Dr Paula B. Gordon - OC, OBC, MD, FRCPC
Medical Advisor
Dr. Paula Gordon is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of British Columbia. She is a passionate clinician, researcher and educator.
In the 1980's her research on ultrasound-guided breast biopsies led to it becoming a standard of care worldwide. This procedure enabled accurate diagnosis of breast masses, which had previously required surgery and allowed women to forego surgery for non-cancerous abnormalities.
During her career, Dr. Gordon has published dozens of articles in peer-reviewed journals. Her research 1995 was the first to show that ultrasound could find cancers missed on mammograms. This has led to a paradigm change in the management of screening women with dense breasts that began in the USA in 2009, but is now spreading to Canada, the UK, Asia, Australia and Europe.
She was a member of BC Women's Health Centre's Expert Task Force for a Breast Assessment & Diagnostic Partnership Pilot Program in 1996, and worked there until 2020, serving as Medical Director of the Sadie Diamond Breast Program from 2007 to 2019. During that time, she secured funding from The Diamond Foundation and the Provincial Health Services Authority to obtain the first tomosynthesis technology (3D mammography) in BC and to establish the Vancouver Breast Imaging Fellowship, to train the future leaders in breast imaging. She arranged for trainees to rotate through BC Women's Health Care Centre, BC ancer, and the office of Dr. Linda Warren & Associates to ensure exposure to multiple experts. Due to the reputation of the program she has also trained self-funded fellows from other provinces, the USA and the Middle East.
With the acquisition of tomosynthesis, Dr. Gordon arranged for Vancouver to be among the first Canadian sites to join TMIST: the tomosynthesis mammographic imaging screening trial, an FDA-funded multi-centre trial, donating hundreds of hours participating in the planning and preparation of the trial as a Canadian lead-in site.
Dr. Gordon is widely appreciated for her mentoring of medical students, radiology residents and fellows in breast imaging, as well as teaching her individual patients and the public. She is a popular instructor at "Hands-on workshops" at the Radiologic Society of North America where radiologists learn how to perform needle biopsies and other procedures with ultrasound guidance, and has done so every year since they were first introduced in 1993.
She is a sought-after speaker and moderator and panel member, and has given hundreds of invited lectures locally, nationally and internationally, as well as participating on and chairing scientific panels throughout North America.
She volunteers as a reviewer for several medical journals, and is a volunteer advisor t, Dense Breasts Canada, a Canadian patient advocacy group, and an American educational website: Dense Breast Info.
With colleagues from across Canada, she was a founding member of the Canadian Society of Breast Imaging.
Dr. Gordon has volunteered on and chaired dozens of committees:
- Lower Mainland Innovation and Integration Fund Committee for Breast Health
- Chair, Early Detection Committee, Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation 2020 Project
- Chair of the Early Detection Committee of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, BC/Yukon Division,
- Member, Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Breast Cancer Prevention and Risk Assessment Clinic Advisory Board
- Chair of the Academic Committee of the Screening Mammography Program of British Columbia,
- Co-Chair of the Workforce Committee of the Provincial Breast Health Strategy, and a member of the Steering, Clinical Pathway and Prevention Committees of the Provincial Breast Health Strategy,
- Member of the Provincial Radiology Expert Committee, a reviewer for the Canadian Association of Radiology Mammography Accreditation program
- Reviewer for clinical practice guidelines for the American College of Radiology
- Reviewer for clinical practice guidelines for the Canadian Association of Radiologists
- Canadian Heads of Academic Radiology Development Award
- BC Children's and Women's Hospital Award of Excellence in Education
- A Killam Teaching Prize from University of British Columbia.
- The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal.
- The Order of British Columbia,
- Honorary Alumnus Award from the UBC Medical Alumni Association.
- Canadian Women's Executive Network Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada, Trailblazers and Trendsetters Award
- Was called "one of the greatest Canadian specialists in breast cancer detection and diagnosis" by the Ministry for the Status of Women, on the occasion of the International Day of Radiology
- Best Teacher - UBC Radiology Residents
- 2022 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Prix d'Excellence - Specialist of the Year award, Region 1
- UBC Radiology 2022 Clinical Faculty Award for Excellence in Research/Discovery/Innovation
In recognition of her contributions to the field of breast imaging, she was made a Fellow of the Society of Breast Imaging, a society of the American College of Radiology, and volunteered on their Board of Directors for 6 years.