Dr. Issam El Naqa Named Moffitt’s Researcher of the Year
Moffitt Cancer Center’s annual Faculty Appreciation and Recognition Ceremony celebrates the exceptional accomplishments of hundreds of faculty members. It’s an opportunity to highlight those who persistently push boundaries and pioneer advancements in cancer.
The Researcher of the Year, a top award, is given to a faculty member who has made outstanding contributions to the understanding of cancer through innovative research and an impact on the care of patients around the globe. This year’s recipient is Dr. Issam El Naqa.
“It is an honor and privilege to be recognized by peers at the institution. Although the award is individual, it’s a reflection of a team effort that is being recognized here,” El Naqa said. “It came jointly with another member of our group, Dr. Ghulam Rasool, being recognized for junior quantitative sciences, making it collectively a good recognition for the Machine Learning team in general and a motivation to maintain this momentum by all members in the group.”
El Naqa joined Moffitt in 2020 as the founding chair of the Machine Learning Department. Trained in electrical and computer engineering, he focuses his research on Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in cancer, specifically, outcome modeling and decision support using imaging and bioinformatics techniques.
His passion for AI and its potential to improve clinical outcomes in cancer care is something he has believed in for more than two decades and what ultimately led him to Moffitt.
El Naqa’s goal when joining the cancer center was to advance cancer research discovery and enable AI implementation in the clinic to make Moffitt a leader in the field. While the cancer center is just beginning to explore the capabilities of AI technologies, he and his team are making strides to unlock its full potential.
“We are making advancements toward realizing the potential of AI at Moffitt on the research side, as well as bringing this technology to the bench side of basic research and bedside of clinical care,” El Naqa said. “This is a collective effort and we hope to see its impact soon. I’m a technical person at heart. I’m proud of the AI technologies and the software tools that we’ve been developing and implementing for outcome modeling and decision support with our team members and collaborators. However, the best is yet to come.”
His advice to future researchers is to live by the four P’s: Passion + Patience + Perseverance = Progress.
