This story, written by Brian Salvato, originally appeared in the fall 2019 issue of Pitt Med magazine, and again on Pittwire.
A Golden Backpack / Trauma Care In A Rucksack
In 1993, during Ron Poropatich’s 30-year stint in the U.S. Army, the pulmonary critical care medicine physician was caring for soldiers in Somalia. Using a $25,000 Kodak DCS camera capable of 1.54 megapixel images (iPhones today have 12 megapixel cameras), he would take a picture of a patient’s “weird rash,” fire up his satellite dish, and send the image to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, then in Washington, D.C., for a consult. Today, Poropatich’s work still focuses on helping patients who are miles away from a fully staffed hospital. READ MORE
A backpack straight out of Transformers? Yeah, Pitt docs are on it: https://t.co/IicszCgxO2 pic.twitter.com/KVccRvHBrq
— Pitt Med Magazine (@PittMedMag) November 26, 2019
A research team led by Pitt's Ron Poropatich has nine years to turn science fiction into reality. Read about how they're making it happen in Pittwire: https://t.co/be9HvPqtTn #H2P
— University of Pittsburgh (@PittTweet) December 5, 2019