Ralph Drosten, MD, assistant professor of radiology at the University of Utah, is a member of the Thoracic Tumor Board at Huntsman Cancer Institute. He specializes in thoracic and oncologic imaging, as well as computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) fusion imaging.

Radiology uses X-ray, CT, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to produce images of internal structures, enabling physicians to "see" inside the body without surgery. PET technology produces color images that indicate the degree of metabolism or blood flow in tissue. Until recently, PET was performed on a stand-alone machine. Huntsman Cancer Institute now has a combined CT/PET machine that fuses anatomic information from CT imaging with metabolic information acquired from PET imaging. This cutting-edge technology is painless and noninvasive to patients, and enhances physicians’ ability to diagnose conditions and guide treatment.

Drosten completed medical school at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa in 1992, where he also completed his radiology residency. Afterward, he worked in academic radiology at the Johannesburg General Hospital, and in private radiology practice in South Africa. He then moved to the United States and completed a fellowship in thoracic imaging at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and a second fellowship in oncologic and PET imaging at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. Drosten has published and lectured, and holds membership in medical societies in Utah, Massachusetts, the United Kingdom, and South Africa.