Computer Vision News - November 2021

71 computer scientists. We do different jobs, but we work together, and it’s highly rewarding. It’s been a big learning opportunity for me, but I hope also for Deepak Alapatt and Armine Vardazaryan, who are the two main research engineers I work with under Nicolas’s supervision.” Pietro says both sides have had to converge in order to speak the same language. “I had to learn how to code because it forces you to better understand what you’re trying to do,” he points out. “It allows you to be more autonomous in running these models, analyzing them on your own, and following, understanding, and improving the computer science research a little bit as well. The point isn’t to devise these tools myself – I don’t want to steal the work of computer scientists and the computer scientists I work with are not interested in doing what I’m doing!” Four years ago, Pietro ended up in Strasbourg by chance with a mobilityscholarship from the European Union. He says he got “super passionate” about the research being performed at IHU Strasbourg and was lucky enough to win a research grant from EAES. At that point, Nicolas offered him the opportunity to do a PhD with his computer science team. “My clinical supervisors were quite puzzled at first!” he reveals. “They were afraid it would take me away from my profession because at the end of the day, I’m a medical doctor.” But Pietro took a chance, and four years later, he is very glad he did. “I’m super, super happy!” he grins. “My supervisors, who were initially skeptical, are happy now too. I’m even more motivated than before to go back to clinical practice. In November, I will be starting a residency and will eventually be translating what we’ve been developing in the lab to the operating room.” Pietro will be defending his PhD thesis in the spring, and he promises to return to our pages to continue this discussion then. He teases: “Next time, I will tell you a story of how a clinical need drives innovation in computer science, and how observation done with computer science methods are fed back to the surgical department to improve the quality of the care they deliver!” Pietro Mascagni at Camma Lab