Current Trainees & Alumni

Dr. Brigid McDonald earned her B.S. in Physics from the University of Virginia and her Ph.D. in Medical Physics from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Her undergraduate research projects included tomographic techniques for breast cancer, dual-energy contrast enhanced mammography, and breast-specific gamma imaging. She also led a human reader study comparing images from low-energy x-ray mammography. Dr. McDonald’s graduate work at MD Anderson Cancer Center focused on the development of software tools and workflows needed to integrate diffusion-weighted MRI into the Elekta MR-Linac adaptive radiation therapy process, as well as optimization and validation of diffusion-weighted MRI sequences on the MR-linac. 

Dr. McDonald joined the IGCT T32 Program in September 2022. Her primary mentor is Dr. C. Dave Fuller (Radiation Oncology) and secondary mentors are Dr. Stephen Lai (Head & Neck Surgery), Dr. Jim Bankson (Imaging Physics), and Dr. Laurence Court (Radiation Physics). Outside of the lab, she volunteers as a board member of the UVA Club of Houston planning social events for UVA alumni, and she enjoys hiking, camping, and spending time with her dog.

Dr. McDonald's Research:
Dr. McDonald's IGCT T32 postdoctoral fellowship research project is focused on the development of advanced MR-guided adaptive radiation therapy methods for head and neck cancers on the MR-Linac. 

Dr. Kareem Wahid earned his B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and his Ph.D. in Quantitative Sciences from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. During his undergraduate career, he contributed to research in various fields including nanoscience, radiation-physics, and physical-chemistry. Dr. Wahid’s Ph.D. work at MD Anderson Cancer Center focused on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for image processing, segmentation, and clinical outcome prediction in head and neck cancer radiotherapy applications. Dr. Wahid is a dual-degree candidate in the University of Texas Medical Scientist Training Program; he has completed 3 years of medical school and plans to complete his final year of medical school after his post-doctoral fellowship. Subsequently, Kareem plans to apply to a postgraduate clinical residency position. 

Dr. Wahid joined the IGCT T32 Program in May 2023. His primary mentor is Dr. David Fuentes (Imaging Physics), and secondary mentors are Dr. C. Dave Fuller (Radiation Oncology), Dr. Andrew Sikora (Head & Neck Surgery), and Dr. Kristin Kostick (External Member, Baylor College of Medicine, Bioethics). Outside of the lab, he enjoys going to concerts, playing competitive tennis, and hanging out with his pet gecko.

Dr. Wahid’s Research: 
Dr. Wahid’s IGCT T32 postdoctoral fellowship research project is focused on human-machine interaction in AI-based radiotherapy clinical decision support tools.

Dr. Alexander Shieh earned his B.S. in Computer Science and M.D. both from National Taiwan University. His undergraduate research focused on natural language processing and its medical applications. In medical school he developed interest in radiology and initiated several projects related to cardiac imaging. Dr. Shieh received the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography 2023 Young Investigator First Runner Up for his work in this field. Subsequently, he participated in research related to cancer imaging in the NIH Clinical Center and University of Southern California. His past projects centered on artificial intelligence (AI)-based lesion detection, segmentation, radiomics and computational pathology. Dr. Shieh is interested in large-scale AI research in radiology and actively explores new opportunities for imaging and text data. He plans to apply for a diagnostic radiology residency position and pursue a career as an academic radiologist. 

Dr. Shieh joined the IGCT T32 Program in July 2023. His primary mentor is Dr. Bruno Odisio (Interventional Radiology) and secondary mentors are Dr. Kristy Brock (Imaging Physics) and Dr. Eugene Koay (Radiation Oncology). Outside of research, he enjoys baking, watching baseball and going to airshows. 

Dr. Shieh’s Research:
Dr. Shieh’s IGCT T32 postdoctoral fellowship research project is focused on novel methods to monitor and enhance the outcomes of interventional radiology cancer treatments.

As the IGCT T32 Training Program matriculated its first trainee in 2022, all matriculating individuals are active trainees.