Maryellen L. Giger, Ph.D. is the A.N. Pritzker Distinguished Service Professor of Radiology, Committee on Medical Physics, and the College at the University of Chicago. She is also the Vice-Chair of Radiology (Basic Science Research) and the immediate past Director of the CAMPEP-accredited Graduate Programs in Medical Physics/ Chair of the Committee on Medical Physics at the University.
She can be contacted at m-giger@uchicago.edu.
For over 30 years, she has conducted research on computer-aided diagnosis, including computer vision, machine learning, and deep learning, in the areas of breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, brain injury, lupus, and bone diseases, and COVID-19.
Over her career, she has served on various NIH, DOD, and other funding agencies’ study sections, and is a former member of the NIBIB Advisory Council of NIH.
She is a former president of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) and a former president of the SPIE (the International Society of Optics and Photonics), and was the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of the SPIE Journal of Medical Imaging.
She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and was awarded the William D. Coolidge Gold Medal from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, the highest award given by the AAPM. She is a Fellow of AAPM, AIMBE, SPIE, SBMR, IEEE, COS, and IAMBE, a recipient of the EMBS Academic Career Achievement Award, the SPIE Director's Award, the SPIE Harrison H. Barrett Award in Medical Imaging, the RSNA Honored Educator Award, and the RSNA Outstanding Researcher Award, and was a Hagler Institute Fellow at Texas A&M University. In 2013, Giger was named by the International Congress on Medical Physics (ICMP) as one of the 50 medical physicists with the most impact on the field in the last 50 years. In 2018, she received the iBIO iCON Innovator award.
She has more than 280 peer-reviewed publications (over 450 publications), has more than 30 patents and has mentored over 100 graduate students, residents, medical students, and undergraduate students.
Her research in computational image-based analyses of breast cancer for risk assessment, diagnosis, prognosis, and response to therapy has yielded various translated components, and she is now using these image-based phenotypes, i.e., “virtual biopsies” in imaging genomics association studies for discovery.
She extended her AI in medical imaging research to include the analysis of COVID-19 on CT and chest radiographs, and is contact PI on the NIH NIBIB-funded & ARPA-H-funded Medical Imaging and Data Resource Center (MIDRC; midrc.org). MIDRC received a 2023 DataWorks Prize from the FASEB and NIH Office of Data Science Strategy: Distinguished Achievement Award, “MIDRC – Sharable Curated Diverse Medical Images at Scale”
She was a cofounder of Quantitative Insights, Inc., which started through the 2009-2010 New Venture Challenge at the University of Chicago. QI produced QuantX, which in 2017, became the first FDA-cleared, machine-learning-driven system to aid in cancer diagnosis (CADx). In 2019, QuantX was named one of TIME magazine's inventions of the year, and was bought by Qlarity Imaging.
Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA
- certificate in Executive Leadership in Academic Technology and Engineering (ELATE)
2015
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL
PhD - medical physics
1985
University of Exeter
Exeter, England
MSc - physics
1979
Illinois Benedictine College
Lisle, IL
BS - physics, math, health science
1978
MIDRC mRALE Mastermind Grand Challenge: AI to predict COVID severity on chest radiographs.
MIDRC mRALE Mastermind Grand Challenge: AI to predict COVID severity on chest radiographs. J Med Imaging (Bellingham). 2025 Mar; 12(2):024505.
PMID: 40276098
Hybrid artificial intelligence echogenic components-based diagnosis of adnexal masses on ultrasound.
Hybrid artificial intelligence echogenic components-based diagnosis of adnexal masses on ultrasound. ArXiv. 2025 Apr 16.
PMID: 40321943
Automated multi-lesion annotation in chest X-rays: annotating over 450,000 images from public datasets using the AI-based Smart Imagery Framing and Truthing (SIFT) system.
Automated multi-lesion annotation in chest X-rays: annotating over 450,000 images from public datasets using the AI-based Smart Imagery Framing and Truthing (SIFT) system. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng. 2025 Feb; 13409.
PMID: 40297478
AI analysis of medical images at scale as a health disparities probe: a feasibility demonstration using chest radiographs.
AI analysis of medical images at scale as a health disparities probe: a feasibility demonstration using chest radiographs. ArXiv. 2025 Apr 08.
PMID: 40297238
Enabling global image data sharing in the life sciences.
Enabling global image data sharing in the life sciences. Nat Methods. 2025 Apr; 22(4):672-676.
PMID: 40155720
AI integrations with lung cancer screening: Considerations in developing AI in a public health setting.
AI integrations with lung cancer screening: Considerations in developing AI in a public health setting. Eur J Cancer. 2025 May 02; 220:115345.
PMID: 40090215
Action plan for an international imaging framework for implementation of global low-dose CT screening for lung cancer.
Action plan for an international imaging framework for implementation of global low-dose CT screening for lung cancer. Eur J Cancer. 2025 May 02; 220:115323.
PMID: 40022837
Brain Imaging Features in Patients with Gunshot Wounds to the Head.
Brain Imaging Features in Patients with Gunshot Wounds to the Head. J Neurotrauma. 2025 Apr; 42(7-8):689-699.
PMID: 39899350
Paradigm shift in early detection: Lung cancer screening to comprehensive CT screening.
Paradigm shift in early detection: Lung cancer screening to comprehensive CT screening. Eur J Cancer. 2025 Mar 11; 218:115264.
PMID: 39904127
Multi-institutional development and testing of attention-enhanced deep learning segmentation of thyroid nodules on ultrasound.
Multi-institutional development and testing of attention-enhanced deep learning segmentation of thyroid nodules on ultrasound. Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg. 2025 Feb; 20(2):259-267.
PMID: 39751996
Gold Medal
SPIE
2026
DataWorks Prize:Distinguished Achievement Award
FASEB and NIH Office of Data Science Strategy
2023 - 2024
Harrison H. Barrett Award in Medical Imaging
SPIE
2022
Lifetime Achievement Award
SDAMPP (Society of Directors of Academic Medical Physics Programs)
2022
Honored Educator Award
RSNA
2022
Outstanding Researcher Award
RSNA
2022
Aunt Minnie Finalist for Most Influential Radiology Researcher
Aunt Minnie
2022
Fellow
Chinese Optical Society (COS)
2021
Directors' Award
SPIE
2021
Distinguished Investigator Award (senior faculty category)
BSD, University of Chicago
2021
Honored Educator Award
RSNA
2020
Lifetime Achievement Award
Upstate New York chapter of the AAPM (UNYAPM)
2020
Fellow
IAMBE (International Academy of Medical & Biological Engineering)
2019
Top 100 Inventions of 2019, for QuantX
TIME magazine
2019
Fellow
Society of Breast MRI (SBMR)
2018
Crain's Chicago Notable Women in Education
Crain's Chicago
2018
iCON Innovator Award
IBIO Institute
2018
Hagler Institute Fellow
Texas A & M University
2017 - 2020
Fellow
IEEE
2016
Academic Career Achievement Award
Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS)
2016
Visionary Award
Benedictine University
2015
William D. Coolidge Gold Medal
American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM)
2015
Distinguished Investigator
Academy of Radiology Research
2015
Fellow
SPIE
2014
Distinguished Science Alumni Award
Benedictine University
2014
Named by the International Congress on Medical Physics (ICMP) as one of the 50 medical physicists wi
2013
Elected National Academy of Engineering
National Academy of Engineering
2010
Excellence Award
University of Chicago Paul Hodges Alumni Society
2009
Distinguished Alumni Award
Benedictine University
2006
Senior Member
IEEE
2005
Third Vice President (Honorary)
RSNA
2005
Fellow
AAPM
2001
Fellow
AIMBE
2000
Stauffer Award, Academic Radiology
1995
Sylvia Sorkin Greenfield Award
AAPM
1995
First Place Award, Young Investigators' Symposium
AAPM
1985
B.S. summa cum laude
Illinois Benedictine College
1978
Procopian Award
Illinois Benedictine College
1978
Rotary International Fellowship
1978 - 1979
Rev. Shonka, O.S.B. Scholarship Award in Physics
Illinois Benedictine College
1977
President's Scholarship Award
Illinois Benedictine College
1975 - 1977