Current Trainees & Alumni

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. Noreen Siddiqi earned her Bachelors degree from Emory University in Biological Anthropology and her Masters degree from Boston University in Medical Sciences. Dr. Siddiqi's thesis work focused on objective assessment of functional and motor-cognitive outcomes among asymptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism patients undergoing parathyroidectomy using wearable technologies and was a pilot study aimed at improving informed clinical decision-making. She earned her Doctorate in Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine in 2022, and went on to complete a two year residency in General Surgery first as an intern at the Boston Medical Center and then at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. 

Dr. Siddiqi joined the IGCT T32 Program in August 2024. Her primary mentor is Dr. Bruno Odisio (Interventional Radiology), and secondary mentors will be selected shortly. Outside of the lab, she enjoys catching up with friends, watching documentaries, and eating any food that has some combination of cheese, carbs, and tomatoes. 

Dr. Siddiqi's Research: 
Dr. Siddiqi's IGCT T32 postdoctoral fellowship research project is titled "Practical utility of an independently-operated ablation confirmation software for the treatment of liver tumors."

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. 

Dr. Shieh joined the IGCT T32 Program in July 2023. His primary mentor was Dr. Bruno Odisio (Interventional Radiology) and secondary mentors were Dr. Kristy Brock (Imaging Physics) and Dr. Eugene Koay (Radiation Oncology). Outside of research, he enjoyed baking, watching baseball and going to airshows. Dr. Shieh’s IGCT T32 postdoctoral fellowship research project focused on novel methods to monitor and enhance the outcomes of interventional radiology cancer treatments. Dr. Shieh ended his IGCT T32 appointment to join the Radiology Residency Program at Washington University in St. Louis. He is currently in his first year of the program and is an Internal Medicine Resident at Flushing Hospital Medical Center. He will move next year to Washington University in St. Louis for his second year of residency at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology as a Radiology Resident.

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 was Dr. C. Dave Fuller (Radiation Oncology) and secondary mentors were Dr. Stephen Lai (Head & Neck Surgery), Dr. Jim Bankson (Imaging Physics), and Dr. Laurence Court (Radiation Physics). Outside of the lab, she volunteered as a board member of the UVA Club of Houston planning social events for UVA alumni, and she enjoyed hiking, camping, and spending time with her dog. Dr. McDonald's IGCT T32 postdoctoral fellowship research project was focused on the development of advanced MR-guided adaptive radiation therapy methods for head and neck cancers on the MR-Linac. She completed her IGCT T32 training in August 2024 and joined the Medical Physics Residency Program at MD Anderson Cancer Center where she is working to complete her clinical residency training.