Sylvia Plevritis, PhD

Sylvia Plevritis, PhD, is the William M. Hume Professor in the School of Medicine, Professor of Biomedical Data Science and of Radiology, and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Data Science. She is a thought leader at the intersection of data science and biomedical research. She is an electrical engineer by training, whose scholarship in artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) has elevated the fields of cancer systems biology and cancer population science. Her interdisciplinary research program is anchored in the desire to develop patient-specific cancer interventions for early detection, diagnosis, and treatment, through an understanding of cancer as a dynamic, whole-body disease. Dr. Plevritis uses novel AI/ML analytical tools on datasets that characterize primary human tumors and tissues where cancer has spread. These studies combine information from clinical records, radiology and pathology images, and molecular assays. Currently, she is pioneering the development and use of AI/ML-guided spatial biology, a transformative new frontier that enables a more comprehensive view of human cancer as it changes through the interactions of among all the cells within tumor microneighborhoods, including interactions of malignant cells with immune and stromal cells. Her lab has been among the first to generate human cancer tissue maps as tumors evolve. Dr. Plevritis’ work is anchored by cancer simulation modeling that guides national cancer control guidelines for reducing mortality from breast and lung cancers.
Dr. Plevritis has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications in top-tier scientific journals that span clinical, basic science, and engineering domains, such as Annals of Internal Medicine, Cell, JAMA, JAMA Oncology, Nature, Nature Methods, Nature Biotechnology, Science, and Science Advances. She is passionate about the future of AI/ML in biomedical education and directs the National Library of Medicine-funded Biomedical Informatics T15 Training Program. She also serves on the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Advisors and is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and Distinguished Investigator in the Academy of Radiology Research.