Louis H. Wetzel

Professional Background

Dr. Lou Wetzel is a Professor of Radiology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine and serves as Director of Body Imaging and Co-Director of Advanced Non-Invasive Cardiac Imaging for the University of Kansas Health System. He has previously served as Vice-Chair and Medical Director of Radiology and was Radiology Residency Program Director for 15 years. He has served the School of Medicine as Chair of the Academic Committee, Chair of the Medical Faculty Council and Chair of the Promotion and Tenure Committee.
Dr. Wetzel was the Director of Radiologic Anatomy for first year medical students and established the curriculum, developed teaching materials and gave 10 lectures per year as well as countless tutorials. He was awarded the Ruth Bohan Teaching award, the Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Classroom Teaching, and received five Student Voice Excellence in Education Awards.
He has served on numerous hospital committees and served as Chief of Staff of the University of Kansas Hospital for six years with a medical staff of over 1000 physicians. In this capacity he served as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Medical Staff and created the Practice Oversight Committee. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the University of Kansas Hospital Authority and former member of the Board of the University of Kansas Physicians.
Dr. Wetzel received his medical degree and completed Radiology Residency at the University of Kansas and completed a mini-fellowship in body MRI at the University of California, San Francisco. He is certified by the American Board of Radiology. He is a member or former member of the RSNA, AUR, ACR, ARRS, American College of Nuclear Physicians, Association of Program Directors in Radiology, Society of Uroradiology, North American Society of Cardiac Imaging, and the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. He served as oral board examiner for the American Board of Radiology for many years.
Dr. Wetzel is the father of six children, and he and his wife Jane received the “Parents Who Make a Difference” award from the Kansas City Chiefs Organization in September, 1998 at a halftime presentation.

Research

Overview

Dr. Wetzel’s early research interests involved CT and MRI of musculoskeletal tumors and his early work helped establish the advantages and limitations of MRI in detection and staging of bone and soft tissue tumors. He then shifted to uroradiology and spent a decade investigating MRI techniques to quantify and monitor the progression of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. More recently he has focused on CT and MRI of the heart and coronary arteries, and CT Fractional Flow Reserve( FFR).
He has published over 60 peer reviewed articles and book chapters and served as reviewer for “Radiology” and “Academic Radiology”. He has made hundreds of regional and national presentations. Dr. Wetzel has presented over 45 scientific and educational exhibits nationally and internationally and has received 20 major awards including the Summa Cum Laude award of the Society of Neuroradiology, the Second Place award of the Society of Nuclear Medicine, the Summa Cum Laude award of the Radiological Society of North America, and the Summa Cum Laude award and stipend from the French Association for the Study and Research of Radiology.
Dr. Wetzel has been an active in local and nationally funded research. He served as the lead imaging Co-investigator from the University of Kansas to the multi-institutional Consortium for Renal Imaging in the Study of Polycystic Kidney Disease (CRISP). This effort to quantify cyst volume as a marker of disease progression received NIH funding for 10 consecutive years with total KU grant awards exceeding seven million dollars.