Biography | Publications
Dr. Cline recently joined Kitware, part-time. Dr. Cline’s research at Kitware involves improving both computed tomography coronary artery segmentation and visualization wherein non-invasive cardiac CT exams can be used to obviate the need for invasive angiography in symptomatic patients with normal coronary arteries.  Over the past 40 years at GE Global Research, he has worked in a variety of technical areas; namely, superconductivity, composite solidification, semiconductor processing, laser processing, computer algorithms, computer visualization, medical image processing, image guided surgery, surgical planning and molecular imaging.

In 1984, he co-invented the Marching Cubes algorithm for creating three-dimensional polygonal surfaces from medical images. The initial application was creating three-dimensional surfaces from computer tomography (CT) images, Dr. Cline then changed organizations from physical science to the magnetic resonance (MR) program and worked on 3D MR angiography, segmentation algorithms for three-dimensional MR brain and cardiac imaging. In (1987-1995), Dr. Cline worked with GE colleagues in a Research Workstation project with computer scientists from over 100 teaching hospitals that met twice a year to discuss medical imaging applications. Dr. Cline collaborated with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in both surgical planning and MR guided focused ultrasound thermal ablation. Dr. Cline developed MR thermal imaging for computer control of a focused ultrasound beam and helped develop clinical prototypes for clinical trials. He worked on parallel MRI cardiac imaging to detect coronary arteries. Dr. Clines applied computer algorithms in different medical modalities; namely, magnetic resonance imaging MRI, multi-detector computed tomography MDCT, 3D ultrasound US, positron emission tomography PET, and digital microscopy for pathology.

Dr. Cline received his Ph.D. in Material Science and B.S. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge Massachusetts for research in superconductivity, 1965 and 1962. He was awarded a Coolidge Fellowship in 1979 and studied Physics at Stanford University. He published more than 100 papers and holds more than 175 patents, was awarded inventor of the year for magnetic resonance angiography, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Cline retired from GE Global Research in February 2007.


Publications