DOI: 10.1148/radiol.2392062555
(Radiology 2006;239:614-615.)
© RSNA, 2006
Richard Tello, MD
Alexander Norbash, MD
Dr Richard Tello died on March 8, 2005, in Boston, Mass, at the age of 45 years, of complications of a longstanding illness.
Dr Tello was devoted to knowledge and inquiry and was a believer in lifelong learning. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge in 1982 with dual BS degrees in mathematics and mechanical engineering, and 12 months later he completed his MS degree in mechanical engineering. His analytic mind gravitated to medical informatics and decision theory, which allowed him to gain exploratory experience with coursework and led to his graduation from Stanford University School of Medicine (Calif) with an MD degree in 1989, followed by graduation from the Harvard School of Public Health (Boston, Mass) with an MPH degree in 1998. Fascinated by physiology and its application to medical imaging, he completed his PhD degree (his sixth educational degree) in imaging science at the University of Melbourne in Australia, following initial research and coursework at MIT.
Dr Tello was equally driven in his medical postdoctoral studies. After an internal medicine internship in San Francisco, Calif, at the combined St Mary's Hospital, San Francisco General Hospital, and University of California, San Francisco program, he completed a diagnostic radiology residency at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston) program in 1994 and subsequently a nuclear medicine fellowship at the combined Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Children's Hospital (Boston) program in 1994. In 1995, he completed a body magnetic resonance (MR) imaging fellowship at the Harvard Brigham and Women's Hospital, followed by a preventative medicine fellowship, his third completed clinical fellowship. As expected, he had a remarkable capacity for academic productivity.
Amazingly, most of these accomplishments were realized while Dr Tello was dependent on hemodialysis. He never complained about his lot and simply accepted it, using every moment to read, study, learn, and work. He earned early promotion to full professor of radiology, epidemiology, and biostatistics at Boston University Medical Center (Mass) and was director of cardiac radiology, MR imaging, and radiology research within 7 years of his initial appointment. His demeanor was positive even when systemic complications placed him in a wheelchair, and he squeezed every drop he could out of life. He loved to travel as an invited professor and managed to visit the four corners of the world, with the exception of his remaining favorite destination, China, which he never realized. He disliked preferential treatment; symbolic of his fair-mindedness was his voiced displeasure during his terminal hospitalization at being left off the clinical assignment schedule for the following week.
Dr Tello served on multiple editorial boards and advisory committees and had major committee assignments with the Association of University Radiologists, the Radiological Society of North America, the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, U.S. Department of Defense, and the North American Society of Cardiac Imaging. As expected from a brilliant, creative, and eager mind, he left a legacy of ideas, thought, and action. He was the holder of several patents, including hemodialysis, engineering, and imaging patents, and he was respected as an outstanding scholar, writer, and educator by all fortunate to have known him. Perhaps among his greatest legacies are his kind words, his peaceful demeanor, and the natural empathy he always carried with him and with which he led by example. We will all miss his zest for life, his brilliant mind, and his kind heart.
He is survived by his partner-in-life, Jeanette; his daughter, Rebecca; his mother, Mona; his stepfather, Arnold Lener; his brother, Antonio; and his sister, Debra.
