Felix M. Gonzalez, MD

Assistant Professor

Dr. Gonzalez is a board-certified radiologist originally from Cuba. He completed his undergraduate degree in advanced chemistry from Kean University in Union, NJ. Subsequently, he obtained his medical degree at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ. Dr. Gonzalez then pursued his radiology residency at University of Maryland Medical Center, where he gained broad expertise in all radiology subspecialties, and was recognized with an award for his dedication to research and teaching of medical students.

Following residency, Dr. Gonzalez further subspecialized in musculoskeletal imaging and intervention at Thomas Jefferson University. While there, he trained under nationally recognized leaders, including Drs. William Morrison and Adam Zoga. He developed a particular interest in sports imaging and injuries, having been involved in diagnosis and treatment of professional athletes, including those in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and Olympics. He also trained in musculoskeletal ultrasound with Dr. Levon Nazarian, a leader in the field. 

Christopher Leatherday, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Leatherday is a postdoctoral fellow working on MR brain imaging with a focus on functional connectivity, chemical exchange saturation transfer, and arterial spin labelling. He earned both his PhD and BSc from Curtin University, in Perth, Western Australia. Prior to joining the department, he worked at Royal Perth Hospital as a diagnostic imaging medical physicist for four years. He is excited about the “opportunity to collaborate with researchers from a diverse range of professional disciplines,” and “hopes to add to the strong research already produced by the MRI lab.” He’s a “keen (but not very good) golfer” looking for playing partners.

Melina Pectasides, MD

Assistant Professor

Dr. Pectasides is a board-certified abdominal radiologist, with medical training in both Europe and USA. Before joining Emory, she  served as assistant professor in Abdominal Radiology at the University of Maryland.  Her clinical interests include diagnostic imaging of the abdomen and pelvis, and image-guided interventions. Building upon her prior experience in cancer translational research, Dr. Pectasides’ current research efforts are focused on MR imaging biomarkers for evaluation of treatment response in abdominal and pelvic malignancies. Dr. Pectasides earned her M.D. from the University of Athens School of Medicine in Athens, Greece. She completed a radiology residency at Attikon University Hospital in Athens, Greece, as well as fellowships in abdominal imaging and Intervention, vascular imaging and interventional radiology, and NRSA T32 research at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital.

Maysam Shahedi, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Shahedi is a postdoctoral fellow in the Quantitative BioImaging Laboratory focused on multimodality imaging with emphasis on quantitative image analysis and image-guided interventions. Dr. Shahedi earned a PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada after earning both a BSc and an MSc in electrical engineering from Isfahan University of Technology in Isfahan, Iran. “The most exciting and rewarding part of my new position is working in an excellent laboratory in a fully equipped imaging research center in collaboration with great scientists and radiologists,” Dr. Shahedi says. “I hope strong collaboration with scientists and radiologists in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences leads to developing innovative and useful techniques and applications that improve patients’ quality of life.”

Sean Edward Strickler, BS RT(R)(MR)

Instructor

Sean is a health educator in the Medical Imaging Program. With eight years of clinical hospital experience in MRI and diagnostic imaging, Sean is excited about “teaching the next generation of x-ray and MRI technologists who are going to provide excellent patient care and quality diagnostic images for radiologists throughout their careers.”  Sean is active in ASRT, GSRT, and SMRT, and has served on several committees working on service excellence and shared governance. Sean says he “is passionate about radiologic science and fun to work with.” Sean grew up in North Carolina, but spent the previous seven years working in Washington, DC. “I am happy to be back in the south,” he says, “and grateful for southern cooking because it is hard to find good BBQ anywhere in DC.”