Matakina International, Wellington, New Zealand, has announced that Jimmy Roehrig, PhD, has joined the company. Described as a pioneer in breast imaging technology, Roehrig will focus on strategic planning for the company, which is dedicated to objective volumetric measurement of breast density.

Roehrig, who co-founded R2 Technology, served as chief science officer and was responsible for building the technical team that produced the ImageChecker computer-aided detection (CAD) system, the first CAD system approved by the FDA. As vice president of advanced development, Roehrig led the development and refinement of R2’s proprietary algorithm for the earlier detection of breast cancer and managed efforts to apply the technology to other diseases. Upon the acquisition of R2 by Hologic, Inc, he remained until 2012, working primarily in the field of quantitative DCE MRI for breast imaging.

Prior to R2 Technology, Roehrig held engineering and management positions at Acuson Corp., Xonics Imaging, Lockheed Palo Alto Research Labs and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. He received his BA, MS, and PhD degrees in physics from the University of Chicago, and his MSEE from the University of Santa Clara.