Ehsan Samei

Radiology

Reed and Martha Rice Distinguished Professor of Radiology

Ehsan Samei Profile Photo
Ehsan Samei Profile Photo

Research Interests

Dr. Samei’s scientific expertise includes X-ray imaging, theoretical imaging models, simulation methods, and experimental techniques in medical image formation, quantification, and perception.  His research aims to bridge the gap between scientific scholarship and clinical practice by enabling meaningful translational research and informing clinical processes with scientific evidence. He has advanced clinically relevant image quality and safety metrics and radiometrics to design, optimize, and monitor the interpretive and quantitative performance of imaging techniques and practice. These have been implemented in advanced imaging performance characterization, procedural optimization, and clinical dose and quality analytics. His most recent research interests have been virtual clinical trials across a broad spectrum of oncologic, pulmonary, cardiac, and vascular diseases, and developing methodological advances that provide smart fusions of principle-informed and AI-based, data-informed approaches to scientific inquiry.

Bio

Dr. Ehsan Samei, PhD, DABR, FAAPM, FSPIE, FAIMBE, FIOMP, FACR is a Persian-American medical physicist. He is the Reed and Martha Rice Distinguished Professor of Radiology, and Professor of Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering, Physics, and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University. He serves as the Chief Imaging Physicist for Duke University Health System, the Director of the Carl E Ravin Advanced Imaging Laboratories and the Center for Virtual Imaging Trials (CVIT), and Co-Director of the Triangle Centers of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (Triangle CERSI). Certified by the American Board of Radiology, he is recognized as a Distinguished Investigator by the Academy of Radiology Research, awarded Fellow by five professional organizations, and has been the recipient of the Jimmy O. Fenn Lifetime Achievement Award of SEAAPM and the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award by IOMP. He founded/co-founded the Duke Medical Physics Program, the Duke Imaging Physics Residency Program, the Duke Clinical Imaging Physics Group, the Center for Virtual Imaging Trials, and the Society of Directors of Academic Medical Physics Programs (SDAMPP). He has held senior leadership positions in the AAPM, SPIE, SDAMPP, and RSNA, including serving as president of the SEAAPM (2010-2011), SDAMPP (2011), and AAPM (2023). He is ranked 8th among over 56,000 medical physicists worldwide for his lifetime contribution to medical physics.

Dr. Samei has mentored over 160 trainees (graduate and postgraduate). He has over 1500 scientific publications, including 4 books, over 430 refereed journal papers, over 260 full-length conference articles, over 350 conference presentations, and over 340 invited talks. Citations to his work are reflected in an h-index of 82 and a Weighted Relative Citation Ratio of 759. His laboratory has been supported continuously for over two decades by 50 extramural grants totaling $47 million. Those include a Program Project grant from the NIH in 2021 to establish the National Center for Virtual Imaging Trials (CVIT), and a multi-institutional grant in 2023 from the FDA to establish the Triangle Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (Triangle CERSI), both joining highly selective biomedical research and regulatory science centers nationwide.

On the personal side, Ehsan Samei is a semi-professional musician, leads a chamber ensemble, and has an active interest in common traits and interactions between science, art, and faith. He has led workshops on leadership and leadership development. He has run five marathons (3:17 PR), including the 2013 Boston Marathon, is married to Dr. Maija Samei, a scholar of medieval Chinese literature, and is blessed with four gifted children.

Education

  • M.E. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1995
  • Ph.D. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1997

Positions

  • Reed and Martha Rice Distinguished Professor of Radiology
  • Professor in Radiology
  • Member of the Duke Cancer Institute
  • Professor of Biomedical Engineering
  • Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

  • Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award. International Organization of Medical Physics (IOMP). 2022
  • Fellow. American College of Radiology. 2021
  • Jimmy O. Finn Lifetime Achievement Award. The Southeast Chapter of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. 2020
  • Award for Outstanding Directorship of Medical Physics Program. Graduate School, Department of Radiology, and Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University. 2019
  • Fellow. American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). 2017
  • Directoru2019s Award for Dedication and Service. Duke Kunshan University. 2016
  • Farrington Daniels Award. American Association of Physicists in Medicine. 2013
  • Fellow. International Society for Optics and Photonics. 2010
  • Fellows. American Association of Physicists in Medicine. 2009

Courses Taught

  • MEDPHY 791: Independent Study in Medical Physics
  • BME 792: Continuation of Graduate Independent Study
  • BME 791: Graduate Independent Study
  • BME 493: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)

Publications

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