David A. Jaffray, BSc, PhD
Department of Radiation Physics, Division of Radiation Oncology
About Dr. David A. Jaffray
Dr. Jaffray is world-renowned for pioneering state-of-the-art image-guided radiation therapy, advancing the science and practice in medical physics, and for international leadership in clinical data science for oncology. Recruited to MD Anderson in May 2019, Dr. Jaffray serves as the IDSO director and is the institution’s inaugural chief technology and digital officer, bringing more than two decades of scientific expertise and proven skill as an innovator. In this role, he directs the strategic design, acquisition, management and implementation of an enterprise-wide technology infrastructure to safeguard the integrity and availability of the institution’s systems and intellectual property assets. He and his leadership team advance data integration, data governance and data security across MD Anderson’s campuses and its national network, as well as coordinate technology-enabled innovation. He also is a professor with dual appointments for Radiation Physics and Imaging Physics.
Over the course of his career, he has played an important role in bridging the fields of biomedical engineering and medical physics. He continues to facilitate dialog and partnership between these two important disciplines and how they can tackle major health challenges worldwide. For his leadership, Dr. Jaffray was recognized in 2021 as a Fellow of the International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine and in 2022 as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.
Dr. Jaffray holds 47 patents and has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications in cancer science and technology, including the development of new radiation treatment machines, the exploration of the fundamental limits of imaging system performance, the development of novel nanoparticle formulations for improved detection of cancer, and challenges in global health.
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Senior Vice President and Chief Technology and Digital Officer, Division of Office of the Sr. VP & Chief Technology and Digital Officer, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Professor, Department of Radiation Physics, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Professor, Department of Imaging Physics, Division of Diagnostic Imaging, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 1994 | University of Western Ontario, London, CAN, PHD, Medical Biophysics |
| 1988 | University of Alberta, Edmonton, CAN, BSc, Physics |
Board Certifications
| 1999 | Radiation Oncology, American Board of Medical Physics |
Experience & Service
Academic Appointments
Scientist, University Health Network, Toronto, 2015 - 2019
Professor, Division of Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME), University of Toronto, Toronto, 2009 - 2019
Professor, Department of Medical Biophysics, Division of Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, 2007 - 2019
Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, Division of Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, 2007 - 2019
Associate Professor, Department of Medical Biophysics, Division of Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, 2002 - 2007
Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, Division of Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, 2002 - 2007
Senior Scientist, Department of Radiation Physics, Division of Radiation Oncology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, 2002 - 2019
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, 1994 - 2002
Staff Physicist, Division of Radiation Oncology, William Beaumont Hospital, Rochester, MI, 1993 - 2002
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Director, Institute for Data Science in Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2021 - Present
Executive Vice President, University Health Network, Toronto, 2015 - 2019
Head, University Health Network, Toronto, 2013 - 2019
Director, University Health Network, Toronto, 2011 - 2019
Director, Department of Preclinical and Computational Cores, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, 2007 - 2019
Vice Chair, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, Toronto, 2004 - 2016
Orey and Mary Fidani Family Chair, Department of Radiation Physics, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Troy, MI, 2002 - 2018
Head, Department of Radiation Physics, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, 2002 - 2019
Honors & Awards
| 2021 | Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, National Academy of Inventors |
| 2021 | Fellow of the International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine, International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine |
| 2021 | Fellow of the German Radiation Oncology Society (DEGRO), German Radiation Oncology Society (DEGRO) |
| 2018 | ASTRO Gold Medal Award, American Society for Radiation Oncology |
| 2016 | Fellow of AAPM Award, American Association of Physicists in Medicine |
| 2014 | Honorable Mention for Innovation Award, Cancer Quality Council of Ontario |
| 2014 | Professional Development & CME Award, University of Toronto |
| 2014 | Fellow of COMP Award, Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists |
| 2013 | Excellence in Basic Sciences Research Award, Western University |
| 2013 | Faculty of Medicine Colin Woolf Award for Excellence in Course Coordination, University of Toronto |
| 2012 | Jorge Heller Award, Controlled Release Society |
| 2011 | James A. Purdy Lectureship, Washington University |
| 2010 | John S. Laughlin Lectureship, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center |
| 2007 | Inventor of the Year Award, University Health Network |
| 2007 | Innovation Award, Cancer Care Ontario |
| 2004 | Young Alumni Award of Merit, Western University |
| 2003 | Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award, The Caldwell Partners |
| 2003 | Premier’s Research Excellence Award, Government of Ontario |
| 2003 | Sylvia Fedoruk Award, Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists |
| 2002 | Farrington- Daniels award Best Dosimetry Paper, American Association of Physicists in Medicine |
| 2001 | Sylvia Sorkin Greenfield Best Paper Award, American Association of Physicists in Medicine |
| 1986 | NSERC Summer Studentship, Cross Cancer Institute |
Professional Memberships
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Sinno N, Taylor E, Hompland T, Milosevic M, Jaffray DA, Coolens C. Incorporating cross-voxel exchange for the analysis of dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging data: pre-clinical results. Phys Med Biol 67(24), 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36541560.
- Han K, Fyles A, Shek T, Croke J, Dhani N, D'Souza D, Lee TY, Chaudary N, Bruce J, Pintilie M, Cairns R, Vines D, Pakbaz S, Jaffray D, Metser U, Rouzbahman M, Milosevic M, Koritzinsky M. A Phase II Randomized Trial of Chemoradiation with or without Metformin in Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer. Clin Cancer Res 28(24):5263-5271, 2022. PMID: 36037303.
- Glicksman RM, Ramotar M, Metser U, Chung PW, Liu Z, Vines D, Finelli A, Hamilton R, Fleshner NE, Perlis N, Zlotta AR, Bayley A, Helou J, Raman S, Kulkarni G, Catton C, Lam T, Chan R, Warde P, Gospodarowicz M, Jaffray DA, Berlin A. Extended Results and Independent Validation of a Phase 2 Trial of Metastasis-Directed Therapy for Molecularly Defined Oligometastatic Prostate Cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 114(4):693-704, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36031465.
- Taylor PA, Moran JM, Jaffray DA, Buchsbaum JC. A roadmap to clinical trials for FLASH. Med Phys 49(6):4099-4108, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35366339.
- Villamin C, Bates T, Mescher B, Benitez S, Martinez F, Knopfelmacher A, Correa Medina M, Klein K, Dasgupta A, Jaffray DA, Porter C, Tereffe W, Gallardo L, Kelley J. Digitally enabled hemovigilance allows real time response to transfusion reactions. Transfusion 62(5):1010-1018, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35442519.
- Chen P, El Hussein S, Xing F, Aminu M, Kannapiran A, Hazle JD, Medeiros LJ, Wistuba II, Jaffray D, Khoury JD, Wu J. Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Progression Diagnosis with Intrinsic Cellular Patterns via Unsupervised Clustering. Cancers (Basel) 14(10), 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35626003.
- Buchsbaum JC, Jaffray DA, Ba D, Borkon LL, Chalk C, Chung C, Coleman MA, Coleman CN, Diehn M, Droegemeier KK, Enderling H, Espey MG, Greenspan EJ, Hartshorn CM, Hoang T, Hsiao HT, Keppel C, Moore NW, Prior F, Stahlberg EA, Tourassi G, Willcox KE. Predictive Radiation Oncology - A New NCI-DOE Scientific Space and Community. Radiat Res 197(4):434-445, 2022. PMID: 35090025.
- Keller H, Shek T, Driscoll B, Xu Y, Nghiem B, Nehmeh S, Grkovski M, Schmidtlein CR, Budzevich M, Balagurunathan Y, Sunderland JJ, Beichel RR, Uribe C, Lee TY, Li F, Jaffray DA, Yeung I. Noise-Based Image Harmonization Significantly Increases Repeatability and Reproducibility of Radiomics Features in PET Images: A Phantom Study. Tomography 8(2):1113-1128, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35448725.
- Jimenez JE, Dai D, Xu G, Zhao R, Li T, Pan T, Wang L, Lin Y, Wang Z, Jaffray D, Hazle JD, Macapinlac HA, Wu J, Lu Y. Lesion-Based Radiomics Signature in Pretherapy 18F-FDG PET Predicts Treatment Response to Ibrutinib in Lymphoma. Clin Nucl Med 47(3):209-218, 2022. PMID: 35020640.
- Driscoll B, Shek T, Vines D, Sun A, Jaffray D, Yeung I. Phantom Validation of a Conservation of Activity-Based Partial Volume Correction Method for Arterial Input Function in Dynamic PET Imaging. Tomography 8(2):842-857, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35314646.
- El Hussein S, Chen P, Medeiros LJ, Wistuba II, Jaffray D, Wu J, Khoury JD. Artificial intelligence strategy integrating morphologic and architectural biomarkers provides robust diagnostic accuracy for disease progression in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. J Pathol 256(1):4-14, 2022. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34505705.
- Gottwald J, Han K, Milosevic M, Yeung I, Jaffray DA. Impact of PET scanner non-linearity on the estimation of hypoxic fraction in cervical cancer patients. Phys Med 93:1-7, 2022. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34894495.
- Chung C, Jaffray DA. Cancer Needs a Robust "Metadata Supply Chain" to Realize the Promise of Artificial Intelligence. Cancer Res 81(23):5810-5812, 2021. PMID: 34853038.
- Sinno N, Taylor E, Milosevic M, Jaffray DA, Coolens C. Incorporating cross-voxel exchange into the analysis of dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging data: theory, simulations and experimental results. Phys Med Biol 66(20), 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34650009.
- Glicksman RM, Metser U, Vines D, Valliant J, Liu Z, Chung PW, Bristow RG, Finelli A, Hamilton R, Fleshner NE, Perlis N, Zlotta AR, Green D, Bayley A, Helou J, Raman S, Kulkarni G, Catton C, Lam T, Chan R, Warde P, Gospodarowicz M, Jaffray DA, Berlin A. Curative-intent Metastasis-directed Therapies for Molecularly-defined Oligorecurrent Prostate Cancer: A Prospective Phase II Trial Testing the Oligometastasis Hypothesis. Eur Urol 80(3):374-382, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33685838.
- Fahrig R, Jaffray DA, Sechopoulos I, Webster Stayman J. Flat-panel conebeam CT in the clinic: history and current state. J Med Imaging (Bellingham) 8(5):052115, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34722795.
- Wu J, Li C, Gensheimer M, Padda S, Kato F, Shirato H, Wei Y, Schönlieb CB, Price SJ, Jaffray D, Heymach J, Neal JW, Loo BW, Wakelee H, Diehn M, Li R. Radiological tumor classification across imaging modality and histology. Nat Mach Intell 3:787-798, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34841195.
- Muhanna N, Douglas CM, Daly MJ, Chan HHL, Weersink R, Townson J, Monteiro E, Yu E, Weimer E, Kucharczyk W, Jaffray DA, Irish JC, de Almeida JR. Evaluating an Image-Guided Operating Room with Cone Beam CT for Skull Base Surgery. J Neurol Surg B Skull Base 82(Suppl 3):e306-e314, 2021. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 34306954.
- Muhanna N, Eu D, Chan HH, Daly M, Fricke IB, Douglas CM, Townson JL, Zheng J, Allen C, Jaffray DA, Irish JC. Assessment of a Liposomal CT/Optical Contrast Agent for Image-Guided Head and Neck Surgery. Nanomedicine 32:102327, 2021. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33220507.
- Chung C, Kalpathy-Cramer J, Knopp MV, Jaffray DA. In the Era of Deep Learning, Why Reconstruct an Image at All?. J Am Coll Radiol 18(1 Pt B):170-173, 2021. PMID: 33413895.
- Shi RB, Mirza S, Martinez D, Douglas C, Cho J, Irish JC, Jaffray DA, Weersink RA. Cost-function testing methodology for image-based registration of endoscopy to CT images in the head and neck. Phys Med Biol 65(20), 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32702685.
- Gospodarowicz MK, Jaffray DA, Knaul FM. Vision 2020: looking back and thinking forward on The Lancet Oncology Commissions. Lancet Oncol 21(9):1144-1146, 2020. PMID: 32888451.
- Woolman M, Qiu J, Kuzan-Fischer CM, Ferry I, Dara D, Katz L, Daud F, Wu M, Ventura M, Bernards N, Chan H, Fricke I, Zaidi M, Wouters BG, Rutka JT, Das S, Irish J, Weersink R, Ginsberg HJ, Jaffray DA, Zarrine-Afsar A. In situ tissue pathology from spatially encoded mass spectrometry classifiers visualized in real time through augmented reality. Chem Sci 11(33):8723-8735, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 34123126.
- Mahadevaiah G, Rv P, Bermejo I, Jaffray D, Dekker A, Wee L. Artificial intelligence-based clinical decision support in modern medical physics: Selection, acceptance, commissioning, and quality assurance. Med Phys 47(5):e228-e235, 2020. PMID: 32418341.
- Driscoll B, Vines D, Shek T, Publicover J, Yeung I, Breen S, Jaffray D. 4D-CT Attenuation Correction in Respiratory-Gated PET for Hypoxia Imaging: Is It Really Beneficial?. Tomography 6(2):241-249, 2020. PMID: 32548302.
- Bootsma GJ, Nordström H, Eriksson M, Jaffray DA. Monte Carlo kilovoltage X-ray tube simulation: A statistical analysis and compact simulation method. Phys Med 72:80-87, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32229424.
- Geady C, Keller H, Siddiqui I, Bilkey J, Dhani NC, Jaffray DA. Bridging the gap between micro- and macro-scales in medical imaging with textural analysis - A biological basis for CT radiomics classifiers?. Phys Med 72:142-151, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32276133.
- Glicksman RM, Metser U, Valliant J, Chung PW, Fleshner NE, Bristow RG, Green D, Finelli A, Hamilton R, Stanescu T, Hussey D, Catton C, Gospodarowicz M, Warde P, Bayley A, Breen S, Vines D, Jaffray DA, Berlin A. [18F]DCFPyL PET-MRI/CT for unveiling a molecularly defined oligorecurrent prostate cancer state amenable for curative-intent ablative therapy: study protocol for a phase II trial. BMJ Open 10(4):e035959, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32327479.
- Cho YB, Farrokhkish M, Norrlinger B, Heaton R, Jaffray D, Islam M. An artificial neural network to model response of a radiotherapy beam monitoring system. Med Phys 47(4):1983-1994, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 31955428.
- Weersink RA, Qiu J, Martinez D, Rink A, Borg J, Di Tomasso A, Irish JC, Jaffray DA. Feasibility study of navigated endoscopy for the placement of high dose rate brachytherapy applicators in the esophagus and lung. Med Phys 47(3):917-926, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 31883342.
- Traverso A, Kazmierski M, Zhovannik I, Welch M, Wee L, Jaffray D, Dekker A, Hope A. Machine learning helps identifying volume-confounding effects in radiomics. Phys Med 71:24-30, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32088562.
- Welch ML, McIntosh C, McNiven A, Huang SH, Zhang BB, Wee L, Traverso A, O'Sullivan B, Hoebers F, Dekker A, Jaffray DA. User-controlled pipelines for feature integration and head and neck radiation therapy outcome predictions. Phys Med 70:145-152, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32023504.
- Welch ML, McIntosh C, Traverso A, Wee L, Purdie TG, Dekker A, Haibe-Kains B, Jaffray DA. External validation and transfer learning of convolutional neural networks for computed tomography dental artifact classification. Phys Med Biol 65(3):035017, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 31851961.
- Traverso A, Kazmierski M, Welch ML, Weiss J, Fiset S, Foltz WD, Gladwish A, Dekker A, Jaffray D, Wee L, Han K. Sensitivity of radiomic features to inter-observer variability and image pre-processing in Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) maps of cervix cancer patients. Radiother Oncol 143:88-94, 2020. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31477335.
- Welch ML, McIntosh C, Purdie TG, Wee L, Traverso A, Dekker A, Haibe-Kains B, Jaffray DA. Automatic classification of dental artifact status for efficient image veracity checks: effects of image resolution and convolutional neural network depth. Phys Med Biol 65(1):015005, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 31683260.
- Taylor E, Zhou J, Lindsay P, Foltz W, Cheung M, Siddiqui I, Hosni A, Amir AE, Kim J, Hill RP, Jaffray DA, Hedley DW. Quantifying Reoxygenation in Pancreatic Cancer During Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy. Sci Rep 10(1):1638, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32005829.
- Hall WA, Paulson ES, van der Heide UA, Fuller CD, Raaymakers BW, Lagendijk JJW, Li XA, Jaffray DA, Dawson LA, Erickson B, Verheij M, Harrington KJ, Sahgal A, Lee P, Parikh PJ, Bassetti MF, Robinson CG, Minsky BD, Choudhury A, Tersteeg RJHA, Schultz CJ, MR Linac Atlantic Consortium and the ViewRay C2T2 Research Consortium. The transformation of radiation oncology using real-time magnetic resonance guidance: A review. Eur J Cancer 122:42-52, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31614288.
- Daly MJ, Chan H, Muhanna N, Akens MK, Wilson BC, Irish JC, Jaffray DA. Intraoperative cone-beam CT spatial priors for diffuse optical fluorescence tomography. Phys Med Biol 64(21):215007, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31570668.
- Muhanna N, Douglas CM, Daly MJ, Chan HHL, Weersink R, Qiu J, Townson J, de Almeida JR, Goldstein D, Gilbert R, Yu E, Kucharczyk W, Jaffray DA, Irish JC. The image-guided operating room-Utility and impact on surgeon's performance in the head and neck surgery. Head Neck 41(9):3372-3382, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31287216.
- Rodin D, Burger EA, Atun R, Barton M, Gospodarowicz M, Grover S, Hanna TP, Jaffray DA, Knaul FM, Lievens Y, Zubizarreta E, Milosevic M. Scale-up of radiotherapy for cervical cancer in the era of human papillomavirus vaccination in low-income and middle-income countries: a model-based analysis of need and economic impact. Lancet Oncol 20(7):915-923, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31151906.
- Daly MJ, Wilson BC, Irish JC, Jaffray DA. Navigated non-contact fluorescence tomography. Phys Med Biol 64(13):135021, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31276450.
- Dosanjh M, Aggarwal A, Pistenmaa D, Amankwaa-Frempong E, Angal-Kalinin D, Boogert S, Brown D, Carlone M, Collier P, Court L, Di Meglio A, Van Dyk J, Grover S, Jaffray DA, Jamieson C, Khader J, Konoplev I, Makwani H, McIntosh P, Militsyn B, Palta J, Sheehy S, Aruah SC, Syratchev I, Zubizarreta E, Coleman CN. Developing Innovative, Robust and Affordable Medical Linear Accelerators for Challenging Environments. Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol) 31(6):352-355, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30798993.
- Wada H, Zheng J, Gregor A, Hirohashi K, Hu HP, Patel P, Ujiie H, Kato T, Anayama T, Jaffray DA, Yasufuku K. Intraoperative Near-Infrared Fluorescence-Guided Peripheral Lung Tumor Localization in Rabbit Models. Ann Thorac Surg 107(1):248-256, 2019. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30296423.
- Welch ML, McIntosh C, Haibe-Kains B, Milosevic MF, Wee L, Dekker A, Huang SH, Purdie TG, O'Sullivan B, Aerts HJWL, Jaffray DA. Vulnerabilities of radiomic signature development: The need for safeguards. Radiother Oncol 130:2-9, 2019. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30416044.
Grant & Contract Support
| Title: | Robotic Radiobiology |
| Funding Source: | Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Image-based quantitative assessment of tumor hypoxia |
| Funding Source: | Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Clinical Investigation of Frameless, Adaptive, Image-guided Gamma Knife Radiosurgery |
| Funding Source: | Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | A Research Pipeline for Hypoxia-Directed Precision Cancer Medicine |
| Funding Source: | Terry Fox Research Institute (TFRI) |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Advanced Strategies for Image Quality Improvement and Dose Reduction in CT |
| Funding Source: | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Science Operating Room Extension (SCORE) |
| Funding Source: | Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Quantitative Imaging for Personalized Cancer Medicine (ITP-Trials) |
| Funding Source: | Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Ontario Consortium for Adaptive Interventions in Radiation Oncology (OCAIRO) |
| Funding Source: | Ontario Research Fund (ORF) |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Integrative Systems-Level Imaging (ISLI) |
| Funding Source: | Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified January 24, 2023