Dr. Elicker's research interests are in thoracic CT and MRI.  His research is primarily clinical which is a reflection of the strong clinical training during his radiology residency at Yale University and thoracic fellowship at UCSF.  His research interests primarily involve three areas: high resolution CT (HRCT) in the evaluation of diffuse lung disease, imaging in patients with lung transplants and thoracic vascular imaging.  These interests have evolved from the strong training he received during fellowship by leaders in these respective fields.

While HRCT has been used in the evaluation of diffuse lung disease for years, its role in diagnosis is continually evolving.  Dr. Elicker is a participant and radiologist in the nationwide idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis network (IPF-NET).  This is a NIH sponsored cooperative study that investigates different drug treatments' efficacy in arresting the progression of lung fibrosis in patients with IPF.  He is also involved in elucidating the role of HRCT in a variety of other diffuse lung diseases including hypersensitivity pneumonitis, connective tissue disease and smoking related interstitial lung disease.

UCSF is a center for lung transplant imaging providing a variety of unique opportunities for research, namely complications of lung transplantation and assessment of the native (non-transplanted) lung in the setting of more pronounced immunosupression than usually given in the treatment of interstitial lung disease.