Fiona J. Gilbert, MD

Fiona J. Gilbert, MD, MBChB, FRCP, FRCR, is a champion of oncologic and musculoskeletal imaging and a renowned advisor on best practices in radiology. She currently serves as head of the Department of Radiology at the University of Cambridge in England.

"Dr. Gilbert is an internationally known expert in breast imaging, musculoskeletal radiology, and quality assurance," said RSNA President Valerie P. Jackson, MD. "I am most aware of her many contributions to breast cancer imaging and possible treatments, which have the potential to significantly decrease breast cancer mortality."

After receiving her medical degree from the University of Glasgow in 1978 and her radiology training in Aberdeen, Professor Gilbert quickly established herself as an authority on quality improvement. She has contributed to numerous focus groups and advisory boards to establish national standards for medical imaging. For 10 years, she served on the panel of the Scottish Bone Tumour Registry, reviewing cases alongside pathologists, orthopedic surgeons and clinical and medical oncologists to ensure best practices. From 2004 to 2008 she served on the National Cancer Research Institute’s breast cancer clinical focus group as a radiology representative. The group prioritized the research projects to be supported by the National Cancer Research Network. Dr. Gilbert also set up the Scottish Interval Cancer Database for the Scottish Breast Screening Programme and was responsible for auditing the program, serving as Deputy Chair for Radiology for Quality Assurance. She chaired the Royal College of Radiologists Academic Committee from 2010 until 2017. Currently vice president, she will be president of the European Society of Breast Imaging in 2021.

Professor Gilbert’s research interests include all aspects of breast cancer imaging, testing new modalities in large scale trials, understanding the tumor microenvironment and using multimodal functional imaging to monitor changes during neoadjuvant therapy. She also has extensive experience in musculoskeletal imaging exploring early imaging changes in osteoarthritis and the mechanism of club foot in fetal and neonatal development to improve understanding of the condition.

Currently, Professor Gilbert is investigating predictive and surrogate response in breast cancer, using 3T MR imaging with diffusion-weighted imaging and spectroscopy to identify biomarkers that will help guide personalized treatment. With PET, her team is exploring FLT and HER2 as predictive and prognostic biomarkers. They have applied the knowledge they gained investigating cervical, rectal and esophageal cancers to breast cancer. Additionally, she is focusing on risk adapted imaging in breast screening to use more appropriate techniques in those women most likely to benefit.

Since 2012 Dr. Gilbert has been awarded 15 research grants totaling more than $20 million in funding. She oversees imaging research at Cambridge and serves as a professor and mentor to undergraduate students. She is chairman of the Cambridge Health Imaging Committee overseeing imaging research at the university.

The author of nearly 200 peer-reviewed publications, Professor Gilbert has served on the editorial board for Clinical Radiology, funding review panels for the Medical Research Council, National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Technology Assessment board and Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation board. She was appointed an NIHR Senior Investigator in 2016 - 2020, a prestigious award given to the top 200 health researchers in the UK.