Dianne Georgian-Smith plenary talk: I am a Breast Imager; You are a Visual Scientist. Let’s Dance and Make a Better Radiologist

Bridging the gap between communities to develop better solutions is the theme of this keynote talk by Dianne Georgian-Smith of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital. In particular, bridging the gap between the image perception and radiology communities to enable more effective breast screening.

Georgian-Smith explains what radiologists look for when viewing images and how they process what they see in these images. A three-phase study with radiologists seeking to improve detection and diagnosis related to architectural distortions demonstrated increased specificity suggesting that certain aspects can be effectively taught and learned.

Working with one another, the communities can bring their complementary skills together to make a better radiologist.

Dianne Georgian-Smith is a radiologist in Boston, Massachusetts and is affiliated with Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital. She received her medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Twenty-five years ago, Dr. Georgian-Smith completed a fellowship in Breast Imaging, and was looking for a job as a general radiologist. She teamed with her U.C. colleague, Dr Bill Shiels D.O., who had invented the 'turkey breast model,' to learn and teach the hand-eye coordination of interventional ultrasound. This model carried her around the world. 

She began to ask, "how do I see the finding ‘architectural distortion' and why do others not see it? How can I teach what I see?" It was not until a decade later when mammography became digital that these questions could be studied. Georgian-Smith is determined to see the integration of the basic science of visual perception with the integration of clinical radiology curriculum.