1998 Annual Report
Chris Goumas, M.D.
Chris Goumas is a deal-maker. Whether buying a new car, remodelling his house, or acquiring medical imaging equipment, the PAMF radiologist enjoys the challenge of negotiating and closing a deal.
"I've always had this side of me, this kind of wheeler-dealer side," Dr. Goumas laughs. "In medical school, I used to broker cars for my attending physicians. I've always done financial stuff as an offshoot of my career. I like to help my friends get good deals on things. I never charge anybody for it. I just don't like to see people get ripped off."
Dr. Goumas was born in Maryland and grew up in Santa Barbara. By the time he was in high school, he knew he wanted to be a doctor. "I know it sounds hokey," he says, "but I was attracted by all those altruistic motives--doing good for society, having an impact, making a difference. I still feel that way."
Early on, Dr. Goumas showed his entrepreneurial side by working his way through Stanford University. "I had to work several jobs to put myself through college," he recalls. "My dad was on disability at the time. He used to be an air traffic controller. He came down with really severe tension headaches. He had vertigo, vomiting, and couldn't do the job anymore, so he was put on disability by the FAA.
"One summer I had three jobs and was working 100 hours a week. One of my jobs was as a bouncer. I was doing research at UC Santa Barbara in the biological sciences lab during the day and working as a bouncer at a movie theater during the evening. After the last show let out, I had another job as a janitor."
He went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, obtaining a Master's in Public Health from UC Berkeley along with his M.D. "I've always had some interest in administration," he says. "I went to medical school in the early '80s, when all this upheaval started with reimbursement issues and the debate over nationalized health care systems. I figured I'd better get an idea of what the medical landscape might be like as preparation for my career. I thought it would be a little extra feather in my cap."
Originally interested in orthopedic surgery, he became attracted to diagnostic radiology with the emergence of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
"I like technology, and this was just a perfect fit for me," he says. "It allowed me to pursue my musculo-skeletal sports medicine interest, but it had a lot of really cool technical components to it. To me, the orthopedics was more like carpentry. This is much more technical.
"I also liked the idea of being a consultant, because as a diagnostic radiologist you're basically a consultant to other physicians. It gives you an opportunity to have a nice, collaborative relationship with other physicians."
That same collegiality played a part in Dr. Goumas' decision to join the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.
"I thought the structure of the Clinic was a winning structure, so I went with that instead of a private radiology group." he says. "I like the vertical integration as opposed to horizontal integration, which a lot of radiology groups do now. They create these super groups of 50 radiologists to get more geographic coverage. I much prefer the vertical integration, where my partners are neurosurgeons, pediatricians, cardiac surgeons, orthopods. We're all in it together. It's a better structure, a winning structure."
PAMF has also given Dr. Goumas a chance to exercise his talents as a deal-maker. He has negotiated major, in-kind gifts of medical imaging equipment from several of the world's leading manufacturers, including General Electric, Picker (formerly Elscint), Acuson, and MRI Devices.
"We associate with the leaders in the field," Dr. Goumas says. "We've had offers from other companies which, dollar-wise, may be more substantial, but they're not the people that have the best product. The number-one priority here is quality. We pick whom we want to get together with, and then we usually can work out a deal."
GE, Picker and Acuson have designated PAMF as a "luminary site" effective use of their MRI, CT (computerized tomography), and ultrasound technology. They bring radiologists from throughout the western United States to PAMF to see how their equipment is being utilized for diagnosis in a fast-paced, clinical environment.
"These companies have been very impressed with the type of work we do and the quality of the images we produce." Dr. Goumas says. "They could put their equipment in an academic site, but most of the clients these companies are courting need to see how this technology works in a real-world setting, how it's going to work in their offices. That's what we accomplish--a real-world comparative for prospective clients."
While the companies benefit from having a place to show their wares, the biggest beneficiaries are PAMF patients, he adds.
"This is the latest, cutting-edge technology," Dr. Goumas says. "What you get is faster and more accurate diagnoses. We can do better work with less discomfort and less time for the patient. It's like having your cake and eating it, too. Not only are you doing things faster, so the patient has to spend less time here, but you also do better work. When I first started doing magnetic resonance, it took an hour or an hour-and-a-half in the magnet. Now our fastest scanning is done in less than 15 minutes.
"People always talk about the good old days. I think the good old days are today. Technology has opened up so many new vistas and possibilities that life is getting better and better, not worse. I think this is an incredible time to be alive. We're doing things now that people didn't even dream of a few years ago."