Computer Vision News - November 2021

68 Computer Vision for Medical Imaging Pietro Mascagni is a medical doctor, concludingaPhDinsurgicaldatascience between the Catholic University of Rome; ICube, University of Strasbourg; and IHU Strasbourg. His supervisors are Professor Guido Costamagna in Rome from the clinical side and Professor Nicolas Padoy in Strasbourg from the computer science side. He speaks to us about his work at the intersection of the two communities. Pietro has a bold mission: “I want to bridge the gap between surgical need and computer science to innovate for patients, surgeons, and healthcare systems.” But how can innovations the computer science community has fostered over the years be integrated into the clinical workflow to bring value to healthcare? Pietro tells us both sides need to communicate, collaborate, and cross- pollinate . This calls for peoplewho have a foot in both camps and can translate clinical need into scientific questions to be answered by means of computer science. Also, multidisciplinary efforts are needed to develop datasets and metrics that work for both communities. Nassir Navab told us that he insists engineers in his lab meet regularly with clinicians to facilitate the exchange of information and culture. “Professor Navab is a pioneer in this field and fully grasps the need for this reciprocal contamination,” Pietro attests. “Computer scientists must understand how their work fits in the broader picture of clinical care if they want to have an impact. This works both ways. Physicians often over or underestimate what can be done or have completely the wrong idea about technology. Visionaries like Professor Navab and computer science communities like MICCAI, who have just launched their first clinical day, are recognizing that we need to team up.” The surgical community is taking a step towards computer science too. Half of the members of the European Association of Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) , of which Pietro is on the technology committee, are engineers. The same is true for the AmericanSociety for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) . Pietro Mascagni