagon, Dr. Teresa Tyson leads a medical nonprofit in Central Appalachia. St. Mary’s Health Wagon exists as the region’s only safety net health care clinic for far southwest Virginia. Tyson leads her clinic in promoting the mission of providing quality, affordable, accessible care to all with an emphasis on serving the medically underserved. St. Mary’s Health Wagon is a free nurse managed health clinic consisting of three stationary and two mobile clinics, serving Lee, Scott, Wise, Dickenson, Buchanan and Russell Counties. St. Mary’s Health Wagon is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, mobile clinic in the United States, serving patients since 1980. In an effort to expand access to primary and specialty health care services, Tyson is currently overseeing the construction of a stationary dental clinic in Wise County. Tyson’s leadership in the healthcare sector has garnered notable recognition including interviews from media that include: 60 Minutes, Nightline, CBS Nightly News, Inside Edition, Washington Post, New York Times along with other extensive media attention, including international press, regarding her efforts to provide access to health care to the poor and marginalized in the Appalachian region. Tyson has presented at the United Nations and the World Health Organization numerous times. Tyson is at the forefront of healthcare innovation. Tyson introduced the first monoclonal antibody infusions and post-COVID clinics to Central Appalachia. This past year, Dr. Tyson initiated a medication-assisted treatment program, addressing the opioid epidemic with an evidence-based integrated treatment model using injectable diversion free medications. Tyson is most proud of the Health Wagon’s renamed annual health outreach, Move Mountains Medical Mission (M7). Following nineteen years of collaboration, Tyson continues to host this event, which she co-founded with Stan Brock of Remote Area Medical (RAM) and Sr. Bernadette Kenny in 1999. Dr. Tyson is a preceptor to medical, nursing and business students from forty-three colleges and universities. In 2015, Tyson was an instrumental partner in the first ever FAA approved drone delivery of medications in the United States, in partnership with Flirtey, NASA Langley and others. The historic drone has been inducted into the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Tyson is a strong business development professional and is skilled in nonprofit organization management, budgeting, fiscal management, fundraising, capital projects management, communications strategy, strategic planning, project management, grants management, event planning, social media, public speaking, marketing, and healthcare policy. Tyson serves on many healthcare boards, advisory councils, and coalitions. Tyson also serves as a guest speaker on topics such as healthcare access, healthcare disparities, vulnerable populations, mobile health, Department of Defense’s Innovative Readiness Training health expeditions, nurse managed clinics and a variety of other issues. Tyson is the co-founder of Forever Young Aesthetics and Weight Loss Management in Norton, Virginia. Tyson’s medical clinic brought platelet rich plasma therapy – a natural treatment for injured joints – to the area. Tyson is also co-founder of Hettie’s Haven – a specialized residential home designed to assist individuals with intellectual disabilities in Coeburn, Virginia. Tyson is married to Tim Tyson. They are blessed with a family of five wonderful children: two boys and three girls.

Troels Mengel-Jørgensen, GP, is a General Practitioner in Vodskov, Denmark. Presently, he serves as the Chairman of the Danish Society for Ultrasound in General Practice (DAUS), a board member of the Danish College of General Practice (DSAM). Troels is also associated with the Center for General Practice at Aalborg University (CAMAAU) in Aalborg, Denmark.