Bharti Khurana, MD: Making the “Invisible” Visible: Transforming the detection of Intimate Partner Violence

Bharti Khurana, MD
Associate Professor of Radiology
Department of Radiology
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School
Director, Trauma Imaging Research and Innovation Center

Abstract

Early diagnosis of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) represents a critical unmet medical and social need. We have discovered that IPV victims have a higher imaging utilization, more frequent acute craniofacial injuries, and more frequent chronic fractures involving extremities and facial bones than matched controls, leading to our central hypothesis-longitudinal imaging data is critical in early IPV identification, and when combined with electronic medical records, an algorithm can be developed to detect IPV objectively. Our goal is to build novel prediction models and clinical support tools for calculating IPV risk and severity in every patient encountered at the point of care.

Short bio

Bharti Khurana, MD is a musculoskeletal fellowship (NIH R25; Mentor, Ferenc Jolesz) trained emergency radiologist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the founding director of the TIRIC. Her clinical and research efforts involve accurate and meaningful imaging interpretation with rapid application of clinical knowledge for patients in the emergency department, orthopedic and spine trauma, intimate partner violence, geriatric trauma, whole-body CT for trauma, MRI optimization, machine learning tools, education, and career-building in emergency radiology.