Georges El Fakhri, PhD

Georges El Fakhri's research focuses on the development and application of physiological and molecular imaging as well as the continued advancement of PET technology and its combination with other modalities such as MR and CT. The integration of these modalities has dramatically advanced our capabilities to image and characterize normal function and pathophysiology. He has pioneered technological approaches to compensate for many of the physical factors (e.g., scatter, attenuation, motion, PSF) affecting quantitative imaging using artificial neural networks (AI) and analytical approaches, and objectively assessing the improvement in image quality, specifically in oncologic, neurologic, and cardiac imaging. He has also pioneered novel approaches to kinetic modeling and parametric imaging in cardiac perfusion and neuroreceptor imaging, instrumentation partnerships with Industry to build the first SiPM brain PET scanner available commercially (NeuroPET-CT, Photodiagnosis Systems Inc.), as well as Academia (University of Sherbrooke) to build the highest spatial resolution brain PET scanner approaching ~1.1mm3. His group has demonstrated the feasibility of simultaneous PET/MR and PET/fMRI for mapping neurotransmission in the brain, mapping of mitochondrial membrane potential with PET/MR, direct estimation of kinetic parameters, and guiding photon and proton therapy using PET and PET/MR.

biomarkers ;  biophysics ;  data sharing ;  deep learning ;  positron emission tomography ;  magnetic resonance spectroscopy ;  multimodal imaging ;  superresolution imaging  

aging ;  algorithms ;  artificial intelligence ;  cognition ;  computer vision ;  physiology ;  biomedical image analysis ;  PET imaging  

El Fakhri graduated from Ecole Centrale located in France and earned his PhD at the University of Paris XI. He completed his postdoctoral training in PET and MR at Harvard Medical School and served on the faculty at Harvard, Brigham and Women’s, and Massachusetts General Hospital, where he led the Gordon Center for Medical Imaging as the Nathaniel and Diana Alpert Professor of Radiology. In 2023, he became an Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor and Director of the PET Center. In 2024, he became Vice-Chair of Radiology Scientific Research and Director of the Yale Biomedical Imaging Institute.