Professor of Radiology
Vice Chair of Research, Radiological Sciences
Section of Thoracic Imaging
Email: DAberle@mednet.ucla.edu
Professional Training & Experience
To Date
Professor of Radiology David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles CA Professor of Bioengineering Henry Samueli School of Engineering & Applied Sciences at UCLA Vice Chair of Research, Radiology UCLA Radiological Sciences
1992-1997
Associate Professor of Radiology UCLA Radiological Sciences
Residency: Internal Medicine Boston University of Medicine Boston MA
1979-1980
Internship: Internal Medicine University of Kansas School of Medicine Kansas City KS
1979
Medical Degree University of Kansas School of Medicine Kansas City KS
Research Interests
Dr. Aberle's primary research interest is in lung cancer and the applications of imaging for early detection, prognosis, prediction, and treatment response assessment. She has a strong background in quantitative image analysis, including computer aided lung cancer detection and nodule characterization and she is the UCLA Co-PI to the NCI-funded five-member consortium, the Lung Imaging Database Consortium (LIDC), which is building an annotated lung imaging database for the use of computer added diagnosis (CAD) development. Dr. Aberle is the national PI for the NCI-sponsored ACRIN-National Lung Screening Trial, which is evaluating the benefits of two screening tests -- low dose helical CT versus chest radiography -- by comparing lung cancer mortality rates in individuals at high risk of lung cancer. Finally, she is actively engaged in informatics research and education, and specifically, the use of information technologies in oncology.
Involvement in Research Programs
Dr. Aberle is a faculty member in two NIH-sponsored UCLA training programs, including:
National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) National PI / UCLA Co-PI
The NLST is a joint collaboration between ACRIN and the Lung Screening Study and has enrolled over 50,000 older smokers that have been screened annually with either chest radiographs or low dose helical CT. Medical outcomes will be collected on these participants through 2009 to determine differences in lung cancer specific mortality between the two screening technologies. The ACRIN NLST grant addresses several additional screening-related questions, including the effect of screening on quality of life, a formal cost effectiveness analysis, the impact of screening on smoking behaviors and beliefs, and the creation of a biospecimen archive that will be used for molecular research into biomarkers of lung cancer.
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Lung Imaging Database Consortium (LIDC) Site Co-PI
Lung Imaging Database Consortium (LIDC) supports a consortium of five institutions to develop consensus guidelines for a spiral CT lung image resource and is constructing a database of spiral CT lung images. The investigators are creating a set of guidelines and metrics for database use and developing a database as a test-bed and showcase for those methods. The database will be available to researchers and users through the Internet and will have wide utility as a research, teaching, and training resource.
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Lung Cancer Chemoprevention with Celecoxib in Ex-Smokers Site Investigator
This is a Phase II, randomized controlled chemoprevention study of Celecoxib in former heavy smokers at high risk of primary of second primary lung cancer
Certificate of Outstanding Leadership
American College of Radiology Imaging Network
2005
Magna Cum Laude Award
Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Contrast Enhancement Maps for Pulmonary Nodule Characterization 17th European Congress of Radiology, Vienna, Austria
2002
Certificate of Outstanding Contribution
American College of Radiology Imaging Network
2001
Certificate of Outstanding Contribution
American College of Radiology Imaging Network
