Satre Stuelke, RadiologyArt.com Founder, a "Renaissance Radiologist" speaks to radRounds

(NEW YORK) -- radRounds Radiology Network is pleased to introduce you to Satre Stuelke, currently a senior medical student at Weill Cornell Medical College based in New York City. Not only is Satre a soon-to-be physician, specifically a radiologist, he is also an extremely talented artist. Satre Stuelke founded the Radiology Art project in which he aimed to "explore the hidden contents and structures of everyday things." He has shown his amazing artwork throughout the world in various galleries and museums. Not only will he hold an MD soon but he currently holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has taught at many prestigious institutions including the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. rR: What led you to transition from art to become a physician? Satre: Well, I had achieved my dream job as a professor in the graduate computer art department at SVA here in Manhattan, and though I loved it very much, there still seemed to be something missing. I felt that there was another contribution I could make more in the realm of science.
rR: What is your inspiration in choosing to create radiology artwork?
Satre: Robert Heinecken made photograms of meals back in the '60s. Rumor had it that he had also x-rayed a TV dinner. However, it seems that this never really happened. Anyway, before I found out that it didn't happen, I thought I'd take that TV dinner X-ray a bit further and do a 3D reconstruction of a scanned TV dinner. Which I did for the first image I made.
rR: How did you select the objects you've scanned?
Satre: I tend to select things that everyone will recognize and may have wondered about what's inside them. For example, wind-up toys, personal electronics, famous foods, and so on. My most recent example is a bag of potato chips. While I expected it to have a low meniscus of chips, it turned out to be more than 1/2 full! This has led to a new theory that the level of the chips actually declines once opened.
rR: What are you future goals in art and radiology?
Satre: I'm planning on doing a residency in radiology, but I don't know where yet. I'm hoping I'll be able to continue my art making with radiological equipment as well. I firmly believe that the simple curious pursuit of making images has an impact on advances in the field. For example, that bag for the potato chips is only 2 mils thick and has a density very close to air, yet I found a way to manipulate the visualization of the density curve to make it work. Maybe this delicate visualization technique could work with some scans of humans where densities are very close. Maybe not, but you never know what the drive to do something fun will lead to. I would also like to have the art contribute to reducing my student loans! I have a solo show coming up here in NYC this November. We'll see.
rR: What is your advice for medical students, physicians such as radiologists who wish to pursue outside interests and projects as you have?
Satre: By all means, do it! It's never too late, and who knows what new discoveries can be made? Thank you Satre for taking the time to speak to radRounds and we wish you the very best in your endeavors. We are 100% confident you will do wonderfully, match into a top-notch radiology residency program, and become a leader in the field of medical imaging. We have even featured some of the "radiology art" here on radRounds on this
folder. For a complete tour Satre's work, we encourage all radRounds members to visit Satre Stuelke's
website and even go to his independent art show in New York City! Please visit
RadiologyArt today!