Father-Son Duo Works Side-by-Side as Chest Radiologists

Image Gallery You can find the father-son duo of Drs. Wallace Miller, Sr. and Jr. working side-by-side as Chest Radiologists at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Miller, Jr. says, "Occasionally, my dad and I will disagree slightly on the interpretation of an exam. Everyone thinks that's hilarious, a family spat. But in reality, that's the way life is - people who come from similar backgrounds can ultimately have different opinions."   Click image to view fullsize   Image 1 of 1

Newswise — For nearly a half a century, Wallace Miller, Sr., MD has been scrutinizing images in the dark at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) - and for the last 20 years, his son, Wallace Miller, Jr., MD, has been right by his side. Together, as chest radiologists in the Thoracic Imaging Division at Penn, this father-son duo has read close to one and a half million chest X-ray exams over the years!

HOW THE TIMES HAVE CHANGED…
Miller, Sr. - who joined Penn back in 1957 - says chest films used to be a lot of work, that is, until the computer came along. “Radiologists used to have to read films on a roloscope. It could take hours to develop the film, then several more hours to match it up with the old film to read it. Then, you’d dictate your report, in order to communicate with the physicians, which could take days to actually get typed up,” Miller, Sr. explains. “Now, in a matter of mere minutes, the film comes up on the computer screen and the old images are automatically pulled up along with the new images. The radiologist can even dictate their report into a voice recognition system and a report will be typed up, sending it into the system where the referring physician has immediate access to it. What used to take days for a report from start to finish can now happen in a matter of mere minutes.”

Miller, Jr., says the biggest advancement in radiology now versus when his father started is the use of cross-sectional imaging like CT, MRI and ultrasound. He explains, “The most challenging cases now are done by cross-sectional imaging. The key to good imaging is speed. Most of the advances in imaging in those modalities basically allow us to take the pictures faster. We now freeze time by limiting motion and get a much higher quality image, making the abnormalities more obvious and easier to diagnose.”

SIDE-BY-SIDE…
Miller, Sr. talks about his son following in his professional footsteps, “It pleases me he’s taken a very similar path to my own - a good clinical radiologist and a good teacher. He’s highly respected. But ultimately, he makes his own decisions.”

Miller, Sr. is scaling back his workload a bit; he’s retired from teaching and works part-time now reading films. He “punches the clock” at HUP bright and early, arriving at 5:45 a.m. to roll up his sleeves in the reading room. It’s a location where father and son still work side-by-side every morning looking over the images of intensive care patients. And they’ve developed a working relationship that works for them. Miller, Sr., explains, “He is my son, but here, he’s another radiologist. I’m proud when he does things well. On the job, I don’t look at him any differently than my other colleagues.”

“My dad was my teacher, the best teacher I’ve ever had. The entire chest section here, nearly all of us, are my dad’s progeny,” Miller, Jr. states. “I learned a tremendous amount of material from my dad. It was a good base upon which I built my own career.”

ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE…
Warren Gefter, MD, Chief, Thoracic Imaging Section at Penn, adds an interesting perspective, “That Wally Miller Jr. holds the Wallace T. Miller, Sr. Endowed Chair of Radiologic Education and has carried on his father’s former role as Director of the Radiology Residency Program represents a very unique father-son professional relationship. Also, I was touched to see that Wally Jr. has dedicated his new textbook to his dad. I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to work with this extraordinary father-son team. They are each outstanding chest radiologists and gifted teachers."

Gefter also adds, on a lighter note, “For me, the biggest difficulty has been the thousands of times over the years I have had to reply ‘Sr. or Jr.?’ when asked over the phone ‘Is Wally there?’ I smile every time I hear Wally Jr. refer to Wally Sr. as ‘Dad’ in the middle of a formal pulmonary conference, or when I overhear Wally Jr. telling one of our residents ‘My dad taught me that.’

Miller, Jr. is the oldest of four children. Miller, Sr. has ten grandchildren.

To learn more about Penn Medicine Radiology, visit: http://www.pennhealth.com/radiology/services/chest

Penn Medicine is a $2.9 billion enterprise dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and high-quality patient care. PENN Medicine consists of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

Penn's School of Medicine is ranked #2 in the nation for receipt of NIH research funds; and ranked #3 in the nation in U.S. News & World Report's most recent ranking of top research-oriented medical schools. Supporting 1,400 fulltime faculty and 700 students, the School of Medicine is recognized worldwide for its superior education and training of the next generation of physician-scientists and leaders of academic medicine.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System includes three hospitals [Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, which is consistently ranked one of the nation's few "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital; and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center]; a faculty practice plan; a primary-care provider network; two multispecialty satellite facilities; and home care and hospice.