About

The Medical Imaging, Informatics, and AI Core supports Emory investigators and the wider Georgia research community through the Georgia CTSA by obtaining access, curating data, analyzing data, and creating novel informatics and AI/ML solutions for single or multi-center studies. The Core consists of a team of engineers, data scientists and clinicians working together to provide expertise through an array of services including but not limited to informatics architecture design, the processing of data, real time data flows, grant generation, machine learning model development, and more. Each of the services may be tailored to fit the individual needs of each investigator.

Core Leadership

Reza Sameni, PhD

Scientific Director, Medical Imaging, Informatics, and AI Core

Dr. Reza Sameni is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Emory University. Dr. Sameni earned a bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering from Shiraz University, Iran, in 2000, a master's degree in Biomedical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Iran, in 2003, and a double Ph.D. degree in Signal Processing and Biomedical Engineering from the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG), France, and Sharif University of Technology in 2008. He was a tenured Associate Professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Shiraz University, from 2008 to 2018, and served as Chair of Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, and IT from 2016 to 2018. Dr. Sameni was an invited senior researcher at GIPSA-lab, Grenoble, France, from 2018 to 2020, before moving to Emory University in 2020. Dr. Sameni's research interests include statistical signal processing and machine learning, with a special interest in model-based machine learning. Dr. Sameni also has a track record of publications and extensive experience in developing algorithms, open-source software, and hardware for biomedical applications.

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Tony Pan, PhD

Co-Core Director, Medical Imaging, Informatics, and AI Core

Tony Pan is an Assistant Professor at Emory University, Department of Biomedical Informatics. He earned his Ph.D. in Computational Science and Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology (GT). Prior to joining Emory, Dr. Pan was the Assistant Director of Data Infrastructure and a Senior Research Scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology Interdisciplinary Research Institute for Data Engineering and Science (IDEaS) where led the development of data management and analysis infrastructure to support the NSF Engineering Research Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies (CMaT) at GT and the Arthrogryposis Registry at Shriner’s Hospitals for Children, as well as efficient HPC algorithms for genomic sequence analysis, gene regulatory network reconstruction and single cell sequencing data analysis. Dr. Pan’s research interests focus around developing data science methods to enable large scale biomedical and bioinformatic studies, through flexible and extensible data management, high performance computing (HPC) approaches, and efficient sequential and parallel algorithms, particularly for image, genomic, and transcriptomic data analyses.

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Carlo N. De Cecco, MD, PhD, FSCCT, FNASCI, FSABI, FESGAR

Co-Core Director, Medical Imaging, Informatics, and AI Core

Carlo N. De Cecco is an Associate Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Informatics at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. He is board certified from the American College of Radiology and the American College of Nuclear Medicine. Director of the Emory Translational Laboratory for Cardiothoracic Imaging and Artificial Intelligence, and a pioneer in multienergy CT imaging and myocardial CT perfusion, Dr. De Cecco's actual research interest is the development and application of advanced CT and MR imaging analysis techniques and artificial intelligence to improve the understanding, diagnosis, and follow-up of coronary artery disease. Author and editor of the Springer textbooks Artificial Intelligence in Cardiothoracic Imaging, MDCT and MRI of the Heart, Dual Energy CT in Oncology, and series editor of A-Z Notes in Radiological Practice and Reporting (5 books), he has authored or co-authored more than 240 peer-reviewed publications and 255 conference abstracts, has given more than 100 invited lectures to national and international conferences, and has trained and mentored some 35 clinical and research fellows, residents, PhD students, and medical students resulting in publications. Dr. De Cecco`s work has been recognized with research awards from several scientific societies including the American Heart Association, the North American Society of Cardiovascular Imaging, and the Society of Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance. He is a fellow of numerous scientific societies, and he serves as Chair of the Cardiac Radiology Use Case Panel at the Data Science Institute - American College of Radiology, and Chair of the Electronic Communication Committee at the North American Society of Cardiovascular Imaging. Additionally, he serves as the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning section editor for the European Journal of Radiology, and topical content advisor for Data Sciences/AI Applications for Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging. He is also on the editorial board of Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging, Investigative Radiology, and Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography. He is a member of the American College of Radiology - Appropriateness Criteria Expert Panel and Cardiothoracic Committee, and the Board of Experts of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research.