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On Monday, April 14, a small group convened within University Medical Center to witness a special event: a ceremonial ribbon-cutting and tour of the long-awaited MRI suite expansion. 

“It really is a spectacular facility,” said Colin Derdeyn, MD, Chair of UVA’s Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging. “It’s going to have a great impact.”

One particularly meaningful upgrade is the incorporation of a fourth MRI scanner within the hospital. Before the expansion, the MRI suite contained just three scanners for the entire medical center. For nearly four years, the department has used an additional trailer-based MRI scanner behind the hospital — though this has created inefficiencies with staffing and patient flow.

Now with the fourth MRI scanner located in the hospital, patient imaging workflow “will significantly improve,” said James Carnes, UVA Radiology’s Medical Center Administrator. Plus, the expansion includes a “shell space” for a potential fifth MRI scanner in the future, which would increase capacity even further.

Besides scanner space, the MRI suite expansion offers other benefits, including additional preparation and recovery space for patients and a designated anesthesia support area for patients with sedation needs.

This project has been a long time coming. The expansion occupies the space that formerly held the Interventional Radiology suite, which moved to the South Tower in early 2020. Planning began nearly 6 years ago, but construction met an unexpected roadblock.

“The project was originally scheduled to commence in the fall of 2020 and the expansion to be open in 2022,” said Carnes. “But the pandemic intervened and the project was significantly delayed.”

Today, the expanded MRI suite is finally functional and seeing patients — thanks to the multi-year work of several individuals and teams. Among them: UVA’s MRI team and off-site anesthesia team, UVA Capital Construction and Renovation, Siemens, UVA Radiology’s Director of Inpatient Imaging Rich Hooper, Carnes, and many others across UVA Health and beyond. Although the project faced uncertainties, it now has the chance to impact patients and providers alike.

“I’m relieved and thankful that we’re finally able to open the expanded MRI suite to facilitate patient care and to improve workflow for our MRI team and the off-site anesthesia team,” said Carnes. “And [I’m] sincerely grateful to the organization’s support of the project.”