An Exploratory Radiomics Approach to Quantifying Pulmonary Function in CT Images

Kyle Lafata is the Thaddeus V. Samulski Associate Professor at Duke University with faculty appointments in Radiation Oncology, Radiology, Pathology, Medical Physics, and Electrical & Computer Engineering. He joined the faculty at Duke in 2020 following postdoctoral training at the US Department of Veterans Affairs. His dissertation work focused on the applied analysis of stochastic partial differential equations and high-dimensional image phenotyping, where he developed physics-based computational methods and soft-computing paradigms to interrogate images. These included stochastic modeling, self-organization, and quantum machine learning (i.e., an emerging branch of research that explores the methodological and structural similarities between quantum systems and learning systems).

Prof. Lafata has worked in various areas of computational medicine and biology, resulting in over 55 academic papers, 20 invited talks, and more than 60 national conference presentations. At Duke, the Lafata Laboratory focuses on the theory, development, and application of computational oncology. The lab interrogates disease at different length-scales of its biological organization via high-performance computing, multiscale modeling, advanced imaging technology, and the applied analysis of stochastic partial differential equations. Current research interests include tumor topology, cellular dynamics, tumor immune microenvironment, drivers of radiation resistance and immune dysregulation, molecular insight into tissue heterogeneity, and biologically-guided adaptative treatment strategies.

I specialize in the treatment of hematologic and thoracic malignancies. I have a special research interest in optimizing radiation therapy in lymphomas and leukemias, particularly consolidation radiation therapy in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and total body irradiation in the setting of allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Other academic interests include cardiac toxicity after radiation therapy for lung cancer and optimizing stereotactic body radiation therapy for stage I non-small cell lung cancer.

Stereotactic radiosurgery, Stereotactic body radiation therapy, treatment planning optimization, knowledge guided radiation therapy, intensity-modulated radiation therapy, image-guided radiation therapy, oncological imaging and informatics