Mattonen Lab

Principal Investigator
Dr. Sarah Mattonen, PhD is an Assistant Professor at Western University in the Department of Medical Biophysics with a cross-appointment in the Department of Oncology. She holds the inaugural Gerald C. Baines Research Chair for Translational Cancer Imaging. She is also a scientist at the London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute. She received her PhD in Medical Biophysics from Western University in 2016 and completed her postdoctoral training at Stanford University in the Department of Radiology in 2019. Her research interests include developing, evaluating, and translating quantitative image analysis tools to support diagnosis, treatment, and response assessment in oncology. Her laboratory develops tools in image segmentation, image feature extraction, and outcome modelling to correlate imaging features with clinical outcomes. These computational imaging models will assist clinicians in decision-making and allow for personalized medicine, with the goal of improving outcomes for cancer patients.

Current Students
 Marcus Milantoni is currently a MSc student at Western University studying Medical Science with an Honours Specialization in Medical Physics (Clinical Physics Concentration). He recently completed his third-year thesis project on CT-Based Radiomic Models for Predicting Early vs. Locally Advanced Stages of Esophageal Adenocarcinoma. He will remain in the lab this year to continue his work and complete his fourth-year thesis.
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Christine Santiago, BSc, is currently an MSc student in the Department of Medical Biophysics at Western University. She completed her BSc in Medical Physics at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2023. Her research focuses on using machine learning on CT and PET images to predict the risk of recurrence in early-stage lung cancer patients who have undergone surgery.
Noah Blackburn-Hum, BSc, is currently an MSc student in the Department of Medical Biophysics at Western University. He completed his bachelor's in Medical and Biological Physics at the University of Waterloo. During his undergraduate degree, Noah worked at the Verspeeten Family Cancer Centre as a quality assurance and research student in the Department of Radiation Oncology. Noah's current research focuses on integrating 3D models of patient's surgically excised anatomy to help inform clinicians in post-surgical radiation therapy planning.
Helen Zhou, is currently a 4th year undergraduate student in the Department of Medical Biophysics at Western University. Their 3rd-year project focused on approximating lung lesions to streamline dose prediction in stereotactic ablative radiotherapy for metastatic lung cancer. Helen is now working on their undergraduate thesis on a machine learning-guided dose optimization algorithm for brain metastases stereotactic radiosurgery.

Former Students

Edward Wang, PhD, completed his PhD in the Department of Medical Biophysics at Western University in 2025. His research focused on the development of AI-assisted clinical tools for radiation treatment planning. Dr. Wang is currently completing his MD studies at Western University.
Jaryd Christie, PhD, completed his CAMPEP PhD in the Department of Medical Biophysics at Western University in 2024. His research focused on the development of a multi-modality clinical decision-support system for risk stratification in non-small cell lung cancer. Dr. Christie is currently a Medical Physics Resident at Henry Ford Health.
Tricia Chinnery, PhD, completed her CAMPEP PhD in the Department of Medical Biophysics at Western University in 2024.  Her research involved predicting radiation replanning and toxicity outcomes to support personalized treatment in oropharyngeal cancer. Dr. Chinnery is currently a Medical Physics Resident at UC San Diego.
Lauren Zelko, MSc, completed her Masters in the Department of  Medical Biophysics at Western University in 2023. Her project involved developing a radiomics based machine learning model to predict local progression of non-spine bone metastases following stereotactic radiotherapy. She is currently working as a Project Coordinator at Alimentiv.​ 
Our Affiliations and Funding Partners