Dr Susan Kearney

Dr Sue Kearney is an experienced Cardiothoracic Radiologist at Lancashire Teaching Hospital Trust and has been working as a substantive consultant since 1999. She graduated from the Liverpool Medical School in 1987 with an intercalated BSC degree in Anatomy in addition to her medical degree. She started her medical career in general medicine with an interest in respiratory disease moving to radiology training in 1991. She was initially on the Liverpool Radiology Scheme before transferring to Oxford where she focused on Thoracic Radiology spending some time at the Royal Brompton Hospital, London. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Kearney spends a large proportion of her time dedicated to the training and the supervision of trainee radiologists and reporting radiographers.

As part of her role as Consultant Cardiothoracic Radiologist, Dr Kearney reports plain film and CT scans for all chest related pathology and cardiac disease, and is experienced in CT and US guided procedures for lung and pleural related pathology. She reports body CT for the general inpatient and the major trauma service. She is a member of the regional interstitial lung disease (ILD) and local MDT meetings providing opinions for thoracic malignancy, ILD, emphysema, benign pleural disease, and cardiac disease. More recently Dr Kearney has become involved in CT post-mortem imaging providing the detailed radiological report including clinical-radiological correlation with suggested cause of death, directly for the Coroner. As part of this service, Dr Kearney works closely with the Senior Coroner, Dr James Adeley and was one of the radiologists presenting cases for the Cause of Death series on Channel 5.

Dr Kearney is author of 11 peer reviewed research papers covering various aspects of chest related disease. She has a particular interest in CXR interpretation and the causes of misinterpretation, error and missed lung cancer. She has developed online self-assessment tools for CXR identification of lung cancer to help improve diagnosis and reduce the likelihood of missed lung cancer. She has presented at many national and international meetings covering a wide range of chest related topics including ‘CXR and causes of error’, and the role CTPM. Dr Kearney was the British Society of Thoracic Imaging (BSTI) representative and thoracic lead for RCR Standards Document on the Education, Training and Preceptorship for reporting radiographers in adult chest X-ray CXR published 2023.

Dr Kearney dedicates much of her time to radiology education and training. She is an emeritus examiner for the RCR final (2B) FRCR examination, and has been working as an examiner for 10 years. She is a Senior Clinical Teaching Lead for the North West Imaging Academy (NWIA) in which she oversees and manages radiology education and training for allied health professionals, primarily reporting radiographers, and non-radiologist doctors. In her previous role as Academy Director she was responsible for the educational programs and formal assessments for all year 1 radiology trainees in the northwest region. Dr. Kearney is a clinical supervisor for radiology trainees, and mentor for CXR reporting radiographers. She delivers a rotational 5-day course in CXR interpretation to support training of reporting radiographers and radiology trainees. On behalf of NWIA, she organises radiology related CPD events for allied health professional and radiologists; most recently ‘Errors in Radiology – a holistic approach’ October 2023.

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In 2012 Dr Kearney introduced and developed the Cardiac CT Service for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals and continues to manage and lead this service. From 2018-2022 she was the Academy Director for the North West School of Radiology responsible for developing and managing the training placement and education for year 1 radiology trainees in the North West. From 2022-2023 Dr Kearney was Clinical Director for the North West Imaging Academy overseeing and managing radiology education and training for allied health professional and non-radiologist doctors.

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