For Ruth Carlos, M.D., the letter sent to a patient following an imaging study is more than just a means of sharing test results. It’s a teachable moment.

As part of her work in health services research, Dr. Carlos is examining how the diagnostic imaging experience can be used to help improve patient health and health behaviors.

“Each imaging encounter offers an opportunity to increase the patient’s health in general, beyond the test being performed,” said the University of Michigan radiologist.

For example, patients who undergo a coronary CT for chest pain could be given information on cardiac risk factors and encouraged to talk to their physician about ways to lower their cholesterol.

“Much of the focus of radiology is in reading individual studies, but we have an opportunity to help improve health in general,” said Dr. Carlos. “We need to reintegrate the practice of radiology into direct patient care.”

It’s a big-picture approach to radiologic research—and one Dr. Carlos arrived at with the help of an R&E grant. In 2000, she studied the use of a new contrast agent for renal MR as an RSNA/Toshiba America Medical Systems Research Seed Grant recipient.

“In my case, the R&E seed grant accomplished exactly what it set out to do—it prepared me for a career in academic radiology,” she said.

That initial funding helped Dr. Carlos refine her research agenda and prepared her to participate in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, which fosters the development of physicians to lead the transformation of America’s healthcare.

“Seed grants are so valuable because they provide resources at a time in one’s career when resources are hard to come by. It primes the pump, so to speak,” she added.

Today, Dr. Carlos is funded by the NIH to evaluate the use of screening mammography to improve colon cancer screening.

“Women are very aware of the need for breast cancer screening, but not for colon cancer screening,” she explained. “We’re looking at how we can leverage women’s participation in breast cancer screenings to improve colon cancer screenings.”

That might be as simple as adding age-appropriate information about colon cancer screenings to the letter sent to women notifying them of normal screening mammogram results or putting an educational video in patient waiting areas.

“We can be an intermediary, a matchmaker for information,” said Dr. Carlos. “If we’re able to affect the behavior of just one percent of the patients we see, it would be a huge improvement.”

In addition to serving on RSNA’s grantwriting faculty, serving on the R&E Foundation’s Research Study Section to review grant applications, and mentoring young researchers, Dr. Carlos and her radiologist husband both contribute annually to the R&E Foundation.

“I’m paying forward the investment RSNA made in me, and it’s great to see that evolution,” she said.