Skip to main content

Warren D. D'Souza, PhD, MBA, FAAPM

Academic Title:

Adjunct Professor

Primary Appointment:

Radiation Oncology

Secondary Appointment(s):

Medicine

Additional Title:

Vice President, Enterprise Data and Analytics, University of Maryland Medical System

Location:

Gudelsky, GGK 01

Phone (Primary):

(410) 328-7074

Fax:

(410) 328-2618

Education and Training

Dr. D’Souza received his B.S. in Applied Physics (summa cum laude) from Xavier University in 1995 and then obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. in Medical Physics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1998 and 2000, respectively. In 2013, he obtained an MBA from Duke University, The Fuqua School of Business, where he was a Fuqua Scholar (top 10% of graduating class) and a Health Sector Management Scholar.

Biosketch

Warren D. D’Souza, PhD, MBA, is Professor and Division Head, Medical Physics in the Department of Radiation Oncology. He joined the faculty as Instructor at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in 2000. He came to the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 2002 as Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor and appointed as Division Head of Medical Physics in 2008. In 2014, he was promoted to Professor. He is the recipient of several awards, including the Medical Physics Travel Award from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. He holds six patents from the United States Patent Office. He has been funded as a principal investigator on multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and through various industry sponsored grants. He became a Fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine in 2015.

Research/Clinical Keywords

radiation treatment plan optimization; combinatorial optimization; multi-modality imaging; machine learning; treatment outcomes

Highlighted Publications

W. D. D’Souza, R. R. Meyer, B. R. Thomadsen, M. C. Ferris, “An iterative sequential mixed-integer approach to automated prostate brachytherapy treatment plan optimization,” Phys. Med. Biol. 46, 297-322, 2001. 

W. D. D’Souza, E. L. Madsen, O. Unal, K. K. Vigen, G. R. Frank, and B. R. Thomadsen, “Tissue mimicking materials for a multi-imaging modality prostate phantom,” Med. Phys. 28, 688-700, 2001. 

W. D. D’Souza and R. R. Meyer, “Dose homogeneity as a function of source activity in optimized I-125 prostate implant treatment plans,” Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 51, 1120-1130, 2001. 

R. R. Meyer, W. D. D’Souza, M. C. Ferris, B. R. Thomadsen, “MIP models and BB strategies in brachytherapy treatment optimization,” J. Global Optimization. 25, 23-42, 2003. 

W. D. D’Souza, H. K. Lee, M. B. Palmer, L. G. Smith and A Pollack, “Is intraoperative nomogram-based overplanning for prostate implants necessary?,” Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 56, 462-467, 2003. 

H. D. Thames, W. D. D’Souza and D. A. Kuban, “Dual radiobiological interpretations of retrospective clinical data: the time factor,” Int J Radiat Biol 79, 503-509, 2003. 

W. D. D’Souza and I. I Rosen, “Non-tumor integral dose variation in conventional radiotherapy treatment planning,” Med. Phys. 30, 2065-2071, 2003. 

H. K. Lee, W. D. D’Souza, J. J. Yamal, A. Pollack and D. A. Kuban, “Dosimetric consequences of using a surrogate urethra to estimate urethral dose after brachytherapy for prostate cancer,” Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 57, 355-361, 2003. 

J. Z. Wang, X. A. Li, W. D. D’Souza and R. D. Stewart, “Impact of prolonged fraction delivery times on tumor control: A note of caution for IMRT,” Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 57, 543-552, 2003. 

N. Phaisangittisakul, L. Ma and W. D. D’Souza, “Magnetic collimation and metal foil filtering for electron range and fluence modulation,” Med Phys 31, 17-23, 2004. 

W. D. D’Souza, H. D. Thames and D. A. Kuban “The dose-volume conundrum for response of prostate cancer to brachytherapy: summary dosimetric measures and their relationship to tumor-control probability,” Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 58, 1540-1548, 2004. 

W. D. D’Souza, R. R. Meyer and L. Shi “Selection of beam orientations in intensity-modulated radiation therapy using single-beam indices and integer programming,” Phys Med Biol 49, 3465-3481, 2004. 

W. D. D’Souza, A. A. Ahamad, R. B. Iyer, M. R. Salehpour, A. Jhingran and P. J. Eifel “Feasibility of dose escalation using intensity-modulated radiation therapy in post-hyterectomy cervical carcinomas,” Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 61, 1062-1070, 2005. 

A. A. Ahamad, W. D. D’Souza, M. R. Salehpour, R. B. Iyer, H. D. Thames, S. L. Tucker, A. Jhingran, and P. J. Eifel, “Intensity-modulated radiation therapy after hysterectomy: comparison with conventional treatment and sensitivity of the normal-tissue-sparing effect to margin size,” Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys, 62 1117-1124 2005. 

S. A. Naqvi and W. D. D’Souza, “A stochastic method for calculating dose distributions from respiration-induced intra-fraction motion during IMRT,” Med Phys 32, 1156-1163 2005. 

W. D. D’Souza, S. A. Naqvi, and C. X. Yu, “Real-time intra-fraction motion tracking using the treatment couch: a feasibility study,” Phys Med Biol 50, 4021-4033, 2005. 

S. A. Naqvi, W. D. D’Souza, M. A. Earl, S. J. Ye, R. Shih and X. A. Li, “Using a photon phase-space source for convolution/superposition dose calculations in radiation therapy,” Phys Med Biol, 50, 4111-4124 (2005). 

W. D. D’Souza, N. Zacharapoulos, M. Pepelea, P. Klahr and C. X. Yu. Gated CT imaging using a free-breathing signal from flow-volume spirometry,” Med Phys 2005 32, 3641-3649 (2005). 

A. Gunawardena, W. D. D’Souza, L. Goadrich, R. R. Meyer, K. Sorensen, S. A. Naqvi, L. Shi, “A difference matrix metaheuristic for intensity-map segmentation in step-and-shoot IMRT delivery,” Phys Med Biol 51, 2517-2536 (2006). 

W. D. D’Souza and T. J. McAvoy, “An analysis of the dynamics and control system for an intra-fraction motion synchronized treatment couch,” Med Phys 33, 4701-4709 (2006). 

J. Wu, O Dandekar, D. Nazareth, P Lei, W. D’Souza and R. Shekhar. “Effect of ultrasound probe on dose delivery during real-time ultrasound-guided tumor tracking,” Proc. IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 1:3799-3802 (2006). 

W. D. D’Souza, D. P. Nazareth, C. Deyoung, Y. Kwok, M. Suntharalingam, W. F. Regine and C. X. Yu, “The use of gated and 4D CT imaging in treatment planning for stereotactic body radiotherapy,” Med Dosimetry 32, 92-101 (2007). 

R. R. Meyer, H. H. Zhang, L. Goadrich, D. P. Nazareth, L. Shi and W. D. D’Souza, “A multi-plan treatment planning framework: A paradigm shift for IMRT,” Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys, 68, 1178-1189 (2007). 

R. Shekhar, P. Lei, C. Castro-Pareja and W. D. D’Souza, “Automatic segmentation of phase-correlated lung CT scans through nonrigid image registration using geometrically regularized free-form deformation.” Med Phys 34, 3054-3066 (2007). 

P. Qiu, W. D. D’Souza, T. J. Mc Avoy, and K. J. R. Liu, “Inferential modeling and predictive feedback control in real-time motion compensation using the treatment couch during radiotherapy,” Phys Med Biol, 52, 5831-5854 (2007). 

J. Wu, H. Li, R. Shekhar, M. Suntharalingam and W. D. D’Souza, “An evaluation of planning techniques for stereotactic body radiation therapy in lung tumors”, Radiother Oncol 87, 35-43 (2008). 

W. D. D’Souza, H. H. Zhang, D. P. Nazareth, L. Shi and R. R. Meyer, “A nested partitions framework for beam angle selection in intensity-modulated radiation therapy,” Phys Med Biol 53, 3293-3307 (2008). 

H. H. Zhang, L. Shi, R. R. Meyer, D. P. Nazareth and W. D. D'Souza, “Solving beam-angle selection and dose optimization simultaneously via high-throughput 
computing,” INFORMS: J Comput (in press) 2009. 

H. H. Zhang, W. D. D’Souza, R. R. Meyer, and L. Shi, “Modeling plan-related clinical complications using machine learning tools in a multi-plan IMRT framework,” Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 74, 1617-1626 (2009). 

J. Wu, P. Lei, R. Shekhar, H. Li, M. Suntharalingam and W. D. D’Souza, “Do tumors in the lung deform during normal respiration? – an image registration investigation,” Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys (in press) 2009. 

W. D. D’Souza, K. Malinowski, S. Van Liew, G. D’Souza, K. Markham, T. J. McAvoy, M. Suntharalingam and W. F. Regine, “Investigation of motion sickness and inertial stability on a moving couch for intra-fraction motion compensation,” Acta Oncologica (in press) 2009. 

D. H. Lim, B. Yi, A. Mirmiran, A. Dhople, M. Suntharalingam and W. D. D’Souza, “Optimal beam arrangement for stereotactic body radiation therapy delivery in lung tumors,” Acta Oncologica (accepted) 2009. 

R. George, K. Malinowski, S. Dieterich and W. D. D’Souza, “On the need for multiple external markers to predict tumor displacement due to respiration,” Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys (under review) 2009. 

K. Malinowski, J. Pantorotto, S. Senan, T. J. McAvoy and W. D. D’Souza, “Inferring nodal volume and primary tumor positions from multiple anatomical surrogates using 4D CT in stage III lung cancer,” Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys (under review) 2009. 

H. H. Zhang, J. Wu, S. A. Naqvi, R. R. Meyer, L. Shi and W. D. D’Souza, “A two-stage sequential linear programming approach to IMRT optimization,” Phys Med Biol (under review) 2009. 

G. D’Souza, H. H. Zhang, M. L. Gillison, R. R. Meyer and W. D. D’Souza, “Poor predictive value of demographic and behavioral characteristics for diagnosis of HPV status in head and neck cancer,” J Clin Oncol (under review) 2009. 

H. H. Zhang, R. R. Meyer, L. Shi and W. D. D’Souza, “Minimum knowledge base for predicting organ-at-risk dose-volume levels and plan-related complications in IMRT planning,” Phys Med Biol (under review) 2009.

Research Interests

Dr. D’Souza’s research interests include the development and application of data mining/analytic approaches in medicine, the development of novel radiation treatment plan optimization approaches using combinatorial approaches derived from operations research, and the identification therapeutic response of tumors and critical organs using imaging markers.