Vision

Directed by Rebecca Smith-Bindman, M.D. (bio), the Radiology Outcomes Research Laboratory (RORL) focuses primarily on ways to increase the benefits and minimize the harms of widely used screening and diagnostic imaging tests that use ionizing radiation.

Mission

The principal objective of RORL research is to provide rigorous evidence of the value of testing to allow patients to make more informed decisions about how and when to undergo imaging. This research will also aid health policymakers in making informed recommendations to the public about when and how to use such tests.  

Specifically, the goal is to demonstrate the impact of tests on health, identify the value of certain tests, decrease the use of tests where the evidence has shown the costs or harms outweigh the benefits, and do research to improve the performance of tests with proven clinical value but whose accuracy or precision can be raised.