PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Heber MacMahon

Heber MacMahon is a thoracic radiologist whose work connects chest imaging with computer-aided diagnosis and deep learning. He earned an MD at University College, Dublin, completed diagnostic radiology training at Washington University's Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, and was named as inventor on a June 1988 mobile-radiography patent. After a May 2005 UChicago patent application on computer-aided diagnosis for temporal-subtraction images, he was elected president of the Fleischner Society in 2009, co-directed the Human Imaging Research Office from 2009 to 2011, and coauthored the 2011 LIDC-IDRI lung nodule CT reference database. His later work includes a 2018 deep-learning study of CT lung screening, the 2021 Golden Key Award at the University of Chicago, and the Fleischner Society's 2024 thoracic-imaging glossary. As of October 2026, he is a professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of Chicago Medicine.

Now at
University of Chicago Medicine

Timeline

  1. 1988

    Medical training and a radiography patent

    He earns an MD at University College, Dublin, and completes diagnostic radiology training at Washington University's Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology. In June 1988, he is named as inventor on a UChicago patent for a mobile radiography alignment device.

  2. 2005

    A computer-aided diagnosis patent

    In May 2005, UChicago publishes a patent application that names him as an inventor on an automated computer-aided diagnosis method for evaluating disease and registration accuracy in the subtraction of temporally sequential medical images. It sets a gray-level threshold and applies area and circularity requirements to filter false-positive regions.

  3. 2009–2011

    Fleischner Society president and imaging co-director

    In 2009, he is elected president of the Fleischner Society, where he also serves as lead author of its guidelines for managing small pulmonary nodules. From 2009 to 2011, he serves as Faculty Co-Director of the University of Chicago Medicine Human Imaging Research Office.

  4. 2011

    The LIDC-IDRI lung nodule database

    In 2011, he coauthors the completed reference database of lung nodules on CT scans from the Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) and Image Database Resource Initiative (IDRI), establishing a publicly available reference for the medical imaging research community.

  5. 2018

    Deep learning for CT screening

    In 2018, he coauthors an arXiv study of deep learning for cancer risk assessment in CT lung screening. Its model generalizes across three datasets and achieves AUC values between 86% and 94%.

  6. 2021

    A Golden Key Award

    He receives the Golden Key Award in 2021 from the Medical & Biological Sciences Alumni Association in recognition of service to the Division of the Biological Sciences and the University of Chicago.

  7. 2024

    A thoracic imaging glossary

    In 2024, he coauthors the Fleischner Society's glossary of terms for thoracic imaging, which replaces previous glossaries published in 1984, 1996, and 2008.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor at Chicago

    As of October 2026, he is a professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of Chicago Medicine.

Career

  1. Since 2009University of Chicago MedicineFaculty Co-Director

Education

  1. University College DublinMD

From the biography.

  1. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Chicago. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Chicago. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Chicago. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Chicago. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Heber MacMahon yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Radiology Select: Pulmonary Nodules www2.rsna.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. Mobile radiography alignment device | UChicago Knowledge knowledge.uchicago.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Automated method and system for the evaluation of disease and registration accuracy in the subtraction of temporally sequential medical images | UChicago Knowledge knowledge.uchicago.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. Former Staff Members | Human Imaging Research Office hiro.bsd.uchicago.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. The Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) and Image Database Resource Initiative (IDRI): a completed reference database of lung nodules on CT scans discovery.dundee.ac.uk. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Towards radiologist-level cancer risk assessment in CT lung screening using deep learning arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. Faculty Receive 2021 BSD Distinguished Faculty Awards | The University of Chicago radiology.uchicago.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. Fleischner Society: Glossary of Terms for Thoracic Imaging snu.elsevierpure.com. Checked 22 October 2026.