Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, and one of the best ways to screen for it is with regular mammography appointments. Unfortunately, the process of getting those preventative mammograms is rife with delays, miscommunications, opaque costs, and other accessibility issues, leading to many women simply not scheduling these critical appointments. Innovative breast imaging radiologist and entrepreneur Dr. Ryan Polselli is working to change that. 

A Visionary and Leading Expert 

After graduating medical school from the University of South Florida’s Morsani College of Medicine in 2006, Dr. Polselli went on to complete his residency in Diagnostic Radiology from Emory University School of Medicine in 2011. After that, he went on to conduct a fellowship as an associate professor of medicine at both The Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University Hospital and The Avon Breast Center of Grady Memorial Hospital, both in Atlanta, Georgia. With many years of education and hands-on experience under his belt, Dr. Polselli was ready to open his own practice.

Dr. Ryan Polselli began his clinical practice as the Director of Breast Imaging for Memorial Health University Community Hospital in Georgia. While there, his work led to the hospital’s designation as a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence (BICOE) from the American College of Radiology, full accreditation from the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), and accreditation from the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). 

In his time as Director, Dr. Polselli continually encountered barriers, inefficiencies, and problems with the way current healthcare institutions interacted with patients in need. Realizing that his expertise could be used to affect change, Dr. Polselli left his Directorship to start his own company. This decision has allowed him to make great strides toward improving the mammography experience for women in Florida, with goals to expand those services to new horizons.

Structural Barriers to Accessible Mammography 

Like in many other facets of healthcare in the United States, women looking to schedule a breast cancer screening will often encounter a number of structural barriers and other issues. In his time practicing, Dr. Polselli saw long waiting lists, extensive travel times, and poor communication occur often enough to dissuade women from seeking care at all—and those weren’t the only problems. The amount of anxiety and discomfort around the mammograms themselves would have women choosing to delay or cancel screenings entirely, deciding that the screening wasn’t worth the suffering and inconvenience. 

Waiting lists could be weeks or months long. Poor communication between patients, providers, and physicians worsened this issue, commonly leading to cancellations, reschedulings, and further delays. Rural accessibility to mammography was, and still is, a consistent issue, with many patients forced to take entire days off of work to travel to a breast cancer screening. Combine these problems with often opaque cost structures and uncertainties around follow-up procedures, and it’s no surprise women opted out of the process.

In short, mammography was burdened with two massive problems: setting up an appointment suffered from accessibility issues, and the procedures themselves were anxiety inducing and uncomfortable. Anxiety, inconvenience, and discomfort are not conducive to good outcomes in most environments, but are especially dangerous in a healthcare context. 

MammoLink and 3D Mobile Mammography

To solve these issues, Dr. Ryan Polselli founded his own company, and MammoLink now works to make mammography a transparent, easy, and accessible service to all. Both during his directorship and afterwards as part of his company, Dr. Polselli helped design, develop, and patent a number of innovative 2D and 3D breast imaging devices to improve the efficiency and accuracy of mammography procedures. But that wasn’t enough—it didn’t solve the core issues. MammoLink’s focus turned to making breast healthcare accessible by directly linking mammography services to patients’ primary care, providing transparency and communication through the process. 

Dr. Ryan Polselli hopes that by making the mammography experience more convenient, patient-focused, and accessible, the company will be able to encourage more women to schedule their mammography appointments. If MammoLink can center the patient in this way, maybe they can inspire other health practices to do the same. 

MammoLink’s innovation didn’t end at the receptionist’s desk either. Recognizing the needs of often underserved rural communities, Dr. Polselli and MammoLink worked to bring 3D Mobile Mammography to life. By packing a bus full of state-of-the-art mobile imaging technology, and staffing it with trained radiologists and technicians, MammoLink is able to bring care directly to patients. Long wait lists and bureaucratic delays can be cut down or eliminated by bringing the care to the patients directly, be it at their community centers, workplaces, or other rural sites. When uncertainty and inaccessibility are two of the largest hurdles to a woman due for a mammogram, these innovations can, in a real way, save lives.

The Future of MammoLink 

Dr. Ryan Polselli is continually looking for ways to expand MammoLink’s impact both in and outside of his home state of Florida. 

Community outreach is one such strategy. For example, MammoLink partnered with a local school in Sarasota to match a breast cancer fundraising drive with a ‘free mammogram day’ for the community, offering an opportunity for all women, regardless of insurance status, to get this important health screening. Lacking health insurance is an extremely prohibitive barrier to women in need of a breast health screening, and Dr. Polselli is always looking for more ways to provide service to those in need.

The advancement and integration of new technology is also a priority for MammoLink. Dr. Polselli has stated that he’s very interested in exploring the potential of AI and machine learning in the screening process to assist trained clinicians. With the right training and calibration, he believes such tools could greatly improve the accuracy and efficiency of the diagnostic process. More accurate screenings means more timely diagnoses and treatments, which leads to more lives saved. 

MammoLink wouldn’t be nearly as effective as it’s been without the partnership and cooperation of the many healthcare providers and hospitals that work with them. Dr. Polselli knows that one of the best ways to broaden MammoLink’s impact is to get more of these hospitals, clinics, and community health institutions onboard. Building out a robust network of providers offers MammoLink the best chance of reaching women in need of its services. 

Dr. Ryan Polselli’s dream of a world of patient-centered, convenient healthcare becomes more real with each passing day, and MammoLink is one part of that process. Removing systemic and structural barriers to healthcare is one of the core goals of Dr. Polselli and MammoLink’s mission, and they’re making great strides in expanding that service to women everywhere.