Creating Tools for Medical Image Computing

a presentation by 

Dr Ron Kikinis, Director, Surgical Planning Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital,
Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

sponsored by

Professor Kikinis investigates how to extract information and knowledge out of biomedical imaging data and use the knowledge to help diagnosis and treatment. Medicine is primarily an empiric field of science with relatively little theory. The engineering sciences, on the other hand, have a solid theoretical foundation, which allows easy hypothesis formation and extrapolation. This results in very different scientific cultures and how the scientific method is used in each field. Working as a translator between medical doctors, computer scientists and physicists is both a great privilege and an enormous challenge. Surprisingly few concepts are shared among these fields of science, which makes successful interdisciplinary work difficult to accomplish.

The fields of Radiology and Surgery are undergoing a quiet revolution, which started several decades ago. Capabilities of imaging devices have evolved in leaps and bounds, producing a larger quantity of more complex data. In order to take advantage of these novel capabilities in diagnostics and treatment, it is necessary to research, develop and deploy new image processing capabilities and, for treatments, to link them to devices.

Successful research in this field requires interdisciplinary teams with effective communications and shared values. While prototypes are sufficient for algorithm research, translation into biomedical research requires the creation of tools that can be used by physicians. Industrial involvement in this process only occurs after the value of a new capability has been demonstrated in translational research.

For the last decade, Professor Kikinis has focused on creating a software platform to make it easier to translate engineering prototypes for image post-processing into diagnostics and surgical treatment.

In his talk, Professor Kikinis will discuss current state-of-the-art tools and recent progress from a personal perspective.

Dr Ron Kikinis biography.

When: Thursday 26 April, 6 - 8 PM
Where: St Vincent's Private Function Room, 406 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010
Note: Enter via St Vincent's Private Hospital foyer and ask for Clinic Board Room
Parking: Parking available via St Vincent's Clinic Car Park (not St Vincent's Private Car Park)
Event Entry: FREE

HISA would like to thank St Vincent's Hospital for their kind support of this event.