Dr. Raquel Pérez-Lopez, head of the Radiomics Group at VHIO and coordinator of the Oncology Commission of the Spanish Society of Medical Radiology (SERAM), has been elected as the new chair of the European Society of Radiology (ESR) Research Committee.
Dr. Raquel Perez-Lopez is a prominent academic radiologist specializing in oncology, with training in Barcelona as well as at the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research in London. She also completed a Master’s in Medical Research at the University of Barcelona. Her doctoral studies demonstrated the value of whole-body diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging as a prognostic and response biomarker in bone metastases of prostate cancer. This research led to the development of the first prospective clinical trial in this context.
At the end of 2017, Dr. Perez-Lopez joined VHIO as the leader of the Radiomics Group. Her expertise focuses on precision imaging applied to personalized medicine, through the use of mathematical methods in image processing and the implementation of artificial intelligence in oncology.
She actively participates in several European research initiatives such as CCE-DART, ODELIA, and TANGERINE, and is a member of the editorial board for the scientific journals npj Precision Oncology, Cancer Research Communications, and ESMO Real World Data and Digital Oncology. Moreover, she leads the medical imaging working group of the Cancer Core Europe Imaging Task Force alliance.
Her work is fundamental to the development of new imaging biomarkers and the integration of artificial intelligence into the diagnosis and monitoring of cancer, thereby contributing to the advancement of precision medicine in oncology.
“From this new position, and with the support of other committee members and the industry, I hope to boost interdisciplinary collaboration by organizing workshops and meetings that involve radiologists as well as other healthcare professionals and engineers,” explains Dr. Pérez-López. “In addition, I will promote training opportunities and access to scholarships for young radiologists and radiology technicians, to foster research in our field while always bridging cutting-edge research with clinical practice.”
The researcher is confident that “this phase will drive new initiatives that transform clinical practice through advances in imaging. My goal is to accelerate knowledge transfer and build bridges between disciplines, generating benefits for both healthcare professionals and patients, and positioning ESR and SERAM as benchmarks in innovation and collaboration within the field of radiology.”
