Faculty and Staff Awards

Emory Radiology team members are dedicated to delivering the highest quality care for our patients, the best education for our students and trainees, and exciting innovations through research. Each fall we take time to celebrate extraordinary contributions and accomplishments of the Emory Radiology family with the annual Faculty and Staff Awards.

The Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences Awards Committee issues a department-wide call for nominations. A committee of faculty volunteers evaluated the nominees for each faculty award and a committee of staff volunteers evaluated nominees for the staff awards. Both groups used an updated scoring rubric to determine the winners.

In 2024, the Faculty and Staff Awards program expanded to include a range of new awards to better recognize the range of contributions of clinical, research, and administrative staff as well as clinical and research faculty.

Stephen Simoneaux, MD, FACR, Professor and Past Division Director, Pediatric Imaging

Dr. Stephen Simoneaux is the heart and soul of pediatric imaging at both Emory, where he has served as Emory Radiology's Division Chief of Pediatric Imaging for over 25 years, and at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, where he started his career 30 years ago. Dr. Simoneaux served as medical director of radiology for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston/Hughes Spalding from 2000 until 2016, where he oversaw the complex merger of the radiology departments of Egleston and Scottish Rite Hospitals into a single department and became chief of pediatric radiology for all of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Under his leadership, the division has grown from 10 to 43 faculty members and has established robust subdivisions of pediatric neuroradiology and interventional radiology as well as three fellowship training programs.

Dr. Simoneaux has overseeen pioneering expansions of image-guided theranostics in nuclear medicine and interventional radiology, and has worked with his team to provide the most advanced MR, SPECT/CT, and PET/CT imaging services as well as x-ray, fluoroscopy, ultasound, bone densitometry, and other imaging modalities to patients in the Children's system.

A national leader in pediatric imaging, Dr. Simoneaux is past president of the Society for Pediatric Radiology (SPR) and previously served as vice president and treasurer of the SPR Research and Education Foundation. He also is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Board of Radiology and has been appointed to the organization's Board of Governors. He also has held numerous roles in both organizations as well as in the American College of Radiology, and he served as president of the Society of Chiefs of Radiology at Children's Hospitals.

Susan Reich, MHA, CPHQ, Director, Quality and Patient Safety

Susan Reich has dedicated her career to supporting, leading, coaching, and mentoring others in the Department of Radiology. Susan began her career with Emory in the early 1990s as an ultrasound sonographer and worked for many years at Emory University Hospital Midtown. She was the first female in Georgia to be certified in all ultrasound imaging specialites and was a model employee for Emory Healthcare.

Susan took a keen interest in leadership and quality improvement and began taking on quality projects for radiology. She obtained her credentials as a Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt and also became a certified professional in healthcare quality (CPHQ).

Susan is widely respected by colleagues within and outside of Emory Radiology, both for her vast knowledge of quality improvement strategies and her team-oriented approach. She recently helped to rebuild the Quality and Patient Safety team from the ground up as we shifted to the Enterprise Radiology model. Over the last year of Enterprise Radiology rollout, Susan has 1) helped to lead a large educational effort to roll out Fair & Just Culture training to all leaders and managers, 2) idenfitifed opportunites to improve our critical findings reporting, 3) established an environnment of care rounding at all Emory Healthcare locations, 4)  engaged with leadership in meaningful improvement projects, 5) helped to redesign our policy management process, 6) led A3 projects for many teams, and 7) supported all leaders with ACA/RCA discussions for patient safety events.

Susan leads by example, is very thoughtful in her actions, and takes great pride in being an employee for Emory Healthcare and our Department of Radiology. Susan truly embodies the mission, values, integrity, and passion of Emory Radiology. Over her 34-year long career with Emory, Susan has made a truly invaluable impact on the lives of thousands of patients, staff members, and faculty members. Susan's legacy with Emory Healthcare is still being written and will live on after she retires from Emory Healthcare one day.

• Prior Faculty Winners
• Prior Staff Winners
• Prior Team Winners

A very special thank you to Amy Fioramonte, Faculty and Staff Awards Committee Chair, and Susan Palasis, Vice Chair, for making this year's awards so exciting. Thank you also to the volunteers who devoted many hours to scoring nominees and selecting the winners.