Hector Foundation Prize for Annika Reinke: Metrics Reloaded Sets New Standards for AI in Image Analysis

We’re thrilled to announce that Dr. Annika Reinke received the Hector Foundation Prize 2025 for her exceptional work Metrics Reloaded. The prize, endowed with €10,000, recognizes outstanding contributions by young researchers in computer science.

Annika conducts research in the Helmholtz Imaging Research Unit at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) , co-led by Lena Maier-Hein and Klaus Maier-Hein. The unit focuses on the downstream stages of the imaging pipeline, developing robust methods for automated image analysis and emphasizing rigorous validation to enable trustworthy and generalizable AI across scientific imaging domains.

With Metrics Reloaded, Annika and a team of 70 researchers worldwide have set a new benchmark for quality assurance in AI-supported image analysis. The innovative framework and online tool help researchers and practitioners choose the right performance metrics for their specific tasks – addressing a critical factor that directly impacts the safe and effective translation of AI solutions into real-world practice.

Validation metrics are key figures used to assess algorithm performance. But if chosen poorly, they can produce misleading results, posing a real risk when AI is used in sensitive areas like cancer diagnostics. By analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of existing metrics with an international consortium, Metrics Reloaded provides a structured, accessible framework that covers diverse applications, from image-level classification to object detection and semantic segmentation. The open-source tool guides users through creating a detailed “problem fingerprint,” ensuring that the selected metrics align with the unique challenges of each task.

The Hector Foundation’s award recognizes in particular Annika’s contribution to the conceptual development and implementation of Metrics Reloaded. Her pioneering efforts have also been recognized with the prestigious Richtzenhain Doctoral Prize, which acknowledges exceptional doctoral research advancing cancer research in Heidelberg. In 2023, Metric Reloaded was also honored with the Helmholtz AI Award for Best Digital Resource.

Helmholtz Imaging is proud to celebrate Annika’s achievements and her dedication to advancing trustworthy AI for biomedical research and beyond.

Resources

Explore the online tool
Read the article in Nature Methods
Meet all awardees & learn about their research in this short video

Dr. Annika Reinke earned her PhD degree in 2023, focusing on eliminating flaws in biomedical image analysis validation. She continues her work as a postdoctoral researcher and deputy head of the Div. Intelligent Medical Systems at DKFZ by addressing underrepresented societally relevant topics, particularly scientific benchmarking and validation. Leading the “Validation of Intelligent Systems” group at the Helmholtz Imaging Research Unit at DKFZ, Annika aims to enhance the quality of validation pipelines for biomedical AI algorithms. She holds influential positions in various international groups, including the secretary of the MICCAI Special Interest Group on biomedical challenges and a chair of the MONAI Working Group on evaluation, reproducibility, and benchmarking. Visit her profile page