Kid Gloves in the West

The work of women in radiology has often been hidden from history. An early pioneer was Anna Hammann, who studied under Wilhelm Roentgen and went on to make outstanding contributions to radiation therapy. Hamman was the first female radiation oncologist in the US, where she developed a habit of always wearing pearl-buttoned kid gloves, to the amusement of her male colleagues.

Half the way around the world, the first use of radiology in Western Australia was in 1896, when innovator radiologist William Hancock demonstrated the new technology at the Perth Public Hospital. He took ‘a beautiful negative of a lady's hand through her kid glove’.

It’s not known who the first female radiologist in WA was, but we do know that the radiology profession in that state has come a long way, with 408 College members currently based in WA. Of these, 130 are women, and they are succeeding in their continuing commitment and focus on providing the highest quality service to the community of Western Australia.

Meet four of these Western Australian radiologists: three are College Life Members, and one an emerging star.

At the 2022 ASM, the College was proud to award Life Membership to Dr Fiona Bettenay, ClinA/Prof Anita Bourke and Clin A/Prof Elizabeth Wylie. All three have made outstanding contributions to Western Australian breast imaging over the past few decades, as well as to the College and the broader profession.

Dr Fiona Bettenay with RANZCR President Clin A/Prof Sanjay Jeganathan

Dr Fiona Bettenay has worked tirelessly for the betterment of radiology in Western Australia for forty years, in particular with her contributions to improving the standard of paediatric radiology in Western Australia.

Dr Bettenay was awarded the Beazley Medal and the AMA prize on graduation, and her subspecialist interests were paediatrics, women’s imaging and medico-legal. She was appointed to Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) in 1989, and was Head of Department at PMH from 2010 to 2016.

In 2015, she was appointed the Branch Education Officer for WA and Network Training Director for WA Radiology Training Program. She has also held various council and board positions with Medical Defence Australia since 1996. In 2019 she was awarded the Professor Turab Chakera Award for excellence in radiology teaching.

Dr Bettenay retired from clinical practice in paediatrics in 2019, and continues to work in mammography, providing screen reading and assessment services and paediatric post-mortem imaging at PathWest.

Dr Bettenay has been an examiner in paediatrics for the College since 1996 and is remembered by many for coaching a generation of trainees through their paediatric Vivas. With contributions to public radiology service, outstanding teaching and mentoring, she has devoted herself by way of afterhours tutorials and the mentoring of exam candidates. In turn, she is loved and highly respected by her trainees for her exceptional teaching and generosity.

She couldn’t be happier with her important role in her profession: ‘I consider myself fortunate in my choice of career. My proudest achievement is to have been a teacher and mentor to a generation of trainee radiologists.’

Clin A/Prof Anita Bourke with RANZCR President Clin A/Prof Sanjay Jeganathan

Clinical Associate Professor Anita Bourke belongs to the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Western Australia (UWA). She was the first dual-trained nuclear physician and senior breast radiologist in Western Australia.

Clin A/Prof Bourke worked as a consultant radiologist at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and at BreastScreen WA for more than thirty years, introducing multiple new imaging and interventional breast techniques, including the introduction of the breast MRI service, breast tomosynthesis and ROLLIS seed localisations.

During her career she has mentored many trainees, running breast imaging tutorials and preparing them for their clinical radiology examinations. She has also served as a College Examiner and as a member of the College’s Breast Imaging Group for many years.

Clin A/Prof Bourke is also a member of the WACOG Breast Collaborative, MR Breast Interest Group and was involved in WA Cancer Workforce Planning. She is an accreditor for BreastScreen Australia and her research is very well known.

Clin A/Prof Bourke also successfully undertook a Bachelor of Arts at UWA, in French and Italian, winning the Nisbett Prize in 2009.

She is a member of Dalkeith Rotary Club and helped to set up the Nokor Tep Women’s Hospital in Cambodia, developing their programs and co-ordinating donations from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. She retired from BreastScreen WA in 2021, and has been a tireless teacher, and is beloved by innumerable radiology trainees for her support and teaching.

Clinical Associate Professor Liz Wylie is highly regarded in Australia and New Zealand for her contribution to breast imaging and clinical radiology. She belongs to the elite club of HR Sear Prize recipients for the most successful candidate in the Part 2 Clinical Radiology examinations.

Clin A/Prof Liz Wylie with RANZCR President Clin A/Prof Sanjay Jeganathan

Clin A/Prof Wylie has taught generations of radiologists in Western Australia, and she remembers the start of her journey in the medical profession.

Doing radiology made me realise how an inspiring teacher can have such an influence on you as a student. I remember one of the radiology registrars doing a tutorial for medical students when I was in fifth year at Princess Margaret Hospital. He made it fun, and I thought ‘I can do this!’

In 1980, she graduated from the University of Western Australia. She completed her residency at Royal Perth Hospital in 1982, and trained in diagnostic radiology before completing overseas fellowships in 1988–89. She continues her work as Clinical Associate Professor at Royal Perth Hospital, and is also consultant radiologist there, and Medical Director of BreastScreen WA. Her work in many WA and Australian breast cancer groups is well known.

Clin A/Prof Wylie pioneered the use of ultrasound and stereotactic fine needle aspiration, core biopsy and vacuum assisted breast biopsy.

Clin A/Prof Wylie is very happy about the rise in awareness of breast screening,

I love the work,” she says. “I love the interaction with women— being in a clinic and making small talk and doing procedures as painlessly as possible. It’s also surprising—but heartening—at the level of joy there is amongst the staff and participants in the clinics. It all gives me and the multidisciplinary team a strong sense of purpose.

These three professionals are paving the way for emerging leaders in WA. They have worked with many other women in their professional journeys, including our final highlighted member.

Dr Emmeline Lee

Dr Emmeline Lee trained in Western Australia, graduating in 1994, and then undertook sub-specialist training in women's imaging and in breast imaging, and since then worked as an obstetrics and gynaecology ultrasound and breast imaging sub-specialist radiologist. She is the Director of Western Ultrasound for Women, and radiologist at Perth’s Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. In 2019, Dr Lee was honoured as Australasian Sonologist of the Year by the Australasian Society of Ultrasound in Medicine.

She is an enthusiastic teacher of radiology trainees and sonographers, and was the recipient of the Prof Chakera Award for Radiology Teaching in 2014. Her favourite time of the week is making tea for the radiology trainees on Thursdays. Dr Lee is the lead examiner in Obstetrics and Gynaecological Imaging for the College’s Part 2 examinations, and she started the WA Women’s Radiologist group.

She is the inaugural and current Chair of the College’s Obstetrics and Gynaecology Special Interest Group. Her research interests have led her to be on the Editorial Panel of Diagnostic Imaging Pathways, a suite of imaging guidelines that has been developed over twenty years and is endorsed by the College. She is the Expert Advisor for Obstetric Imaging in the popular website, Radiopaedia, and is co-lead in obstetrics and gynaecology for Radiology Across Borders. Through these and other avenues, Dr Lee volunteers her time regularly to share her expertise with radiologists and other doctors in the developing world, including in Samoa and Vietnam.

The topics of women in the radiology profession, and women in medical leadership, are dear to Dr Lee’s heart, and one of her roles at the recent ASM was to moderate the panel on Women in Medical Leadership. The panel, of six leading women radiologists, tackled some important and vital issues, including the unacknowledged barriers to advancement in the profession, gender diversity in medical student cohorts, gender equity strategies, and reminded her audience to reimagine gender disparity in radiology.

We know the College supports women, but the College can’t do it alone … women need to step up too.

Women like these four members have been, and continue to be, vital for bringing improved care for the people of Western Australia. They train their junior colleagues, and handle their patients, with kid gloves.