Victor Perez-Mendez
Victor Perez-Mendez was a prominent physicist whose contributions to medical imaging have had a lasting impact on the field. Born in Guatemala and raised in England and Israel, he pursued higher education in physics, earning his doctorate from Columbia University in 1951. Perez-Mendez began his career at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, where he initially focused on nuclear physics before transitioning to medical physics. His groundbreaking work included advancements in computer tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound technologies, which have revolutionized diagnostic procedures in medicine.
Notably, he developed a digital radiology technique for dental imaging that significantly reduced radiation exposure while enhancing image quality and storage capabilities. This innovation gained popularity in dental practices and laid the groundwork for further advancements in medical imaging technology. Throughout his career, Perez-Mendez authored over three hundred scientific articles, held multiple patents, and was active in professional organizations. He passed away at the age of eighty-two in California, leaving behind a legacy of improved patient care through the integration of physics in medical diagnostics.
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Victor Perez-Mendez
Guatemalan-born scientist and inventor
- Born: August 8, 1923
- Birthplace: Guatemala City, Guatemala
- Died: November 1, 2005
- Place of death: Oakland, California
Perez-Mendez was a medical physicist who created equipment for improving medical diagnostic procedures. His work with digital dental radiography was among the first to allow dentists to switch from conventional X-rays to digital images.
Early Life
Although Victor Perez-Mendez (PEH-rehs MEHN-dehs) was born in Guatemala, his family moved to Manchester, England, when he was eight years old. The family later relocated to Jerusalem, Israel, the birthplace of his parents. There Perez-Mendez earned his bachelor’s degree from St. George’s Academy and a master’s degree from Hebrew University. Perez-Mendez moved to the United States in order to study physics at Columbia University in New York City. After receiving his doctorate degree in 1951, Perez-Mendez remained at the university to complete a two-year postdoctoral fellowship.
Life’s Work
Upon completion of his education, Perez-Mendez accepted a position at the University of California as an investigator in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (1953-1955). Perez-Mendez transferred to the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) in 1955, where he would stay for the remainder of his career (1955-1995).
Initially, Perez-Mendez was employed solely in the physics, computer science, and mathematics division of the University of California. During this time his work focused on nuclear physics. He studied particle detectors, which are devices used to detect high-energy particles such as those from nuclear reactions. However, Perez-Mendez changed career paths to focus on medical physics, which is the application of physics to medical imaging, after he received an additional appointment in the Radiology Department of the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). He researched how physics played an important role in new medical diagnostic procedures, including computer tomography (CT) scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasounds. Perez-Mendez described the initial physical techniques of CT imaging and continually published updated research articles on methods to improve the nascent imaging tool, heavily relying on emerging computer hardware and mathematical programs becoming available. He additionally developed an imaging modality to view the thyroid after patients were given nuclear medicine.
Perez-Mendez’s noteworthy accomplishment in the latter part of his career occurred when he developed a digital radiology technique to obtain dental images. These digital images provided much less radiation exposure than a typical dental X ray. The technology that Perez-Mendez, colleague John Drewery, and student Tao Jing marketed with the company Air Techniques, Inc., differed from competitors because the light-emitting material allowed greater X-ray sensitivity and resolution. Because the new technique required one-tenth of the radiation dose, provided dentists with larger images than traditional X-ray films to visualize teeth, and allowed storage of the films on the computer rather than in offices, this digital invention quickly gained popularity.
After forty years of service, Mendez-Perez retired from laboratory work in 1995. During his career Perez-Mendez wrote more than three hundred scientific journal articles and edited two books. He was awarded a patent for the creation of a magnetostrictive readout for wire spark chambers (1967). This technology determined the position of a wire carrying a current from a spark. He also obtained patents for creating an amorphous silicon radiation detector (1992) and for creating a method and apparatus that improved the spatial resolution of particle detectors (1992); both of these inventions were necessary for the creation of digital dental images.
Perez-Mendez was a member of the American Physical Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. He was married to his wife, Gladys Cobert, for fifty-six years. The couple had one son, David. Perez-Mendez died at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland, California, at the age of eighty-two.
Significance
Even though the field of medical physics is continually evolving, the basic science behind all of Perez-Mendez’s patented work continues to serve as the foundation for current technology. The digital radiology techniques that Perez-Mendez and his laboratory team created have now evolved beyond dentistry to assist with many other diagnostic procedures, including digital mammography and cardiology. The development has also allowed previous images to be easily compared to current examination studies, thereby improving patient care.
Bibliography
Drewery, J. S., et al. “Improvements to Amorphous Silicon Radiation Detectors by Doping Profile Changes.” Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference 1 (October, 1992): 76-78. Scientific article describing Perez-Mendez’s original work on the technology and how it was continually adapted in order to improve performance.
Hollins, Martin. Medical Physics. 2d ed. Cheltenham, England: Nelson Thornes, 2001. Textbook explaining the basic scientific principles behind the field of medical physics necessary for understanding Perez-Mendez’s complicated work.
Mills, Joshua. “Information Technology: Say Ah! A Dental Tool with a Widening Future.” The New York Times, April 17, 1995. Article describing the initial development of digital dental technology and its potential applications.
Moore, W. S. “Dental Digital Radiology.” Texas Dental Journal 119, no. 5 (May, 2002): 404-412. Review of the benefits and limitations of digital versus conventional dental radiology and how Perez-Mendez’s work has allowed advancement in the industry.
Zuley, M. L. “The Basics and Implementation of Digital Mammography.” Radiologic Clinics of North America 48, no. 5 (September, 2010): 893-901. Summary of the advances in mammography and the current technology available for digital mammography, a future goal of Perez-Mendez’s initial digital work.