Dr. Robert Quencer Receives Gold Medal for Career Contributions to Spine Imaging

Robert M. Quencer, M.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiology, has received the Gold Medal from the American Society of Spine Radiology. The Gold Medal — the ASSR’s highest award — is given to an individual who has made major contributions to the science of spine imaging, to spine imaging research, to the society itself and to education in radiology. The medal was presented to Dr. Quencer at the ASSR’s recent 2019 Annual Symposium, which was held in Miami.

Robert M. Quencer, M.D.

“I was proud to be recognized by my colleagues from across the country and around the world,” he said.

Following the presentation of the medal, Dr. Quencer, who is also Professor of Neurological Surgery and Ophthalmology, was asked to give a presentation discussing his past and current contributions to the field of spine imaging.

“In the mid-1960s, the NIH sought to develop the subspecialty of neuroradiology by funding fellowship positions,” Dr. Quencer told the audience. “Many of us from those days were fortunate enough to have been part of this early wave of government-funded fellowships. Looking back at those days through today’s lens, how primitive imaging then seems, although we were, in our minds, on the absolute cutting edge of technology.

“As more advanced imaging merges with personalized medicine and the genetics of central nervous system abnormalities, what we are doing now will seem elementary — or even unnecessary — to future generations of radiologists and clinicians. As we all know everything looks good in its time.”

Dr. Quencer earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in biochemistry from Cornell University, and his M.D. from Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, N.Y. He was an intern in Internal Medicine at Jackson Memorial Medical Center, a resident in Radiology at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, and a fellow in Neuroradiology at Columbia-Presbyterian’s Neurological Institute of New York.

He joined the University of Miami faculty in 1976 as Associate Professor and was promoted to Professor in 1980.

In addition to having 40 years of clinical experience, Dr. Quencer has published more than 200 per-reviewed papers and book chapters in many areas of neuroimaging and has authored two books on neuroradiology. He served as President of the American Society of Neuroradiology in 1994 and was Editor in Chief of the American Journal of Neuroradiology from 1998 to 2005. Dr. Quencer was elected a fellow of the American College of Radiology in 1994 and was the recipient of two prior gold medals — one from the American Society of Neuroradiology in 2007 and the Florida Radiology Society in 2008.

Tags: American Society of Spine Radiology, Robert Quencer, spine imaging