Radiologic Imaging Laboratory History: In 1975, the UCSF Department of Radiology, under the direction of Alexander Margulis, founded a small research and development group to investigate new medical diagnostic imaging instruments and systems. The team included electrical engineers, radiofrequency coil experts, computer scientists, and medical researchers. They sought in part to create a clinically viable diagnostic tool using nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, later called magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). They focused on creating a machine capable of safely and effectively capturing scanned images of the living human body. In 1978 the lab, now called the Radiologic Imaging Laboratory (RIL), opened an off-campus facility at 400 Grandview Drive in the Cabot, Cabot and Forbes Industrial Park in South San Francisco. Leon Kaufman served as chief scientist and director and Lawrence Crooks served as assistant director and electrical engineer. RIL researchers regularly consulted with physicians to initiate patient and animal studies and better understand how pathologies impact the imaging of tissue. They experimented with magnet technology and designed new computer hardware and software to improve MRI machine availability, image quality, speed, and sensitivity. RIL originally received funding from the Pfizer Corporation under an agreement with the UCSF Radiology Department. In late 1981, Pfizer discontinued its imaging activities and Diasonics purchased the project. In 1989, Toshiba acquired RIL from Diasonics. In 1994, RIL separated from the University and became a unit of Toshiba America called TAMI RIL. RIL researchers secured numerous patents and received royalties for their technology. In the 1990s, following royalty and patent disputes with UCSF regarding imaging technology, UC Berkeley professor Jerome R. Singer (later joined by Lawrence Crooks) sued the Regents of the University of California. The RIL ceased operation in 2001.

RIL Electrical Engineer Lawrence E. Crooks History: Lawrence E. Crooks, a founding member of the Radiologic Imaging Laboratory, was born in Berkeley, California in 1949. He received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1971, 1973, and 1978 respectively. From 1972 to 1976, Crooks was a National Institutes of Health trainee in bioengineering. In 1976, he joined the UCSF Department of Radiology Nuclear Medicine Section as an assistant professor of electrical engineering. He was appointed associate professor in 1981 and professor in 1985. From 1994-2001, Crooks served as a research fellow for Toshiba America MRI, Inc. He continues to serve as an independent consultant and research specialist affiliated with the UCSF Department of Anthropology, History, and Social Medicine. Crooks holds 22 patents on magnetic resonance imagers for medical applications. Crooks’s publications include the 1981 textbook Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Medicine and more than 137 articles on MRI imaging and instrumentation. He has served on the editorial boards of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, American Journal of Roentgenology and Current Concepts in Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Crooks received the Bechtel Achievement Award in 1972, the IEEE Centennial Key in 1984 as an outstanding young investigator in the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Group, the 1986 Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine’s Gold Medal, and the John P. Robarts Research Institute’s International Taylor Prize in 1989. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi and was elected a Fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine in 1997.