Thoracic oncologist Aline Fares, M.D., a clinical associate professor in the UF Division of Hematology & Oncology, has been selected for the highly competitive 2026 International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Academy.
She’s one of just 40 physicians worldwide who will participate in the prestigious professional development program for early-career physicians pursuing academic careers in thoracic oncology. The academy provides mentorship and education from internationally recognized lung cancer experts.
As part of the program, Fares will conduct a research project that aims to develop a risk prediction model combining imaging biomarkers with molecular profiles. The goal is to personalize survivorship care by giving oncologists a tool to better identify which patients might benefit from intensive monitoring or additional treatment and which patients could potentially be followed less intensively.
“Throughout my career — from Brazil to Toronto to UF — I’ve had the privilege of caring for lung cancer patients whose outcomes couldn’t be fully explained by tumor stage or genetics alone,” Fares said. “I’ve come to believe that part of the answer lies in the patient’s systemic health — their muscle mass, metabolic state and cardiovascular burden — features we see on every CT scan but rarely quantify systematically. The IASLC Academy gives me the opportunity to test this hypothesis rigorously alongside international experts who can help refine and strengthen this work.”
Fares will use the PLuS2 consortium to combine quantitative imaging with molecular profiling. The consortium, funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Initiative and the National Cancer Institute, tracked more than 27,000 early-stage non-small cell lung cancer patients across OneFlorida+. It’s championed by Dejana Braithwaite, Ph.D., who helped Fares develop her project with Bruno Hochhegger, M.D., Ph.D.
Fares will apply a deep-learning platform called OSCAR to extract body composition, cardiovascular and pulmonary biomarkers from routine diagnostic CT scans in 1,798 UF Health patients. These imaging-derived measurements — skeletal muscle area and attenuation, visceral adiposity, coronary and aortic calcification and emphysema index — measure the effects of chronic tobacco exposure and metabolic dysfunction throughout the body.
Fares will then integrate these measurements with next-generation sequencing and molecular profiling data to test two hypotheses: First, that adverse imaging profiles independently predict mortality risk beyond traditional models centered on the tumor alone. Second, that systemic vulnerability correlates with molecular subtypes associated with poor outcomes and resistance to immunotherapy treatment.
“This represents a paradigm shift from viewing early-stage lung cancer outcomes through a purely tumor-centric lens to understanding how host biology and tumor genetics interact,” said Fares, research leader of the thoracic Disease Site Group at the UF Health Cancer Institute. “The practical impact is significant: we can extract these imaging biomarkers from scans patients are already getting, with no additional cost or radiation, to refine risk stratification and personalize survivorship care in real-world populations.”
“The practical impact is significant: we can extract these imaging biomarkers from scans patients are already getting, with no additional cost or radiation, to refine risk stratification and personalize survivorship care in real-world populations.” — Aline Fares, M.D.
The Florida context makes the project particularly meaningful.
“We serve patients with decades of smoking history, high rates of emphysema and cardiovascular disease and often aggressive tumor biology,” Fares said. “Understanding how these factors interact feels essential for improving outcomes in our population. The academy connects me with the world’s leading lung cancer researchers, and I’m grateful for the chance to learn from them as we work together to advance this emerging field.”
The international network will also allow her to study whether associations between imaging and molecular profiling hold true in populations beyond Florida.
“I’m really looking forward to the intellectual community — presenting this early work, getting critical feedback that will make it stronger and connecting with researchers tackling similar questions from different angles,” Fares said.
Physician Spotlight
Aline Fares Builds Lasting Connections in Thoracic Oncology
UF Health thoracic oncologist Aline Fares, MD, is passionate about delivering kind, personalized care to patients with lung cancer. She finds the most meaning in building long-term, trusting relationships with her patients.
