Kent State University’s College of Podiatric Medicine has partnered with Extremity Imaging Partners Inc. to open and operate a podiatric-specific MRI center within the college’s Cleveland Foot and Ankle Clinic. The MRI center is expected to open at the end of March and will be available for the community’s patient-referral use, as well as research and educational purposes by the College of Podiatric Medicine.
Bryan Caldwell, DPM, interim dean of Kent State’s College of Podiatric Medicine, says the center will have many educational benefits to students.
“The center is within the clinic, so they will have access to MRIs to review, study and also be able to see an actual MRI unit working in the clinic setting,” says Caldwell. “They will have that exposure in their everyday clinical rotation.”
Caldwell says the center will not only benefit students , but also provide collaborative research benefits to faculty members. He says the College of Podiatric Medicine is exploring methods for improving imaging of foot and ankle ligaments with a low-field magnet MRI unit and potential research for biomechanics.
Caldwell says the MRI center will fill a currently unoccupied area of the clinic.
“We wanted to partner with a company that would be educational for our students, beneficial to our faculty’s research endeavors and offer convenience to supplement our foot and ankle trauma program,” Caldwell says. “It was a good fit all around.”
For more information about Kent State’s College of Podiatric Medicine, visit www.kent.edu/cpm.