Skip to main content
Explore URMC
menu

Michael J. Potchen, M.D.

Contact Information

Phone Numbers

Administrative: (585) 275-1839

Office: (585) 273-1569

Fax: (585) 473-4861

URMFGA member of the University of Rochester Medical Faculty Group

groupAn Accountable Health Partner

assignmentAccepting New Patients

Faculty Appointments

Patient Care Setting

Imaging Sciences

Biography

Professional Background

Dr. Potchen is a Board Certified Radiologist with CAQ's in Neuroradiology

Professor Potchen received his Bachelor's Degree in Physiology at Michigan State University. He completed his M.D. at Michigan State University's (MSU) College of Human Medicine and his Radiology Residency in Grand Rapids Michigan in the MSU affiliated GRAMEC program. He did his Neuroradiology Fellowship at Duke University. Following that, he served in various positions in the Department of Radiology at MSU including Fellowship Director, Clinical Director and Chief of Clinical Programs. He served as Core Faculty in MSU's African Studies Center and the International Neurologic & Psychiatric Epidemiology Program before recently relocating to the University of Rochester. He presently serves as Director of Diagnostic & Interventional Neuroradiology in the Department of Imaging Sciences at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

His primary interests are in teaching and research. He has taught extensively at all levels of undergraduate and graduate education. His research interests are internationally focused and include imaging in resource poor settings and the MRI findings in pediatric cerebral malaria. He has numerous publications in these and related areas. He has received funding from Governmental and Foundation sources. He is presently the Primary Investigator on a Dana Foundation Neuroimaging grant. He is presently President of the Eastern Radiologic Society.

Research

I am a neuroradiologist who has been involved in neuroimaging in sub-Saharan Africa since 2005 when I began assisting with efforts for the establishment of the Malawi MRI Facility at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre Malawi. I have been funded in neuroimaging research in Malawi and Zambia since that time. I have been involved with various studies including new-onset seizure patients with HIV in Zambia. I am presently serving as a co-investigator on NIH-funded studies of acute cerebral malaria patients as well as PI on a Dana foundation neuroimaging grant aimed at using a higher field MRI in Zambia to validate the Malawi MRI work. I have been involved in training physicians from Africa and Northern Europe in MRI interpretation since 1996 through institutional support as well as NIH funding. I developed a training curriculum for radiology training in Zambia for which I obtained support from the Zambian Ministry of Health in 2011.I am very interested in neuroimaging as a tool to expand and enhance our understanding of neurologic disorders in resource poor, tropical settings. I led the efforts to develop NeuroInterp, a neuroradiologic research tool that allows for quantification of neuroimaging findings in a searchable data base format designed for use in resource limited settings. I have also had opportunities to lead neuroimaging research in Africa using CT technology, which is often the only imaging modality available. I have traveled extensively in sub-Saharan Africa and reside in the southern African region for several months annually. My interest in training international fellows in neuroradiology, facilitating the use of clinical neuroimaging data through explicit interpretation, optimizing neuroimaging techniques in resource poor settings and the study of neurologic disorders in sub-Saharan Africa will allow me contribute to these efforts.

Credentials

Education

1988
MD | Michigan State University Clinical Center (USA)

Post-doctoral Training & Residency

07/01/1993 - 06/30/1994
Fellowship in Neuroradiology at Duke University School of Nursing

07/01/1989 - 06/30/1993
Residency in Radiology, General at Grand Rapids Family Practice Residency Program

07/01/1988 - 06/30/1989
Internship at Grand Rapids Family Practice Residency Program

VIEW ALL expand_more

Awards

2015
Fulbright Specialist

2012
MSU Gamma Chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Society

Publications

Journal Articles

2017
Siddiqu, O.K.; Elafros, M.A.; Bositis, C.M.; Koralinik, I.J.; Theodore, W.H.; Okulicz, J.F.; Kalungwana, L.; Potchen, M.J.; Sikazwwe, I.; Birbeck, G.L. "New Onset Seizure in HIV-infected Adult Zambians: A Search for Causes and Consequences." Neurology. 2017; 88(5): 477-482.

2017
Zhuang, Y; Potchen, M.J.; Kampondeni, S.D.; Tivarus, M.; Birbeck, G.L.; Zhong, J. "Validation of Diffusion Measurements Obtained on a 0.35T MR in Malawi: Important Insights for Radiologists in Low Income Settings with Low field MRI." Magn Reson Imaging. 2017; 12(45): 120-128.

2016
Sikazwe I; Elafros MA; Bositis CM; Siddiqi OK; Koralnik IJ; Kalungwana L; Theodore WH; Okulicz JF; Potchen MJ; Birbeck GL. "HIV and New Onset Seizures: Slipping Through the Cracks in HIV Care and Treatment". HIV Med. 2016; 17(2): 118-23.

Books & Chapters

1997
Chapter Title: Magnetic Resonance Angiography
Book Title: Diagnostic Radiology
Author List: Pernicone JR; Siebert JE; Potchen MJ
Published By: Churchill Livingstone Publications 1997

VIEW ALL PUBLICATIONS