Peter J. Basser, PhD, Director
The new Program on Pediatric Imaging and Tissue Sciences (PPITS) was created in January 2010, in part, to address critical, unmet needs in Pediatric Radiology and to provide a stronger scientific foundation supporting it. This unique Program sponsors a broad range of basic, applied, and translationally oriented research activities aimed at improving assessment of normal development and screening, diagnosis, or prognosis of diseases, disorders, or disabilities common in the pediatric population. To this end, PPITS scientists invent, develop, and apply non-invasive imaging methods and modalities and quantitative imaging biomarkers that can sensitively and selectively identify key features of target tissues or organs. An essential and unique feature of this Program is that, to achieve these translational goals, PPITS supports and performs a broad range of basic and applied research in areas such as tissue sciences, which aim to identify and characterize potentially salient quantitative imaging biomarkers, as well as in physics and imaging sciences required to provide a conceptual framework for their measurement.