Cancer Imaging Program Webinar: Earlier, Better, Fairer: Translating Technology into Women’s Cancer Care

The NCI Cancer Imaging Program presents a monthly webinar series highlighting advancements in our imaging community. 

Nimmi Ramanujam, Ph.D. 

Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Cancer Pharmacology, Cancer Biology, and Global Health at Duke University 

Abstract: Despite major advances in cancer biology and treatment, outcomes for breast and cervical cancer remain strongly shaped by when disease is detected and how care is delivered, underscoring the need for systems that better connect technological innovation with clinical practice. This talk highlights an interdisciplinary translational research program focused on women’s cancers. Across both disease areas, this work emphasizes the translation of engineering advances into real-world clinical impact, with a commitment to equitable and sustainable cancer care. In cervical cancer, low-cost imaging technologies, artificial intelligence–driven diagnostics, and digital health platforms enable task-shifting from specialists to community health workers and extend screening from clinics into communities and homes through long-standing partnerships in Peru and Kenya. In breast cancer, complementary therapeutic and imaging strategies—including localized immune-activating therapies and real-time metabolic imaging—aim to reduce overtreatment and enable earlier identification of relapse risk. Together, these efforts highlight scalable, integrated approaches that shift cancer care earlier, improve clinical decision-making, and translate technological innovation into meaningful, real-world impact.

Biosketch: Nirmala (“Nimmi”) Ramanujam is the Robert W. Carr Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Cancer Pharmacology, Cancer Biology, and Global Health and founder of the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies (GWHT) at Duke University. Her work addresses access gaps across the cancer care continuum both locally and globally. Her group develops low-cost imaging, artificial intelligence, and digital health platforms to decentralize the early detection of cervical cancer, and immune-based injectables and metabolic biomarkers for breast cancer treatment. Across both programs, she addresses access in different ways—expanding prevention where healthcare infrastructure is limited and improving access to treatment where therapies are available, yet lengthy and prohibitively expensive. She founded Calla Health to translate women’s health technologies into practice and co-developed The (In)visible Organ, a documentary that raises awareness and addresses stigma as barriers to care. She also leads experiential STEM initiatives that train students in systems-based, equity-centered technology development and she has authored a textbook, Biomedical Engineering and Global Health. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors, a Fulbright Scholar, and recipient of a number of awards, notably of the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Innovator Award, the IEEE Biomedical Engineering Technical Field Award and the Anita B social impact award.