Rita Freimanis, MD
Professor Emeritus
Radiology
School of Medicine

Before Dr. Freimanis came to UCSF, she was a professor in the department of radiology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, as well as the previous Section Head of Breast Imaging, Director of the Breast Imaging Fellowship Program, Radiology Residency Program Director and Vice-Chair of Education.

Dr. Freimanis’ research interests include collaborating with other clinicians and basic scientists in areas related to breast imaging and breast cancer. She has experience in the evaluation of advance technologies such as stereotactic core needle biopsy, Homologous Electrical Differences Analysis (HEDA), Positron Emission Mammography (PEM), and digital mammography, looking at soft­copy versus film display and computer aided detection. Overall, Dr. Freimanis believes in the importance of anticipating needs of the next generation of patients and imagers, and working to maintain top quality breast imaging services for patients.

Dr. Freimanis was for many years an invited examiner for the American Board of Radiology and clinical image reviewer for the American College of Radiology mammography accreditation program. She has directed over 20 breast cancer and breast imaging CME meetings. She has 9 book chapters, 29 journal articles and over 100 invited presentations.

Dr. Freimanis provides many years of experience related to breast imaging, and her expertise in breast cancer, radiology, and education is recognized nationally and internationally.

Expertise: Breast Imaging

Specialty: Breast cancer, breast imaging

Professional Interests: Mammography, breast ultrasound, breast MRI, image­guided breast biopsy, multidiscipline breast cancer approach, breast tomosynthesis

Education and Training:

• Medical School: Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
• Residency: North Carolina Baptist Hospital/Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem

• Utility and Outcomes of Preoperative Screening Breast MRI for Planned Bilateral Prophylactic Mastectomy in High-Risk Patients.
  AJR. American journal of roentgenology 2021 Taliaferro AS, Price ER, Hayward JH, Wong JM, Balassanian R, Fay JS, Freimanis RI, Joe BN, Lee AY
• Abstract PD5-01: Magnetic resonance imaging insights from an active surveillance cohort of women with DCIS.
  Cancer Research 2021 Heather Greenwood, Rita Freimanis, Case Brabham, Rita Mukhtar, Gillian Hirst, Paul Kim, April Liang, Laura Esserman, Nola Hylton, Amrita Basu
• Abstract PS1-03: Active surveillance for DCIS: Clinical outcomes at 5.6 years mean follow-up.
  Cancer Research 2021 Case Brabham, Rita Mukhtar, April Liang, Paul Kim, Gillian Hirst, Amrita Basu, Heather Greenwood, Rita Freimanis, Alexander Borowsky, Shelley Hwang, Rick Baehner, Gregor Krings, Nola Hylton, Laura …
• Commentary on "Comparison of Abbreviated Breast MRI vs Digital Breast Tomosynthesis for Breast Cancer Detection Among Women With Dense Breasts Undergoing Screening".
  AJR. American journal of roentgenology 2020 Greenwood HI, Freimanis RI
• A case of acute onset gigantomastia in a 20-year-old woman.
  Clinical imaging 2020 Vyas S, Greenwood HI, Jankowski T, Freimanis RI, Kallianos KG, Henry TS, Strachowski LM
• Current Landscape of Breast Cancer Imaging and Potential Quantitative Imaging Markers of Response in ER-Positive Breast Cancers Treated with Neoadjuvant Therapy.
  Cancers 2020 Jones EF, Hathi DK, Freimanis R, Mukhtar RA, Chien AJ, Esserman LJ, Van't Veer LJ, Joe BN, Hylton NM
• Abstract P6-16-06: Improved early stratification of invasive cancer risk using MRI in a ductal carcinoma in-situ short-term active surveillance cohort treated with neoadjuvant endocrine therapy.
  Cancer Research 2020 Paul Kim, Heather I. Greenwood, Rita I. Freimanis, Gillian L Hirst, Megan Fischer-Colbrie, Jessica Gibbs, Nola M Hylton, Christina Yau, Eun-Sil Shelley Hwang, Laura J. Esserman, Rita A Mukhtar
• Microcalcifications Detected at Screening Mammography: Synthetic Mammography and Digital Breast Tomosynthesis versus Digital Mammography.
  Radiology 2018 Lai YC, Ray KM, Lee AY, Hayward JH, Freimanis RI, Lobach IV, Joe BN
• Screening Mammography in Women 40-49 Years Old: Current Evidence.
  AJR. American journal of roentgenology 2017 Ray KM, Joe BN, Freimanis RI, Sickles EA, Hendrick RE
• Clustered Microcysts on Breast Ultrasound: What Is an Appropriate Management Recommendation?
  AJR. American journal of roentgenology 2017 Greenwood HI, Lee AY, Lobach IV, Carpentier BM, Freimanis RI, Strachowski LM
• Clinical Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Technique, Indications, and Future Applications.
  Seminars in ultrasound, CT, and MR 2017 Greenwood HI, Freimanis RI, Carpentier BM, Joe BN
• Value of diagnostic imaging for the symptomatic male breast: Can we avoid unnecessary biopsies?
  Clinical imaging 2017 Foo ET, Lee AY, Ray KM, Woodard GA, Freimanis RI, Joe BN
• Breast cancer screening.
  North Carolina medical journal 2014 Freimanis RI, Yacobozzi M
• Abstract 2613: Racial/Ethnic specific polygenic models of breast cancer risk.
  Epidemiology 2012 Venetta Thomas, Zhi Liu, Sathish K. Srinivasan, Ren-Hua Chung, Eden Martin, Edward A. Levine, Rita I. Freimanis, Jennifer J. Hu
• Polygenic model of DNA repair genetic polymorphisms in human breast cancer risk.
  Carcinogenesis 2008 Smith TR, Levine EA, Freimanis RI, Akman SA, Allen GO, Hoang KN, Liu-Mares W, Hu JJ
• Polymorphisms in CYP1B1, GSTM1, GSTT1 and GSTP1, and susceptibility to breast cancer.
  Oncology reports 2008 Van Emburgh BO, Hu JJ, Levine EA, Mosley LJ, Perrier ND, Freimanis RI, Allen GO, Rubin P, Sherrill GB, Shaw CS, Carey LA, Sawyer LR, Miller MS
• The effects of gray scale image processing on digital mammography interpretation performance.
  Academic radiology 2005 Cole EB, Pisano ED, Zeng D, Muller K, Aylward SR, Park S, Kuzmiak C, Koomen M, Pavic D, Walsh R, Baker J, Gimenez EI, Freimanis R
• Primary care providers' concerns and recommendations regarding mammography screening for older women.
  Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education 2005 Sharp PC, Michielutte R, Spangler JG, Cunningham L, Freimanis R
• DNA-repair genetic polymorphisms and breast cancer risk.
  Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology 2003 Smith TR, Levine EA, Perrier ND, Miller MS, Freimanis RI, Lohman K, Case LD, Xu J, Mohrenweiser HW, Hu JJ
• Biopsy needle technique and the accuracy of diagnosis of atypical ductal hyperplasia for mammographic abnormalities.
  The American surgeon 2003 Zhao L, Freimanis R, Bergman S, Shen P, Perrier ND, Lesko N, Pulaski T, Pulaski S, Carr JJ, Levine EA
• Method for combined FDG-PET and radiographic imaging of primary breast cancers.
  The breast journal 2003 Adler LP, Weinberg IN, Bradbury MS, Levine EA, Lesko NM, Geisinger KR, Berg WA, Freimanis RI
• Reported pain following mammography screening.
  Archives of internal medicine 2003 Sharp PC, Michielutte R, Freimanis R, Cunningham L, Spangler J, Burnette V
• Diagnostic accuracy of digital mammography in patients with dense breasts who underwent problem-solving mammography: effects of image processing and lesion type.
  Radiology 2003 Cole EB, Pisano ED, Kistner EO, Muller KE, Brown ME, Feig SA, Jong RA, Maidment AD, Staiger MJ, Kuzmiak CM, Freimanis RI, Lesko N, Rosen EL, Walsh R, Williford M, Braeuning MP
• Positron emission mammography: initial clinical results.
  Annals of surgical oncology 2003 Levine EA, Freimanis RI, Perrier ND, Morton K, Lesko NM, Bergman S, Geisinger KR, Williams RC, Sharpe C, Zavarzin V, Weinberg IN, Stepanov PY, Beylin D, Lauckner K, Doss M, Lovelace J, Adler LP
• Requirements for effective functional breast imaging.
  Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A Accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment 2003 I.N. Weinberg, V. Zawarzin, L.P. Adler, R. Pani, G. DeVincentis, I. Khalkhali, H. Vargas, R. Venegas, S.C. Kim, G. Bakale, E. Levine, N. Perrier, R.I. Freimanis, N.M. Lesko, D.P. Newman, K.R. …
• Interpretation of digital mammograms: comparison of speed and accuracy of soft-copy versus printed-film display.
  Radiology 2002 Pisano ED, Cole EB, Kistner EO, Muller KE, Hemminger BM, Brown ML, Johnston RE, Kuzmiak CM, Braeuning MP, Freimanis RI, Soo MS, Baker JA, Walsh R
• The Breast Cancers We Miss.
  Contemporary Diagnostic Radiology 2001 Rita I. Freimanis, Nadine M. Lesko
• Stereotactic localization of breast lesions: how it works and methods to improve accuracy.
  Radiographics : a review publication of the Radiological Society of North America, Inc 2001 Carr JJ, Hemler PF, Halford PW, Freimanis RI, Choplin RH, Chen MY
• A controlled evaluation of tuned-aperture computed tomography applied to digital spot mammography.
  Journal of digital imaging 2000 Webber RL, Underhill HR, Freimanis RI
• A novel fuzzy logic approach to microcalcification detection.
  Information Sciences 1998 H.D. Cheng, J.R. Chen, R.I. Freimanis, X.H. Jiang
• A novel approach to microcalcification detection using fuzzy logic technique.
  IEEE transactions on medical imaging 1998 Cheng HD, Lui YM, Freimanis RI
• Appraising pulmonary edema using supine chest roentgenograms in ventilated patients.
  American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 1998 Thomason JW, Ely EW, Chiles C, Ferretti G, Freimanis RI, Haponik EF
• Stereotactic localization of breast lesions: How it works and methods for improving accuracy.
  Academic Radiology 1997 J. Jeffrey Carr, Paul F. Hemler, Rita I. Freimanis, Robert H. Choplin, Price W. Halford
• Chest X-ray changes in air space disease are associated with parameters of mechanical ventilation in ICU patients.
  American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 1996 Ely EW, Johnson MM, Chiles C, Rushing JT, Bowton DL, Freimanis RI, Choplin RH, Haponik EF
• Abdominal mass in a four-year-old boy.
  Investigative radiology 1990 Murphy JS, Freimanis RI, Harmon BH
• The effect of 'irrelevant' IgG protein selection on target uptake ratios of radiolabeled antibodies.
  Investigative radiology 1988 Freimanis R, Zoghbi SS, Gottschalk A