In 2002, I heard about “From missiles to mammograms” for the first time. Susan Blumenthal, assistant surgeon general of the US, was a speaker at the breast cancer conference in Bucharest, Romania that I was attending along with a small group from Western Serbia.

While I don’t remember exactly what she said, I do remember vividly grasping the idea that being named assistant surgeon general had made it possible for her to talk directly with the head of the CIA. And that ability to communicate led to an amazing result.

Because, deeply concerned about old-style mammography’s limitations at a time when breast cancer was surging, she had something she wanted the CIA to work on – to improve early detection of breast cancer by applying the same top secret imaging technologies it used in space exploration and military purposes.