Institute for Data Science in Oncology Fellowship
The Institute for Data Science in Oncology (IDSO) Fellowship provides training for recent medical and doctoral graduates in the application of data science to cancer care, prevention, research, and operations.
This one-year program is designed to endow junior physicians and researchers with the skills and experience to become leaders in data science for oncology. The fellowship program will provide a wide range of training suitable for those with clinical and/or research backgrounds.
All fellows will learn from our exemplary team of clinical and research faculty members through a structured curriculum, including hands-on training and independent research. Additionally, fellows will benefit from IDSO’s active community and that of MD Anderson more broadly. Completion of the program will be beneficial for many paths of career development, including clinical, computational science, administrative, or research positions in academic, industry, and/or medical settings.
Why choose our exceptional program?
Our fellowship program provides a unique experience for trainees. Embedded within one of the world’s most respected cancer centers, IDSO will harness the power of data and bring data science to every decision MD Anderson makes – accelerating the pace to end cancer and improving the lives of cancer patients and their families. We seek to develop leaders equipped to innovate at the intersection of cancer and computational approaches. A hands-on curriculum throughout, complemented by faculty-guided research, defines the IDSO Fellowship Program.
Our Leadership
Stephanie Schmidt, Ph.D.
Group Leader – Data Science
Genomic Medicine
IDSO Fellowship Research Lead
Stephanie Schmidt, Ph.D., serves as the founding Group Leader of MD Anderson’s Adaptive, AI-Augmented Drug Discovery and Development (A3D3a) platform. Reporting to the Director of Therapeutics Data Science, she has assembled and guides a multidisciplinary team to apply data science approaches to speed translational research towards new cancer therapies.
Dr. Schmidt’s work has shown how analyzing patient data from different platforms together by integrative multi-omic analysis, rather than considering data from different platforms individually or in pairs as is common, affords a novel, comprehensive perspective on cancer that can uncover new patient biomarkers and treatment opportunities. Collaborating closely with clinical groups including the Rare Tumor Initiative, she is driven to deliver tangible results for patients by harnessing her training in biology, computation, and engineering.
Her unique background as a bioengineer spans translational research, computational biology, genomics, and tissue engineering. She earned her PhD in Bioengineering from Stanford University, where her thesis work focused on harnessing and understanding genomic diversity to develop new techniques for genomics. She was recognized with the Hertz Foundation Fellowship, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, and Stanford Gabilan Graduate Fellowship; she was named a Siebel Scholar, an international award for top graduate students in their final year of study.
More broadly, Dr. Schmidt is deeply involved in service and outreach activities. She launched and serves as Research Director of the MD Anderson Institute for Data Science in Oncology Fellowship Program to train the next generation of clinicians and researchers in applying data science to oncology care, research, and operations.
Amy C. Moreno, M.D. M.S.
Assistant Professor
Department of Radiation Oncology
IDSO Fellowship Clinical Lead
Dr. Amy Moreno, M.D., M.S., is a Physician Scientist dual board-certified in Radiation Oncology and Clinical Informatics. As the Informatics Core Lead for MD Anderson’s Stiefel Oropharynx Cancer (MDA OPC) Program, she has been instrumental in developing a robust data infrastructure for one of the largest prospective OPC cohorts, now an NIH-supported P01 Program. Her pioneering work in data integration, semi-automated multidomain data extraction and transformation, coupled with rigorous data quality assessment, has significantly advanced research on accurate diagnosis, prevention, and management of treatment-related toxicities affecting patient quality of life and survival.
Dr. Moreno’s expertise in oncology and informatics extends to her leadership in multiple NIH/NIDCR-funded projects, focusing on clinical decision support tools development, machine learning, and ontological systems to improve risk prediction and management of treatment-related toxicities. She is also a leader in implementation science, driving the integration of electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) into clinical practice to enhance patient-centered care and decision-making. Her contributions to the development of the Operational Ontology for Oncology (O3), a publicly available standardized ontology for oncologic data and social determinants of health, will be pivotal in improving data interoperability and facilitating large-scale oncology research. She serves as an Informatics Consultant for the American Association of Physicists in Medicine and leads national and international efforts in oncology data standardization. As the Clinical Lead of the IDSO Fellowship, Dr. Moreno brings a wealth of experience in precision cancer care, AI-driven research, and multidisciplinary data integration, making her an ideal mentor for the next generation of clinician-data scientists.
Requirements
Fellows must hold an M.D. or Ph.D. degree before starting the program. Applicants should demonstrate leadership, extracurricular participation, and/or career planning and exploration leading to an interest in oncology clinical care or data and computational research at an academic institution.
MD Anderson offers a smoke-free environment and is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.
Application
The application for the next one-year cohort will open in late spring with the session beginning early September.
Eligible applicants must:
- Be postdoctoral or clinical fellows at MD Anderson by Sept. 1
- Be able to commit, on average, 12 hours a week to fellowship activities.
- Have the endoresement of their advisor or supervisor
Educational Activities
The IDSO Fellowship Program uniquely emphasizes hands-on training and experiential learning. An intensive curriculum comprised of lectures and guided assignments led by faculty leaders from across the institution serves as the core of the fellowship. The curriculum reflects the five focus areas of IDSO:
- Quantitative Analysis and Insight Extraction from Imaging and Pathology Data
- Multi-cell Interactions Informed Through Single Cell Analytics and Data Science
- Computational Modeling and AI-Augmented Drug Discovery and Development
- Modeling Personalized and Population-based Interventions on Cancer
- Development of Automated Approaches to Increase Access, Safety, and Quality in Cancer Care
Experience gained from IDSO will be complemented by opportunities to take didactic courses and/or to collaborate with several departments at MD Anderson (e.g., Office of Sponsored Programs, Diagnostic Imaging, Radiation Oncology, Genomic Medicine, etc.). Fellows will follow a learning plan to be developed in collaboration with their supervisor prior to the start of their appointment.
In addition to program-specific educational opportunities, fellows will benefit from the following:
- IDSO hosts the Data Science Forum, a weekly seminar series featuring both established and emerging investigators working at the intersection of cancer and computational approaches.
- Fellows are encouraged to attend the many other lectures available at the institution that may be relevant to their training experience.
- Participating in frequent laboratory group meetings of ongoing research are a central part of the research experience.
Our Fellows
Adwait Mehta
Assistant Professor, Hospital Medicine
Mentor: Dr. Josiah Halm
Andres Nevarez
Postdoctoral Fellow, Systems Biology
Mentor: Dr. Nicholas Navin
Ankita Paul
Postdoctoral Fellow, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
Mentor: Dr. Wenyi Wang
Ashlee Seldomridge
T32 Research Fellow, Surgical Oncology
Mentor: Dr. Beth Helmink
Carlos Andres Sjogreen Blanco
Postdoctoral Fellow, Radiation Oncology
Mentor: Dr. Tucker Carlson
Carlos Torrado Martin
Fellow, Investigational Cancer Therapeutics
Mentor: Dr. Sarina Anne Piha-Paul
Enoch Chang
Resident, Radiation Oncology
Mentor: Dr. Eugene Koay
Ken Furadate
Data Scientist, Leukemia
Mentor: Dr. Koichi Takahashi
Maryam Eghbalizarch
Associate Data Scientist, Health Services Research
Mentor: Dr. Iakovos Toumazis
Michael Rooney
Resident, Radiation Oncology
Mentor: Dr. Caroline Chung
Monica Hernandez
Postdoctoral Fellow, Health Services Research
Mentor: Dr. Robert Volk
Oluwadara Coker
Postdoctoral Fellow, GI Medical Oncology
Mentors: Dr. Scott Kopetz
Pankaj Chauhan
Postdoctoral Fellow, Genitourinary Medical Oncology
Mentor: Dr. Pavlos Msaouel
Pirmin Schlicke
Postdoctoral Fellow, Radiation Oncology
Mentor: Dr. Heiko Enderling
Puneet Kumar
Postdoctoral Fellow, Cancer Systems Imaging
Mentors: Dr. Christopher Quarles
Rami Elmorsi
Postdoctoral Fellow, Plastic Surgery
Mentor: Dr. Alexander Mericli
Seyyed Mahmood Ghasemi
Postdoctoral Fellow, Biostatistics
Mentor: Dr. Kim-Anh Do
Shreyas Bhavsar
Professor, Anesthesiology & PeriOperative Medicine
Mentor: Dr. Jose Soliz
Shuoyang Li
Sr. Research Assistant, Imagin Physics
Mentor: Dr. Jia Wu
Suet-Ying Kwan
Instructor, Molecular & Celluar Oncology
Mentor: Dr. Laura Beretta
Tatiana Rypinksi
Data Scientist, Imaging Physics
Mentor: Dr. Jeff Siewerdsen
Usama Hussein
Postdoctorl Fellow, Lymphoma-Myeloma
Mentor: Dr. Michael Green
Zhenzhen Xun
Postdoctoral Fellow, Bioninformatics & Computational Biology
Mentor: Dr. Han Liang