Dr. Anne G. Osborn and Dr. H. Ric Harnsberger, colleagues in radiology at the University of Utah, would seem to have raked in a lifetime of achievements in their careers as professors, teachers and researchers.

But Osborn had a vision, shared by Harnsberger, and with the help of business-savvy Paul F. Scholtes, they transformed their vision into innovative medical publisher Amirsys Inc.

Amirsys' founders knew the number of images reviewed by radiologists has increased greatly in recent years, but fewer radiologists have the sub-specialty training that would help them accurately interpret the images.

Also, more than half of radiologists are nearing retirement, exacerbating understaffed conditions just as advances in imagery cried out for a faster way to publish new information.

Osborn and Harnsberger developed software, ACRES Console, that places text, images and annotations in a structured database. This content then can be "re-purposed" into books, online reference systems and information programs for personal digital assistants, cutting the usual three- to five-year production time to about nine to 12 months.

The company's first product, the POCKETRADIOLOGIST series, quickly became the best-selling radiology series in the world.

Amirsys has become the leading producer of radiologic reference materials with plans to expand into other imaging-intense medical markets and to leverage the ACRES Console and other technology to publishing fields beyond medicine.