Daniela Fonseca Ribeiro on nuclear medicine: ‘A lot of people know we exist, but they don’t know exactly what we do’

The work of the European Federation of Radiographer Societies (EFRS) covers all aspects of diagnostic and therapeutic radiography, both throughout Europe and in the UK. But is its work in nuclear medicine flying under the radar? Synergy recently caught up with the newly appointed vice chair of the nuclear medicine committee, Daniela Fonseca Ribeiro, to find out how to ensure the modality doesn’t go unnoticed.

The EFRS, which the Society of Radiographers has full membership to, is a non-profit organisation, set up by professional societies and academic organisations that represent radiographers in Europe to represent, promote and develop the radiography profession across the entire range of medical imaging, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy, making it a unique stakeholder at a European level.

As part of these efforts, the EFRS uses expert committees to develop ideas for change, methods for delivering solutions and ways to advance the profession as a whole. One such committee, the Nuclear Medicine Committee, recently appointed Daniela as vice chair, who is keen to make sure that nuclear medicine is visible, sustainable and patient centred.

Synergy asks Daniela to share her perspective on the current state of the field, what challenges it might be facing and how radiographers – whether based in Europe or further afield – can make sure they’re keeping up.

More visibility for nuclear medicine 

As Daniela sees it, the primary issue facing nuclear medicine – both in Europe and England, and indeed potentially worldwide – is a lack of visibility. “We absolutely need to provide more visibility to the nuclear medicine fields,” she says. “A lot of people know we exist, but they don’t know exactly what we do. There’s a lot to be done.

“There’s also a lot of focus at the moment on the sustainability of the radiography profession – that’s something we’re very keen to explore and develop. We already have some projects that we initiated last year, and we want to really focus on those.”

The Nuclear Medicine Committee of the EFRS conducted a scoping review on sustainability in the nuclear medicine field and has put together a webinar on sustainability ,which is currently freely available on the EFRS website.

Alongside sustainability, patient-centred care emerges as one of the hot topics in the profession, Daniela adds. At this year’s European Congress of Radiology, these subjects recurred across discussions and talks – prompting the EFRS to focus on them going forward. 

But discussion of these topics would be incomplete without talking about the other major theme affecting radiography at the moment: AI. Daniela explains that the EFRS’s Nuclear Medicine Committee already has experts who are currently completing doctoral theses on AI as part of its membership. “That’s quite important for us,” she says. “We have experts from different areas within nuclear medicine. There is a lot to be done there; AI is very closely related to sustainability at the moment as well. Our work in sustainability will definitely involve the AI spectrum.”

Providing a better quality of care

Daniela first became interested in nuclear medicine after she finished high school, in her home country of Portugal, in 2010. An interest in biology, physics and chemistry sparked an idea to find a subject that could bring the three disciplines together – when she saw nuclear medicine, she knew it was the topic for her. “It was also the opportunity to help diagnose and treat patients and provide them with a better quality of life,” she says. “That’s why I accidentally started in nuclear medicine.”

After finishing her Bachelor’s degree in 2014, Daniela came over to the UK to start working in Portsmouth. She stayed there as a locum for two months, working in the nuclear medicine department to cover all conventional nuclear medicine scans; bone scintigraphies and renograms, for example. “It was a lovely experience,” Daniela says. “Even after I left, I developed very close bonds with the people there.”

She went on to work at private imaging provider InHealth in PET/CT imaging, which helped both clinically and with understanding research methodology – transferable skills that would prove vital to her future. There, she found herself performing scans on the back of a trailer, covering the entirety of the south coast, for nearly seven years.

After that, she moved to London and worked for Invicro, a private imaging research facility, for nearly seven years. “What really pushed me was the fact that they had just installed a brand new PET/MR scanner,” she says.  

“It was hybrid equipment – everyone wanted to work with it. I saw that as an opportunity, as all my work up until then had been clinical. I was very keen to find out in what ways nuclear medicine could really help with progressing research.”

Finally, around two years ago, a job as a radiology research manager came up at King’s College Hospital in London. “What really attracted me to it was the fact that, coming from a nuclear medicine background, I was going to be involved not only with the management of the research that was being supported by nuclear medicine, but also understanding the close collaboration with the CT department, with the MRI department,” she explains.

Daniela currently covers the whole of radiology at King’s, including general radiology, neuro, dental, breast and nuclear medicine. Despite the broad array of responsibilities under her belt, Daniela sees her position as a fantastic opportunity: “It’s so interesting – sometimes you think that, for this haematology trial, for example, maybe they require PET-CT scans – but actually there’s a neck, chest, pelvic diagnostic CT scan that goes with it; that’s conducted elsewhere. A patient might require an abdominal ultrasound, or some other diagnostic test.

“When nuclear medicine positions itself collaboratively with radiology, and the various modalities within radiology to build those bridges, you help patients and you provide them with a better quality of care.”

Daniela initially expressed an interest in joining the EFRS expert committee in 2023, but at the time she was unfortunately unable to get involved. Then in 2024 she was approached and asked to join. She started as a committee member, supporting activities and plans that had already been put in place before the EFRS went through a restructure and introduced new terms of reference late in 2024. “It was noted that, really, not just for the nuclear medicine committee but for all of the EFRS committees, there should be a vice chair to support the chair,” she says. “Being the chair is very demanding; there are a lot of responsibilities. So I made an expression of interest in becoming vice chair, which was read by the EFRS board, and luckily they thought I was appropriate for the job!

“It hasn’t really quite sunk in, that appointment, but we’ve already planned out upcoming meetings all the way until June. I’m keen to go to these meetings and understand how best I can support the members of the committee and successfully deliver on the plan we have for this year.

“Anyone who would like to get in touch, seeking support for any projects, any activities, please do reach out. We are here and we want to support you. The SoR is a full member of the EFRS, and we’re here just as much for the UK as we are for the rest of Europe. Above all, we really want to promote and develop the profession – and we want to work with everybody to do so.”