Dr. Marcela Böhm-Vélez received her B.S. degree from Washington and Jefferson College and an M.D. degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1981. She completed an internal medicine internship at MercyHospital and a diagnostic radiology residency at St. Francis Medical Center, followed by a fellowship in Body Imaging and Mammography at The Western Pennsylvania Hospital. There she remained as Chief of the Ultrasound Section and Director of the Fellowship in Body Imaging until 1999, before joining Weinstein Imaging Associates. Her areas of expertise include breast imaging, gynecological, obstetrical, interventional and vascular ultrasound (US). She has organized seminars and lectures extensively at national and international conferences. She has published a book, several chapters, and numerous scientific papers that are used as reference materials in medical practice. She is an active participant in the US and mammography accreditation process for the AmericanCollege of Radiology (ACR). She has served as chair of many ACR Practice Parameters and the inital ACR's Appropriateness Criteria Expert Panel on Women's Imaging that reported on ovarian cancer screening and suspected adnexal masses. The initial Appropriateness Criteria reports to her credit included palpable breast masses, breast microcalcifications and stage I breast cancer. She was a member and co-writer of the 5th Edition ACR BI-RADS Atlas for US.
She currently holds a position as Assistant Clinical Professor of Radiology at the University of Pittsburgh, has served as President of the Pennsylvania Radiological Society, a member of ACR Steering Committee and Board of Directors of the International Society of Densitometry. She is also a Diplomate of the American Board of Radiology and a Fellow of the ACR, Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound, and American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. She has done research comparing transabdominal with tranvaginal US, the role breast US in the dense breast (ACRIN 6666 study), breast molecular imaging, comparing 3D breast US with hand held, evaluated opto-acoustic imaging technology for the breast, the value of computer-aided detection in breast US and help in the development of better breast and transvaginal transducers. She currently is part of a trial to determine the value of breast ultrasound after 3D mammography in the dense breast and evaluating a water based breast US technology. She is a member of the Board of Directors of WQED.
