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Kyle Jon Lafata

Thaddeus V. Samulski Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology
Radiation Oncology
Radiation Physics, Box 3295 DUMC, Durham, NC 27710
Radiation Physics, Box 3295 DUMC, Durham, NC 27710

Overview


Kyle Lafata is the Thaddeus V. Samulski Associate Professor at Duke University in the Departments of Radiation Oncology, Radiology, Medical Physics and Electrical & Computer Engineering. After earning his PhD in Medical Physics in 2018, he completed postdoctoral training at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in the Big Data Scientist Training Enhancement Program. Prof. Lafata has broad expertise in imaging science, digital pathology, computer vision, biophysics, and applied mathematics. His dissertation work focused on the applied analysis of stochastic differential equations and high-dimensional radiomic 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 39 peer-reviewed journal publications, 15 invited talks, and more than 50 national conference presentations. At Duke, the Lafata Lab focuses on the theory, development, and application of multiscale computational biomarkers. Using computational and mathematical methods, they study the appearance and behavior of disease across different physical length-scales (i.e., radiomics ~10−3 m, pathomics ~10−6 m, and genomics ~10−9 m) and time-scales (e.g., the natural history of disease, response to treatment). The overarching goal of the lab is to develop and apply new technology that transforms imaging into basic science findings and computational biomarker discovery.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Thaddeus V. Samulski Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology · 2023 - Present Radiation Oncology, Clinical Science Departments
Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology · 2023 - Present Radiation Oncology, Clinical Science Departments
Assistant Professor in Radiology · 2022 - Present Radiology, Clinical Science Departments
Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering · 2021 - Present Electrical and Computer Engineering, Pratt School of Engineering
Assistant Professor of Pathology · 2023 - Present Pathology, Clinical Science Departments
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute · 2020 - Present Duke Cancer Institute, Institutes and Centers

Education, Training & Certifications


Duke University · 2018 C.
Duke University · 2018 Ph.D.