Claudia Henschke

Biography

Dr. Claudia Henschke is a Professor of Radiology and heads the Lung and Cardiac Screening Program at the Mount Sinai Medical Center. 

A pioneer and leading expert in the field of diagnostic radiology, Dr. Henschke has long believed that smokers and former smokers should consider being  tested with low-dose CT scans to detect lung cancer when a tumor is still small enough to be cured.  Dr. Henschke has more than 20 years of clinical and research experience in this area and , since 1993, has led city, state, national,  and international projects that have resulted in the diagnosis of some 800 lung cancers.  She and her team have created a protocol that has set an international standard for performing low-dose CT scans and  managing findings which require additional testing.

Her team has developed techniques that provide 3D  growth assessment  of a lesion. Using these techniques  lesion growth can be measured and  compared to the rate of growth seen in malignant tumors. This can help distinguish those lesions that are benign from those that are malignant.

 Dr. Henschke heads the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program (I-ELCAP) which is an international collaborative group consisting of experts on lung cancer related issues.  More than 60 sites in the world have participated in this research program.

Dr. Henschke received a M.S. in mathematical statistics from Southern Methodist University and her PhD in mathematical statistics and computer science in 1969 from the University of Georgia.  She was awarded her medical degree from Howard University in 1977.  She completed her radiology residency at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Harvard Medical School,  and in 1981 was named to the faculty of the Department of Radiology at Harvard Medical School.  Dr. Henschke was a Professor of Radiology  at Weill Cornell Medical College before joining Mount Sinai. Dr. Henschke has authored over 250 peer reviewed publications, two books and more than 30 chapters in books.