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Radiologist Surgeon General, Opportunistic Screening, and Contrast Dose
May 4, 2026
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Together with
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“Regardless of politics … we should be stoked to have a radiologist in this position.”
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Radmanmd, commenting on the nomination of Nicole Saphier, MD, to surgeon general.
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Happy Monday, Imaging Wire Subscriber!
We at The Imaging Wire were as surprised as everyone at last week’s nomination of Nicole Saphier, MD, for surgeon general, but it couldn’t have come at a better time for radiology, which has long struggled to raise its profile with the public.
Today’s issue is packed with other important news. You’ll find how-to stories on opportunistic screening and contrast dose reduction. We’re also highlighting ongoing confusion over the best starting age for screening mammography (perhaps an issue Saphier can help clarify once her nomination is confirmed).
Have a great week and see you Thursday!!
Brian Casey, Managing Editor
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Could America’s next top doctor be a radiologist? The radiology world – and the rest of U.S. healthcare – was stunned late last week when the Trump Administration nominated radiologist Nicole Saphier, MD, to be surgeon general, replacing previous nominee Casey Means, MD.
If confirmed, Saphier’s nomination would be the first time a board-certified radiologist has held the position, which typically goes to physicians with experience in public health rather than medical specialists.
- Trump nominated Means for the position in May 2025, but the nomination languished over concerns about Means’ experience, her lapsed medical license, and her tepid support for vaccines.
On the other hand, Saphier is an actively practicing radiologist who serves as director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth in New Jersey.
- She’s also been a frequent contributor to Fox News, where she appeared on the conservative network’s “Fox & Friends” morning show as an expert on public health policy.
Saphier was born and raised in Arizona, where she completed her radiology residency and was involved in efforts in 2014 to pass breast density notification legislation in the state.
- She moved to New Jersey later that year and worked in a private-practice breast imaging center before taking the position she currently holds at MSK Monmouth.
Saphier has always been active on social media (her X account has 364.4k followers), due to her belief that radiologists should be more visible to patients.
- It was that presence that initially drew the attention of Fox News producers, and Saphier began appearing on the network in 2016 to comment on public policy issues (her involvement with Fox ended with the nomination announcement).
Saphier’s nomination is already drawing critics who are combing over her history of statements on vaccines and the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- In general, Saphier has expressed skepticism about government involvement in healthcare, but most of her beliefs fall within the mainstream of U.S. public health policy, which should bode well for her nomination.
ACR issued a statement supporting Saphier’s nomination, noting her work with the group on several public policy issues and observing that if confirmed, “Saphier would be the highest-ranking radiologist ever in government service.”
The Takeaway
Politics aside, Saphier’s ascension as surgeon general could have huge benefits for radiology in general and breast imaging in particular. Saphier has consistently supported mammography screening and issues like breast density awareness, and should her nomination succeed, radiology would find itself with an ally at the highest levels of the U.S. government.
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Unlock Next-Level Diagnostic Possibilities
Photonova Spectra from GE HealthCare is designed to realize the full potential of photon-counting CT in oncology, cardiology, neurology, and more. Learn more about the difference its Deep Silicon technology makes on this page.
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AI Echo Tracks Progression of Cardiac Amyloidosis
A recent study evaluated over 750 echocardiograms from patients with transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR-CM) using Us2.ai software to track structural and functional heart changes over time. Find out how well it worked on this page.
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8 Ways Merge Supports Enterprise Imaging Providers
Merge enterprise imaging solutions deliver measurable value to imaging providers through continued innovation, thoughtful design, and flexible deployment. Request a demo today to see them in action.
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- How to Do Opportunistic Screening: Sure, opportunistic screening sounds like a great idea in principle. But what’s the best way to put it into practice in the real world? Fortunately, some of the pioneers of CT-based opportunistic screening are here to help with a new paper in Radiology. They review the clinical use cases for opportunistic screening, and discuss how AI automation tools are making it easier to translate CT-derived cardiometabolic measures into explainable data that can predict survival and assess biological aging.
- CTA Contrast Dose Reduction: Contrast dose for head and neck CT angiography can be reduced through simple changes to scanning protocols. Researchers show how it’s done in a new study in JACR, sharing their CTA contrast optimization protocol developed in a trial with 1.8k exams. From a baseline dose of 103 mL, they reduced contrast dose in two phases, first to 73 mL and then 64 mL, finding comparable image quality ratings while saving nearly $50,000 per year in contrast costs at the lowest dose.
- Radiation Exposure in Nuclear Medicine: As the U.S. debates new levels for occupational radiation exposure, a study from France has reassuring news. Researchers analyzed occupational radiation dose for 7.4k nuclear medicine workers, finding an average individual annual dose of 0.31 mSv, or 10X lower than the 3 mSv natural background annual radiation exposure in France. In all, 87% of workers received an annual radiation exposure < 1 mSv, 13% had 1-5 mSv, and 0.08% had between 5-10 mSv.
- New Radiotracers Improve Theranostics Access: The introduction of new PET radiotracers with longer half-lives improved access to the diagnostic phase of theranostics procedures by reducing patients’ travel distances. That’s according to a new Neiman HPI analysis in JACR that tracked 3.4k claims for neuroendocrine tumor tracers. The 2021 introduction of copper-64 DOTATATE and its nearly 13-hour half-life gave clinicians an alternative to gallium-68 DOTATATE/DOTATOC, which has a 68-minute half-life. As a result, urban-rural disparities in diagnostic radiotracer access largely disappeared.
- Siemens/Varian Lands Big Radiotherapy Award: Siemens Healthineers’ Varian business unit received a U.S. government ARPA-H grant for up to $60M (with another $23M invested by Siemens) to develop photon flash therapy. Flash therapy is a high-dose-rate mode that delivers radiation therapy 100X faster than existing approaches to minimize side effects. Flash therapy has mostly been used on more expensive proton and electron-beam systems, but the grant aims to bring it to more widely available linear accelerator systems.
- FDA Clears Siemens Angio Systems: In other Siemens Healthineers news, the company received FDA clearance for their new line of interventional angiography systems. The clearances are for the Artis family of systems that Siemens introduced at RSNA 2025, and range from the premium Artis icon.vision system to the Artis pheno.vision. All are based on the company’s new Optiq AI imaging chain.
- Women Confused Over Mammo Starting Age: Two years after the USPSTF lowered its recommended starting age for mammography screening to 40, women are still confused. A new survey of 1k women found that 44% believed mammography should start at 50, which conflicts with not only the updated USPSTF guidelines but also advice from groups like SBI and ACR. Adding to the confusion is the American College of Physicians, which last month reiterated its guidance that screening start at 50.
- Why Breast Cancers Get Missed: Why are some breast cancers missed on mammography screening exams? This question is the subject of Ikonopedia’s new five-part video series featuring breast imaging pioneer László Tabár, MD, PhD, that includes information on how and why cancers are missed, and how imaging pathology correlation, structured interpretation, and pattern recognition can improve early detection in practice. The on-demand series will be capped by an interactive webinar on May 21 in which Tabár will discuss cases and real-world applications.
- Low-Income People Get Fewer Cancer Screenings: People in low-income neighborhoods get fewer cancer screenings at federal health centers. Researchers in a new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine analyzed screening at over 1.3k federally qualified health centers, finding that the most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods had screening rates nearly 11 percentage points lower for mammography, 15 points lower for colorectal cancer, and nearly 8 points lower for cervical cancer. Additional funding and more tailored resource allocation could improve screening uptake.
- Viz.ai Launches Rural Health Program: One of the most promising use cases for AI is giving underserved areas access to better healthcare. In that vein, Viz.ai is partnering with the National Rural Health Association on a program to help rural hospital leaders better understand and implement AI tools. Viz and the NRHA will conduct educational webinars, perform real-world case studies, and host conversations at NRHA 2026 this month.
- AI Triage of Chest X-Rays: More results are coming out from a massive trial using AI to triage chest X-rays in the U.K.’s NHS. Just a month after study results on report turnaround times were presented at ECR 2026, a new study in Radiology: Artificial Intelligence examines the accuracy of Harrison.ai’s Annalise Enterprise CXR algorithm for classifying 63.1k chest radiographs. AI had sensitivity of 97% and specificity of 35%, with a clinically significant miss rate of 0.05%, somewhat lower than comparable trials.
- FDA Clears Philips Chest MRI Coil: Philips received FDA 510(k) clearance for a new lightweight and flexible MRI chest coil. The company’s Smart Fit TorsoCardiac coil is intended for 1.5T scanners and supports improved cardiac imaging by better conforming to patient anatomy. Philips said the coil can be used with its AI-based SmartSpeed Precise acceleration technology and recently cleared SmartHeart software suite for simpler and more standard cardiac MRI workflow.
- Fonar Shareholders Mull Litigation: Shareholders of MRI pioneer Fonar are investigating legal options in response to a $123.5M bid to take the firm private. At least one investor filed suit, with more possibly on the way as some shareholders dispute the $19 per share offer price. Fonar has filed SEC documents outlining the transaction, in which chairman and CEO Timothy Damadian (son of MRI inventor and company founder Raymond Damadian, MD) is leading a management group taking the firm private. A shareholder vote is scheduled for May 28.
- iCardio Closes $4.5M Funding: Echocardiography AI developer iCardio.ai raised $4.5M to further commercialize its technology for automating cardiac ultrasound scans. The company has two FDA clearances – CardioVision for detecting aortic stenosis and EchoMeasure for supporting echo interpretation and preliminary reporting – with several more pending, and its corporate partners range from Butterfly Network to Abbott. The funding round was led by Cedars-Sinai Technology Ventures, and iCardio completed an agreement giving it access to Cedars-Sinai’s cardiac imaging dataset.
- FDA Clears Abbott AI-Powered OCT Platform: The FDA cleared the latest version of Abbott’s optical coherence tomography platform, Ultreon 3.0, for high-resolution imaging of coronary plaque. Ultreon 3.0 includes AI-powered enhancements and sports a one-second OCT pullback that can capture cross-sectional views of coronary arteries with higher resolution than intravascular ultrasound with low or zero contrast. It also provides better information on the size, shape, and location of coronary blockages, improving the ability to place stents and plan procedures.
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Shifting the Stage in Lung Cancer Screening
Watch this video from Riverain Technologies to learn how their ClearRead CT solution for lung cancer screening can drive enrollment, earlier detection, and seamless management of incidental findings.
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AI-Powered Referral Automation
Radiology teams are drowning in referrals, and a huge chunk of that burden is purely administrative. Kailo Medical built a solution to fix that: An AI-powered referral automation workflow that handles the full intake process. Find out how it works today.
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New Tools for Detecting Cardiovascular Plaque
New imaging tools are advancing the detection of cardiovascular plaque – a key risk factor for heart attack. In this video, ClearCardio’s John Osborne, MD, PhD, discusses these innovations, including United Imaging’s uCT ATLAS CT scanner and their Software Upgrades for Life program.
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- Singapore’s National AI Imaging Platform: AimSG, Singapore’s national radiology AI platform, is powered by CARPL to support third-party and in-house AI through a single, secure pipeline. See how CARPL powers healthcare across Singapore.
- Accelerating Imaging Workflows in Radiology and Cardiology: Radiology and cardiology are turning to enterprise imaging platforms to break out of silos and benefit from shared medical image management. Join AGFA HealthCare to discover what this looks like in a live discussion on Tuesday, May 19 at 12 pm ET.
- Visit Visage at SIIM 2026: At this year’s SIIM 2026, Visage Imaging will demonstrate its Visage 7 solution operating across the entire Apple ecosystem, including on Apple Silicon-powered workstations with multiple Studio Display XDRs. Book a priority demo today or drop by booth #404-408.
- A New Era of Imaging Technology: MosaicOS is the cloud-native and AI-native operating system from Mosaic Clinical Technologies designed to expand capacity, cut reporting time, and deliver faster, smarter patient care. Discover how it can improve your radiology operations today.
- Intelligence and Quality in Bedside Imaging: The new FDR Go iQ from Fujifilm Healthcare Americas is one of the smallest, quietest, and most agile full-size portable X-ray systems available.Together with Fujifilm’s trademark image quality and dose performance, FDR Go iQ brings premium imaging to bedside exams.
- AI Impressions, Validated in Practice: New research in npj Digital Medicine shows AI-generated radiology impressions can achieve near parity with radiologists in quality and clinical utility. See how modern reporting from Rad AI brings this into your workflow. Book a demo.
- AI-Powered Population Health: DeepHealth is assembling radiology’s largest portfolio of AI-enabled radiology solutions for population health. Learn more about their focus and their recent acquisition of Gleamer in this video interview.
- Lights, Camera, Action! Philips in The Pitt: The Philips Radiography 7000 M mobile X-ray system played a role as a key imaging tool within the emergency department in a recent episode of HBO’s medical drama “The Pitt.” Find out how it can star in your imaging facility.
- An AI-Powered Solution for Fracture Detection: Gleamer’s BoneView provides radiologists and clinicians with an instant and automatic second reading of trauma bone X-rays, fully integrated into the reading workflow. See how it works today.
- From Radiology Resident to Company Founder: In this episode of Medality’s The Radiology Report Podcast, Dor Shoshan, MD, founder and CEO of ContrastConnect, shares how he went from radiology resident to founder of a platform for virtual contrast supervision now used by hundreds of imaging centers nationwide.
- How Cloud-Based Enterprise Imaging Accelerates Insights: Cloud-based enterprise imaging shortens the path from scan to diagnosis by centralizing data, automating workflows, and enabling AI-driven prioritization. Find out how Intelerad’s cloud-native imaging platform can help you change healthcare delivery.
- How AI Is Redefining Data Migration: Enlitic’s Migratek data migration services – combined with AI-enabled ENDEX data standardization – is changing the game for data migration projects. Discover how it can benefit you in this article.
- Leadership in Life Sciences: Quibim is committed to accelerating its development within the life sciences sector and strengthening collaborations with leading pharmaceutical companies. Learn about recent leadership developments that are moving the company forward.
- The Path to Digital Pathology: Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City had a vision: digital pathology coupled with fully integrated radiology, all in one enterprise imaging system. Learn how they turned this vision into reality on this page from Sectra.
- Experience Dynamic Simplicity in Fluoroscopy: Still on the fence about upgrading to the latest technology that fluoroscopy has to offer? Hear from your peers about their experiences with the first-ever installed LUMINOS Q.namix R system from Siemens Healthineers.
- Leveraging AI-Powered Discovery for Image Exchange: Southwest Medical Imaging, a premier physician-owned radiology practice in the southwestern U.S., partnered with Medicom to streamline their workflow. Discover how they utilize Medicom’s AI-powered Smart Search, which leverages an LLM to automatically detect and surface imaging data, to eliminate manual searching and accelerate patient care.
- Radiology Case Report: A man in his 50s presented with syncope with minor head trauma and unassociated risk factors. Find out how MRI helped provide a diagnosis in this case study.
- Enterprise Imaging Done Differently: Legacy radiology solutions were not designed to carry healthcare organizations into the future. From their first line of code, Mach7 Technologies was designed to meet the imaging needs of the entire healthcare enterprise. Learn more about their unique approach today.
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