About the Authors

David A. McAllister

Affiliations Centre for Population Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America

Firas S. Ahmed

Affiliation Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America

John H. M. Austin

Affiliation Department of Radiology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America

Claudia I. Henschke

Affiliation Department of Radiology, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, New York, United States of America

Brad M. Keller

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States of America

Adina Lemeshow

Affiliation Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America

Anthony P. Reeves

Affiliation School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America

Sonia Mesia-Vela

Affiliation Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America

G. D. N. Pearson

Affiliation Department of Radiology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America

Maria C. Shiau

Affiliation Department of Radiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York, United States of America

Joseph E. Schwartz

Affiliation Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America

David F. Yankelevitz

Affiliation Department of Radiology, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, New York, United States of America

R. Graham Barr

rgb9@columbia.edu

Affiliations Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have the following interests: DY, AR, and CH are named inventors on the following patents and patent applications relating to the evaluation of diseases of the chest including measurement of nodules: 7274810 (System and method for three-dimensional image rendering and analysis), 7499578 (System, method and apparatus for small pulmonary nodule computer aided diagnosis from computed tomography scans), 7693729 (System and method for conducting a clinical trial study),7751607 (System, method and apparatus for small pulmonary nodule computer aided diagnosis from computed tomography scans), 8045770 (System and method for three-dimensional image rendering and analysis), 8050481 (Method and apparatus for small pulmonary nodule computer aided diagnosis from computed tomography scans), 8165385 (System and method for three-dimensional image rendering and analysis), 8577129 (System and method for three-dimensional image rendering and analysis). Some of these, which are owned by Cornell Research Foundation (CRF) are nonexclusively licensed to General Electric. As an inventor of these patents, DY, AR, and CH are entitled to a share of any compensation which CRF may receive from its commercialization of these patents. As of April 2009, CH has signed away any financial benefit including royalties and any other proceeds related to the patents or patent applications. SV is currently employed by GSK but exclusively performed the work while an employee of Columbia University. This study was partly funded by Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: DM JA RGB. Performed the experiments: DM JA CH BK AL AR SM GP MS JS DY RGB. Analyzed the data: DM FA RGB. Wrote the paper: DM. Made critical revisions of the manuscript for important intellectual content: FA JA CH BK AL AR SM GP MS JS DY RGB.