“The RSNA Research Scholar Grant was a turning point in my academic career."

-David F. Kallmes, M.D.

RSNA Research Scholarship Called Career “Turning Point”

Over the years, the RSNA Research Scholar Grant, awarded through the RSNA Research & Education Foundation, has launched many promising research careers.

For most, the program is their first introduction to grant writing and the rigors and complexities of research. Whether the research leads to successful new techniques or simply disproves the original hypothesis, recipients report that the program provides them with the skills and experience they need to move forward confidently and successfully in their chosen careers.

David F. Kallmes, M.D., an associate professor of radiology and neurosurgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., is no exception.

“The RSNA Research Scholar Grant was a turning point in my academic career,” said Dr. Kallmes, who completed his RSNA grant nearly eight years ago. “It was my first grant and it was the beginning of a very productive academic career.”

Dr. Kallmes, an expert in neuroendovascular therapy and the biological modification of endovascular embolization devices, earned his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and his medical degree from the University of Massachusetts. He completed a residency in diagnostic radiology at Duke University Medical School and a fellowship in neuroradiology at the University of Virginia where he joined the staff in 1995.

Dr. Kallmes said his research goal in 1997 was to develop an endovascular gene therapy strategy for the treatment of malignant meningiomas.

Meningiomas, which are the most common of intracranial tumors, account for 20 percent of intracranial neoplasms. At the time of Dr. Kallmes’ research, the primary mode of therapy for meningiomas had been surgical resection; however, depending on the location of the tumor, recurrence rates were as high as 23 percent.

Dr. Kallmes’ plan was to use the latest breakthroughs in technology and gene therapy to infect and kill tumors without harming the healthy surrounding tissue. To be more specific, he used microcatheters to implant VX2 tumors into rabbits and then attempted to transfect the tumors with genetic information using viruses.

Unfortunately, the endothelium proved to be a formidable barrier and despite numerous trials with multiple techniques and variations on dwell time, pressure and profusion, Dr. Kallmes was unable to transfect the tumors using an endovascular approach.

“There are isolated success stories in gene therapy, but if you look at the degree of the buzz that was generated in 1997, when I wrote the grant, to what has come to fruition in the field of gene therapy, it’s really quite disappointing,” said Dr. Kallmes, who believes his original idea is still viable. “It’s just not time yet.”

Nevertheless, Dr. Kallmes said the RSNA experience proved extremely valuable to his career and taught him the ins and outs of animal research. In recent years, he has received three grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as principal investigator. He has also worked as co-investigator on numerous other grants for animal and clinical research.

In 2002, Dr. Kallmes moved to the Mayo Clinic and shifted his focus from gene therapy to aneurysm research. Today, he runs a large laboratory where he splits his time between research and patient care.

“David is one of our stars,” said Stephen J. Swensen, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Radiology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. “In fact, he was recognized for his accomplishments with the 2005 Mayo Clinic Carman Award for Excellence in Research. This is a guy who can run a marathon in a world-class two-and-a-half hours and has a research scholarship record to match.”

On the research side of his career, Dr. Kallmes said he has two lives. “First, I have a lab research life that is focused on saccular aneurysms of the brain. I have NIH funding to study the physiology of aneurysms using a new model of saccular aneurysms we developed in rabbit models in hopes of gaining useful insight into when and why aneurysms rupture,” he said.

His second research life is an NIH-funded clinical research program looking at the efficacy of vertebroplasty. In addition, Dr. Kallmes has recently taken another crack at gene therapy with a project looking at whether implanting genetically engineered cells into aneurysms will improve healing.

In addition to the RSNA Research Scholar Grant, Dr. Kallmes credits much of his success to those who have mentored him along the way and encouraged him to remain focused and motivated.

He said he now enjoys working with young researchers and passing along the lessons he has learned.

"Dave was quite possibly the brightest, most inquisitive research trainee I ever mentored,” said Bruce J. Hillman, M.D., a professor of radiology at the University of Virginia. “He literally soaked up knowledge then applied it in novel ways to generate his own research. There was never any doubt that he eventually would become a leader in imaging research as it progressed into the molecular era."
 

Dr. Kallmes said he intends to “continue working in this vein, pardon the pun” as long as he continues receiving the necessary grant money to develop new, innovative solutions to today’s healthcare challenges.

David F. Kallmes, M.D., (far right) and his colleagues in the laboratory at the Mayo Clinic. (front row, from left) YongHong Ding, M.D., Daying Dai, M.D., and Leigh Gray, C.C.R.A. (back row, from left) Ramanathan Kadirvel, Ph.D., Mark Danielson, Ph.D., Debra Lewis, Ph.D., and Dr. Kallmes.