London X-ray Associates History

Dr. Murray Morrison established this practice in 1931 at 326 Queens Avenue. Dr. Morrison had graduated from the U.W.O. Medical School in 1918 and, following some years in general practice, took post-graduate studies in Radiology at the University of Michigan from 1929 until 1931. After this, he established his specialty practice in London. Dr. Morrison was a Fellow of the British Association of Radiology and was a Diplomat of the American Board of Radiology. In 1937, he was appointed as Chief of the Department of Radiology at St. Joseph's Hospital.

Radiological examinations were not ordered as frequently then as today - a gross understatement! Consequently, Dr. Morrison was able to service these two establishments as well as carry out radiotherapy at St. Joseph's Hospital with a 200 K.V. machine.

Dr. Keith Falconer joined Dr. Morrison in 1949. Shortly after, Dr. Morrison died and Dr. Beemer Malcolm Hill joined Dr. Falconer. At the radiological convention in Chicago in 1951, Dr. Falconer died suddenly at the age of 36.

The year 1952 saw Dr. D.A. Nicol join with Dr. Hill, and Dr. Eric Johnston completed the group several months later. The office was moved to 316 Queens Avenue.

In September 1954, Dr. Warren Wilkins completed the quartet. At this time, 10-15 patients seemed a busy day at the office! As well, hospitals in Tillsonburg, Strathroy, St. Mary's, Wingham and Listowel were covered and, to a lesser extent, hospitals in Exeter and Seaforth. Films from these hospitals and from a doctor in Arkansas, U.S.A., were forwarded to the office for reading.

Dr. Frank Linsdell and Dr. John McIntyre entered the partnership. Sadly, Dr. McIntyre died within the year.

The Medical-Dental Building at 450 Central Ave. was opened in 1957 and, after much deliberation, the group decided to move their office to this building. From that time onward, the number of examinations increased rapidly to the peak that occurred in 1990.

In the early 1960's, it was decided to call the group "London X-Ray Associates". Around this same time, it was also decided that each new member should be three to four years younger than the previous partner in the hope that this would help each member of the group stay abreast of current radiology. It was also hoped that no more than one or two Radiologists would leave the group in a span of one to two years.

Doctors Edgar, Brown, Greenhow, Black, Coates and Eakins completed the picture during the 1960's and early 1970's. Dr. Johnston left the group in 1969 to become Chief of Radiology at Victoria Hospital.

In 1975, the group opened a second clinic at 699 Cranbrook Road for general radiography. The clinic became known as the "Westmount" office. Three years later, in 1978, Dr. Hill died.

Dr. Lauren McCurdy, the only female in the group, was a most welcome addition in the mid 1980's. Times were changing as well as the type of examinations performed. Therefore, in 1982, ultrasound examinations were added to the 450 Central clinic, and, in 1986, there was expansion at the Westmount clinic to include fluoroscopy and ultrasound.

Ultrasound, C.T., mammography, invasive procedures, etc. at St. Joseph's Hospital demanded an increase in the membership of the Associates to include particularly those with specific expertise and subspecialties. Doctors Kozak, Mowbray and Taves fit the bill and became members in the mid and late 1980's.

The year 1985 brought the retirement of Doctors Nicol and Wilkins. Doctors Mowbray and Black left in October 1990, and that same year Doctors Bennett and Dawson joined the group.

A second ultrasound room was added to the 450 Central clinic in 1990, followed by an expansion with a mammography wing and an upgrade to the Enema Suite.

Dr. Frank J. Linsdell retired at the end of June 1991. It was, however, quite the opposite for London X-Ray Associates! The practice was indeed growing! The year 1992 brought with it the construction of our "West Wing" which allowed for yet another x-ray room in addition to a new lunchroom for our growing staff.

Dr. Walter Romano joined the group in July of 1992 and Dr. Gregory Garvin and Dr. John Rogers became partners in July and November of 1995. All three brought with them their individual fields of expertise.

May 1995 saw yet more exciting changes for London X-Ray Associates! The group acquired two new clinics, one located in the Byron community and the second in London East on Barker Street. The Byron location does general radiography, fluoroscopy and ultrasound, while the London East clinic is strictly for ultrasound examinations only.

In August of 1996, we said good-bye to one more Radiologist who had welcomed retirement - Dr. Paul Greenhow. On the other hand, we were constantly seeing "new" faces as our employee roll consistently grew.

1998 brought with it a flurry of activity! In March, our Westmount office was relocated to 190 Wortley Road and is now known as the "Wortley" office. This clinic was partially designed with the help of staff and provided the staff with a larger and more modern space to work. In the early spring Wortley's Bone Mineral Densitometry was up and running and we welcomed our first BMD patient. Less than three months later, in June, the Byron clinic, which was in desperate need for extra square footage, had moved from 305 Boler Road to the current 440 Boler Road. The square footage was tripled and the staff had one more "brand new" clinic. And, while all this was going on, we saw yet one more retirement in May - that of Dr. Charles Coates.

Meanwhile, back at the 450 Central clinic, space was still at a minimum and wanting. In 1998, London X-Ray Associates acquired an additional 3000 square feet to their existing space and has since been in a state of continual remodelling.

Yet one more young Radiologist joined the group in January of 1999 - Dr. Giulio Muscedere, bringing the number of Radiologists to twelve. That same year, London X-Ray Associates became an affiliate of the Ontario Breast Screening Program and a second mammography unit was added.

The year 2000 brought more change still! Transvaginal ultrasound was added to our ultrasound procedures at all clinics, and in the fall we received our Vascular license for our London East and Byron clinics. Dr. Hugh Edgar retired June 30, 2000.

In 2001 Room 5 renovations were completed and new "state of the art" digital equipment was added to Room 5. During construction all enema procedures were moved to the Byron clinic. The Picture Archiving Communication System (PACS) was introduced to the Ultrasound Department as well as fluoroscopy, and we received our Vascular licence for 450. Dr. Tom Brown retired June 30, and in July two new partners joined the practice, Dr. Justin Amann and Dr. Barry Hobbs. The old Boardroom and Manager's office were renovated to accommodate the Doctors' offices. IS were moved into the old Doctors' offices and we began expanding again. We acquired more area and created a Boardroom, Manager's office, and Administrative Assistant's office. The new Boardroom was opened July 9 marking Dr. Kozak's stepping down as Managing Partner and Dr. Bennett moving into the position with Dr. Garvin as 2IC. October 1, 2001 Dr. John Rogers was welcomed back to the partnership.

In the spring of 2001 two X-Ray Technologists were trained to perform barium enema studies and all enema procedures continued to be done at the Byron clinic.

In January 2002 the partnership increased to thirteen when Dr. Said Osman joined the group.

The remainder of 2002 brought with it perhaps the most monumental changes for London X-Ray Associates! In the early months of 2002 we undertook "MISSION: POSSIBLE". This changed London X-Ray Associates from a film centre to a state-of-the-art digital imaging environment. All examinations done at London X-Ray Associates are now fully digital with the exceptions of mammography and barium enemas that still use film. After another lengthy round of construction, LXA now boasts two fully digital Siemens' rooms, a PACS environment for the X-Ray Department, an enlarged mammography Department and a new RIS system. Not bad considering the whole change came about in less than six months!

We continued to prosper and grow in 2003. We went "live" with our new website to provide even greater convenience for our physician and patient base. This provides detailed explanations and protocols for our procedures as well as answers to some commonly asked questions our patients may have.

Once again, in 2004, we said goodbye to two more of the partners of London X-Ray Associates. Dr. Lauren McCurdy, our sole female Radiologist, retired in May of that year. She was subsequently bestowed the "London Y Women of Excellence" award in the Health, Science and Technology category on May 3, 2005 for her outstanding work in the field of breast imaging. Dr. John Bennett also left the practice in December of 2004 in pursuit of new challenges.

However, with these goodbyes came another warm welcome. In December 2004, Dr. Anat Kornecki joined the partnership.

Throughout 2004, dreams of expansion were again at the forefront! London X-Ray Associates acquired two new licenses to further expand their operation and groundbreaking for one new clinic at 595 Bradley Ave. began September 14, 2004.

Nine months after the groundbreaking, our brand new Bradley office opened June 27, 2005. What an accomplishment! Designed from the ground up with help from our entire team, this is the fifth clinic for London X-Ray Associates! This new clinic offers general radiography, mammography, ultrasound, and Doppler examinations to serve physicians and patients in London and surrounding area. In addition, in April of 2005 London X-Ray Associates implemented a new digital dictation system to accommodate all five site locations.

We continue to push forward with new and exciting developments. A location for the second license acquired in 2004 has yet to be determined.

London X-Ray Associates' partnership grew once again in the summer of 2005. On July 1, 2005 Dr. Ali Islam was welcomed as the newest member of the team.

In June 2006, our Barker Street location closed but a brand new facility was constructed to take its place at 1657 Dundas Street East. This location offers General Radiography as well as Ultrasound. In November of 2006, our BMD room at Wortley was relocated to the newer Bradley Ave. site.

Over the course of 2006, the partners of London X-Ray Associates underwent a strategic planning process. This process came about in consultation with staff, referring physicians and several key advisors external to LXA. With this strategic planning, our mission, vision and key values were borne. These will hopefully guide us in our future decision-making in helping us to reach our objectives over the coming years.

London X-Ray Associates’ mission is to provide state-of-the-art imaging expertise for the benefit of our patients, health care colleagues and academic community. In conjunction, our vision is to provide unsurpassed patient care and medical imaging. To this end, we have adopted five core values: caring and compassion; collaboration; fairness; innovation; and respect. With these values at the forefront, together with our mission and vision, London X-Ray Associates hopes to remain a vital component in the design and delivery of health care services in Southwestern Ontario.

London X-Ray Associates continued to streamline our operations in 2007 with the relocation of our Scheduling Department to our Wortley Road site. All appointments and calls continue to be handled by calling 519-672-7900.

Another ultrasound room was added to our Dundas site later on in November of 2007. This was in response to the consistent growing demand for this modality.

Our Radiologists continued to forge relationships with the surrounding community. In November 2007, they added Alexandra General Marine Hospital in Goderich to their roster of hospital images that they interpret.

In July of 2008, we bid farewell to Dr. Eakins. Retirement beckoned and he responded affirmatively. But, just as we said goodbye to Dr. Eakins, Dr. William Pavlosky joined the team in August.

The London X-Ray Associates' umbrella continues to grow!