diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 32cc320..3649192 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@
 # FROM docker.io/fnndsc/conda:python3.10.2-cuda11.6.0
 FROM docker.io/python:3.11.0-slim-bullseye
 
+# set timezone to EDT
+RUN ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York /etc/timezone
+
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.authors="FNNDSC <dev@babyMRI.org>" \
       org.opencontainers.image.title="DICOM image make" \
       org.opencontainers.image.description="A ChRIS plugin that creates a new DICOM file from an existing DICOM and a new image"
diff --git a/dicommake.py b/dicommake.py
index 116928c..a056d9f 100644
--- a/dicommake.py
+++ b/dicommake.py
@@ -10,11 +10,13 @@
 from    pflog               import pflog
 from    concurrent.futures  import ThreadPoolExecutor, ProcessPoolExecutor
 from    functools           import partial
+from    pytz                import timezone
 import  os, sys
 import  pudb
 import  pydicom
 import  datetime
 os.environ['XDG_CONFIG_HOME'] = '/tmp'  # For root/non root container sanity
+eastern = timezone('US/Eastern')
 
 from    PIL                 import Image
 import  numpy               as      np
@@ -36,7 +38,7 @@
 
 
 
-__version__ = '2.3.8'
+__version__ = '2.3.9'
 
 DISPLAY_TITLE = r"""
        _           _ _                                     _
@@ -118,8 +120,8 @@ def image_intoDICOMinsert(image: Image.Image, ds: pydicom.Dataset) -> pydicom.Da
     Returns:
         pydicom.Dataset: a DICOM Dataset with the new image
     """
-    AcquisitionDate  = lambda : datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%Y%m%d')
-    AcquisitionTime  = lambda : datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%H%M%S')
+    AcquisitionDate  = lambda : datetime.datetime.now(eastern).strftime('%Y%m%d')
+    AcquisitionTime  = lambda : datetime.datetime.now(eastern).strftime('%H%M%S')
 
     def npimage_get(image):
         interpretation:str  = ""
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index afc436f..14e6041 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -5,4 +5,5 @@ numpy
 loguru
 pftag==1.2.22
 pflog==1.2.26
-pftel-client
\ No newline at end of file
+pftel-client
+pytz # for timezone
\ No newline at end of file