Alumni portrait of Kristina Cecilia Miger: Combining Clinical Work, Diagnostics, and AI Technology to Improve Patient Outcomes
In March, Kristina Cecilia Miger defended her PhD project “Value of Lung Ultrasound, Chest Radiography, Chest CT and Artificial Intelligence to Diagnose Acute Heart Failure in Patients Presenting with Dyspnoea” at University of Copenhagen wrapping up her time as a DCAcademy grant recipient. Early on, Kristina’s research career began with a fascination of the diagnostic aspects of medicine especially imaging and understanding what happens beneath the surface before clinically overt symptoms develop. Today, Kristina continues to pursue her passion as she steps into a new role as resident doctor in Clinical Physiology at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital, Stockholm.
Discovering an interest in medical imaging and diagnostics
Since the beginning of medical school, Kristina has always been interested in the diagnostic side of medicine. For Kristina, cardiovascular research allowed her to combine clinical relevance, advanced diagnostics, and technology to better understand disease development and improve early detection and patient outcomes.
This is also connected to Kristina’s PhD project which focused on improving how we diagnose acute heart failure in patients who arrive at the hospital with shortness of breath. One of the challenges of this research area is that breathlessness can be caused by many different conditions, making it difficult to quickly identify the underlying cause and start the appropriate treatment.
In simple terms, Kristina compared different imaging methods, including lung ultrasound, chest radiography, and CT scans, to determine which techniques are most effective at detecting signs of heart failure. She also investigated whether artificial intelligence (AI) could assist doctors by identifying these signs more quickly and consistently on CT scans. Using AI technology to improve patient care is something that especially intrigues Kristina: “I find it particularly exciting when new technologies can help us make better, faster, and more informed clinical decisions”.
Learning how to navigate uncertainty while staying curious
When Kristina reflects upon her time as a PhD student, the first thing that comes to her mind is the word growth. Kristina elaborates: “My PhD challenged me scientifically and personally, and it taught me resilience, independence, and how to navigate uncertainty while staying curious”. Furthermore, Kristina also expressed that she learned another important lesson: everything takes much longer than expected in research “which forced me to become adaptable and creative in finding solutions along the way”.
Throughout Kristina’s research career, she has worked with several mentors who have inspired and supported her. Rather than a single individual, “it has been the combination of both younger and more senior supervisors that has had the greatest impact on me”. According to Kristina, they have all brought different perspectives, experiences, and approaches to both clinical medicine and research, which challenged her to think critically and see problems from multiple angles.
Equally important, these mentors also taught Kristina the value of always aiming to ask the right questions, maintaining high scientific standards, and staying persistent when facing setbacks. Finally, they showed Kristina how research and clinical practice can complement each other, “while always keeping the patient perspective at the centre of our work”.
Trials and triumphs
As pointed out previously, research rarely goes exactly as planned, and timelines are often much longer than anticipated. One of the largest challenges for Kristina has been staying committed to a research plan while remaining open to new input and unexpected findings. According to her, this can be particularly difficult as “it requires structure, persistence, curiosity, and an open-minded mindset”.
On the other hand, the most rewarding part of her research journey has been the combination of scientific discovery and clinical relevance. For Kristina, this determining factor is particularly motivating: “knowing that research findings may ultimately contribute to better diagnostics and patient care is highly motivating.”
Stepping into the role as a resident doctor
Currently, Kristina works as a resident doctor in Clinical Physiology at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital, Stockholm. She chose this field as she truly enjoys the diagnostic aspects of medicine, especially cardiovascular imaging and understanding complex physiology through advanced diagnostic methods. According to her: “the specialty has a strong focus on both education and research, which makes it an ideal combination of clinical work, diagnostics, and scientific development”.
Looking ahead, Kristina hopes to be working at the intersection of advanced cardiovascular diagnostics, imaging, and research. Ideally, Kristina aspires to “combine clinical work with innovation and translational research to improve early detection and improved patient care”.