Daniel Kopans

Who is Daniel Kopans?

Daniel B. Kopans, MD, FACR is a radiologist specializing in mammography and other forms of breast imaging.

Dr. Daniel Kopans is a leading expert in breast cancer detection and diagnosis. He is the founder of the Breast Imaging Division in the Department of Radiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1984 he was the lead author on a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine describing the developing subspecialty of "Breast Imaging". One of the founders of this new field, Dr. Kopans has been at the forefront of combining mammography, ultrasound, and other imaging tests to aid in the detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. Dr. Kopans led the defense of screening for women ages 40–49 when an effort was made, in the 1990s, to deny these women access to screening.

Dr. Kopans is author of over 200 scientific articles. Dr. Kopans invented the Kopans Wire used in needle localization that made it possible for radiologists to accurately guide surgeons to lesions detected by mammography which made it possible to diagnose breast cancers at a smaller size and earlier stage excisional breast biopsies. He was also instrumental in creation of the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System coding system used in all American mammography reports, serving as co-chair of a committee of the American College of Radiology which developed this system. This system helped to standardize the reporting of mammography results. Dr. Kopans has also been a leading figure in the development of breast tomosynthesis.