Dr. Paula Gordon MD

Dr. Paula Gordon is Clinical Professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests include breast ultrasound for diagnosis and for supplemental screening for women with dense breasts. She is best known academically for her paper in Cancer in 1995, the first to prove that ultrasound could find cancers missed on mammograms in women with dense breasts. 

Dr. Gordon has been the Chair of the Early Detection Committee of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, BC/Yukon Division, Chair of the Academic Committee of the Screening Mammography Program of British Columbia, and Co-Chair of the Workforce Committee of the Provincial Breast Health Strategy. She has been a member of the Steering and Prevention Committees of the Provincial Breast Health Strategy, the Provincial Radiology Expert Committee, the Provincial Screening Policy Review Committee and the BC Breast Imaging Services Working Group.

Dr. Gordon has been a reviewer for the Canadian Association of Radiology Mammography Accreditation program, a reviewer for clinical practice guidelines for the American College of Radiology and the Canadian Association of Radiologists. 

She’s a fierce advocate for advancing physicians’, other primary providers’ and women’s knowledge of breast health and screening options, including supplementary screening for women with dense breasts. Her teaching outreach includes the lay public, and medical learners including medical students, residents, fellows and practicing physicians. Her mission is for as many breast cancers as possible, to be detected early, to give women more options for less aggressive therapy, and to reduce breast cancer mortality.

During her career, she has published 35 articles in peer-reviewed journals, attended over 200 conferences, given over 300 lectures to medical audiences on various aspects of breast diagnosis, and participated as moderator and panel member at dozens of international meetings. She is a popular instructor at "Hands-on workshops" where radiologists and surgeons learn how to perform needle biopsies and other procedures with ultrasound guidance.

She volunteers as Medical Advisor to Dense Breasts Canada and DenseBreast-Info.org, and as Director on the Board of the Canucks for Kids Fund. In recognition of her contributions to the field of breast imaging, she was made a Fellow of the Society of Breast Imaging. She has received the BC Children’s and Women’s Hospital Award of Excellence in Education, and was the first radiologist to receive a Killam Teaching Prize from the University of British Columbia. She was awarded the Honorary Medical Alumni award by the UBC Medical Alumni Association, received a Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal, and was invested in the Order of British Columbia. She was named one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network.