Michael D Brophey, MD
(SWC-SNMMI President 2008-2009) 

Please tell us about yourself.

I am originally from San Antonio. but my more formative growing up years were spent in the Houston area.  My undergraduate degree in Biochemistry was from nearby Texas A&M University in College Station, TX, in 1982.  Medical school took me back to Houston (UTHSC-Houston, now McGovern MS, 1986) while post graduate medical training was in Little Rock, AR, (UAMS) in Internal Medicine. 

Give us your background information related to your professional training, including nuclear medicine, and what inspired you to enter this field.

My Nuclear Medicine fellowship was in San Antonio (UTHSC-San Antonio, 1992) bringing me full circle back to San Antonio, TX.  Ralph Blumhardt, also a past President of the SWC was my mentor and early teacher in Nuclear Medicine. I am very grateful for the opportunity and training from Dr. Blumhardt and other colleagues at the medical school during that season, including Drs Bill Phillips and John Lasher also prominent leaders in our field. 

What do you consider your primary contribution(s) to Nuclear Medicine?

My early years in NM practice were in the DFW metroplex where I served as the Director of Nuclear Cardiology for a large private practice Cardiovascular group with my primary office at Baylor University Medical Center (now Baylor Scott and White). Over a decade of service in that role saw the expansion of nuclear cardiology from one to ten locations spread across the North Texas region with the strong support of Linda Wisian, our unstoppable Chief Technologist, and her incredible staff. We were also early adopters of practice accreditation and together Linda and I helped to lead that group to maintain practice accreditation during our time together there.

In 2008, my practice moved from Baylor to the North Texas VA Healthcare system at the Dallas VAMC and I spent the next years getting back into the full spectrum of Nuclear Medicine practice to include general, PET/CT and therapies while continuing to be involved as a physician leader in Nuclear Cardiology, including the start up of our Cardiac PET program at the Dallas VA. I very much appreciate the leadership and support provided by Dr. Irfan Farukhi, the Chief of Nuclear Medicine during that practice transition. At the VA, we ultimately became dually accredited by both the IAC and ACR, a distinction shared by only few practices. In 2017, I was given the opportunity to expand Nuclear Cardiology services to the Forth Worth Outpatient VA Clinic and have grown that location to also include general nuclear medicine, DXA and mobile PET/CT services while continuing to support the Dallas VA Medical Center remotely. This latest move has brought me full circle again, as I now live and practice about 5 miles from where my parents met as my father was leaving the Air Force after his last duty station at Carswell AFB while my mother was pursuing her education degree from Texas Christian University.

In what year were you a SWC-SNMMI President, and how did you first become involved with the chapter?

My first experience with the SWCSNMMI was as a fellow, presenting the results of work done at the medical school in San Antonio with those early influencers of my career on VQ imaging in patients undergoing lung transplantation. I vividly recall trying to respond coherently to a question from Dr. Naomi Alazraki, who was in the audience and one of the National leaders in our field with an international reputation. I guess I handled that experience well enough to be asked to serve the Chapter initially as a Trustee, then the Co-Chair of the Annual meeting several years later when it was held in Fort Worth and then as President in 2009 with the term ending at the Spring meeting in Houston. I have also served as the Historian of the Chapter.  I am so appreciative of all the service and leadership provided to our Chapter by Charles Metzger our Executive Director who every Chapter leader has leaned on for his knowledge and expertise, always graciously given.

Please describe anything else that you would like for your Nuclear Medicine colleagues to know about yourself.

My time in Nuclear Medicine has allowed me to meet, network, and serve together with many trusted colleagues over the years while providing care to patients in both the private and VA setting. The SWCSNMMI has been the primary context for many of the most enjoyable networking relationships with mentors, colleagues, technologists, physicists, and other partners in our field over the years. I hope that practical clinical excellence in Nuclear Cardiology has been a contribution of my time during these years of service to our profession and for our patients. One of the unexpected benefits of my time in Nuclear Medicine was that when practicing at the BUMC location I was only two blocks away from Dallas Theological Seminary, and I was able to earn a master’s degree in Bible.