At a recent National Institutes of Health Grand Rounds Lecture in October, Curtis Langlotz, a Stanford Univ. medical doctor and bioinformatics researcher, gave a lecture detailing his work to bring artificial intelligence to radiology image interpretation. What was striking about his one-hour lecture is how his research not only  involves medical expertise, but also an in-depth knowledge of computer science and linguistics. Traditionally, experts have been viewed as individuals who know much about one specific area. To be on the cutting edge of research, one often has to be an expert in multiple areas. Of course, Prof. Langlotz probably didn’t expect that his work would take him into linguistics, but interdisciplinary work requires an open mind and frequently takes detours into new and exciting areas.

The future? A computer assisting doctors to be sure that small masses are detected before they become massive tumors!