Ralph Mason, Ph.D., Professor of Radiology and a member of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been elected as a Senior Fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), a global scientific association with a multidisciplinary membership of over 8,000 clinicians, physicists, engineers, biochemists, and technologists.

Dr. Mason was chosen for his pioneering work in the development of magnetic resonance (MR) methods to assess tissue oxygenation in cancer. His selection was formally announced at the ISMRM’s June annual meeting in Toronto.

“I feel greatly honored,” Dr. Mason said. “Recognition by one’s peers and leaders in the field provides an extraordinary affirmation of the value of many years of investigations.”

Dr. Mason has been developing methods to examine tissue oxygenation since joining UT Southwestern more than 30 years ago.

“It is widely recognized that tumors lacking oxygen are both more aggressive and resistant to many therapies, particularly radiation therapy,” he said.

Dr. Mason’s early focus was on the development of reporter molecules, which could give insights into tumor oxygenation, as potential predictors of radiation response. Those studies led to the development of a robust method for noninvasively measuring tumor oxygenation based on the relaxation properties of a reporter molecule. Eventually his team developed noninvasive techniques using proton MRI to examine tissue oxygenation and oxygen dynamics in response to treatment.

“We have shown that such methods allow one to predict the radiation responsiveness of tumors to high-dose radiation,” he said.

His team has demonstrated the feasibility of the noninvasive measurement methods in human volunteer patients with prostate, breast, cervix, lung, and brain tumors. Predicting radiation response could help physicians determine when more aggressive therapy would overcome therapeutic resistance or when a reduced radiation dose – and thus reduced side effects – could produce the desired response. (See Oxygen-sensitive MRI could help personalize cancer radiation therapy.)

Dr. Mason’s research has received support from the National Institutes of Health, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, The Whitaker Foundation, the Mary Kay Ash Foundation, and Susan G. Komen, among others.

Previous UTSW faculty who have been honored as ISMRM Fellows include the late Ray Nunnally, Ph.D., former Director of UTSW’s Biomedical Magnetic Resonance Center, in 1989; Robert Lenkinski, Ph.D., former Professor of Radiology, in 1998; Craig Malloy, M.D., Professor of Internal Medicine, Radiology, and in the Advanced Imaging Research Center, in 2006; Neil M. Rofsky, M.D., former Chair and Professor of Radiology, in 2007; and A. Dean Sherry, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus in the Advanced Imaging Research Center, in 2011.