Faculty & Staff

David Piwnica-Worms, M.D., Ph.D. 

Professor and Chair, Cancer Systems Imaging Professor, Cancer Biology

Email: DPiwnica-worms@mdanderson.org

Administrative Support: Dana Hedge, Office Manager

Grant Support: Marilyn Bobbitt, Program Director, Diagnostic Imaging

Mark Pagel, Ph.D. | Professor and Deputy Chair, Cancer Systems Imaging

Professor, Imaging Physics

Email: MDPagel@mdanderson.org

Administrative Support: Jan Irvin, Senior Administrative Assistant

Grant Support: Adam C. Vasconcellos, Grant Program Coordinator

Pratip Bhattacharya, Ph.D. – Associate Professor, Cancer Systems Imaging & Imaging Physics
Research Interests:  Hyperpolarized MRI, Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP), real-time molecular and metabolic imaging in different cancer systems, targeted molecular imaging by Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and hyperpolarized silicon MRI, metabolomics.
Email: PKBhattacharya@mdanderson.org
Administrative Support: Angela Lavergne, Senior Administrative Assistant
Grant Support: Angela Morgan, Grant Program Coordinator

Daniel Frigo, Ph.D. - Associate Professor, Cancer Systems Imaging & Genitourinary Medical Oncology
Research Interests: Understanding how various signaling pathways, such as those regulated by the androgen receptor, CaMKK2, AMPK, mTOR and Myc, drive the progression of prostate cancer. Goal: To exploit these newly uncovered pathways for therapeutic purposes. Interestingly, many of these signaling pathways converge at various metabolic nodes. The end result is a shift in oncogenic metabolism that allows the cancer cells to utilize a diverse array of nutrients to the benefit of the cancer cell.
Email: Frigo@mdanderson.org
Administrative Support: Angela Lavergne, Sr. Administrative Assistant
Grant Support: Angela Morgan, Grant Program Coordinator

Seth Gammon, Ph.D. – Associate Professor
Research Interests: Development of imaging inspired therapeutics including radiolabeled antibodies, Development of new PET or hyperpolarized MRI agents for study of the adaptive and innate immune systems; Leveraging existing PET, MRI, bioluminescent and fluorescent reporters for studying the complex interaction of the innate immune system, tumor biology, and cancer chemotherapeutics
Email: STGammon@mdanderson.org
Administrative Support: Dana Hedge, Office Manager
Grant Support: Marilyn Bobbitt, Program Director, Diagnostic Imaging

Loukia Karacosta, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Leveraging cancer systems biology approaches and single-cell technologies like mass cytometry (CyTOF) and multiplexed imaging, to interrogate phenotypic plasticity and the spatiotemporal dynamics that drive therapy resistance in the tumor microenvironment.
Email: LGKaracosta@mdanderson.org
Administrative Support: Jan Irvin, Senior Administrative Assistant
Grant Support: Adam C. Vasconcellos, Grant Program Coordinator

Chun Li, Ph.D. – Professor
Research Interests: Development of molecular imaging probes; Development of novel drug-delivery systems and combination strategy; Image-guided therapy.
Email: CLi@mdanderson.org
Administrative Support: Jan Irvin, Senior Administrative Assistant
Grant Support: Adam C. Vasconcellos, Grant Program Coordinator

H. Charles Manning, Ph.D. – Professor, Cancer Systems Imaging; Director, Cyclotron Radiochemistry Facility; Scientific Director, Center for Advanced Biomedical Imaging
Research Interests: Development, validation, implementation, and clinical translation of imaging and chemical probes to non-invasively quantify molecular events in vivo.
Email: HCManning@mdanderson.org
Administrative Support, Cancer Systems Imaging: Jan Irvin, Senior Administrative Assistant
Laboratory Support: Karen Cotton-Jones, Program Director, Diagnostic Imaging
Grant Support: Marilyn Bobbitt, Program Director, Diagnostic Imaging

Steven Millward, Ph.D. – Associate Professor
Research Interests: Imaging of apoptosis and autophagy, ovarian cancer metabolism, therapeutic targeting of autophagy, directed evolution of imaging agents.
Email: SMillward@mdanderson.org
Administrative Support: Angela Lavergne, Sr. Administrative Assistant
Grant Support: Angela Morgan, Grant Program Coordinator

C. Chad Quarles, Ph.D. – Professor
Research Interests: Preclinical discovery, refinement and clinical translation of multi-modality neuroimaging technologies with application to brain cancer, cancer neuroscience and neurohealth; projects and applications include MRI physics and engineering, MR-based biomarker discovery, simultaneous PET/MRI, radiopathomics, emerging radiotracers, functional neuroimaging, multi-modality and integrative AI-based analytics, neurosurgical guidance, biology-based radiotherapy, therapy response assessment, image-based pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics 
Email: CCQuarles@mdanderson.org
Administrative Support: Angela Lavergne, Senior Administrative Assistant
Grant Support: Angela Morgan, Grant Program Coordinator

Margie Sutton, Ph.D. – Instructor
Research Interests: Molecular imaging; genetically encoded reporters of protein-protein interactions, signal transduction, and dynamic cellular response; development of therapeutic or diagnostic interventions for gynecological cancers
Email: MNSutton@mdanderson.org
Administrative Support: Dana Hedge, Office Manager
Grant Support: Adam C. Vasconcellos, Grant Program Coordinator