Fabien Maldonado, MD, MSc
My clinical and research interests include lung cancer diagnostics and early detection, as well as lung nodule management. My primary areas of research lie in the development of advanced bronchoscopic approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer, as well as the development and assessment of the clinical utility of novel biomarkers for thoracic malignancies. I serve as the co-director for the Vanderbilt MASLAB (Multidisciplinary Assessment and Stratification of Lung Cancer with Biomarkers) and as the director of the Vanderbilt Interventional Pulmonology Research laboratory. My areas of research expertise include quantitative imaging (radiomics) and machine learning, as well as pragmatic clinical trials. Our laboratory has developed several imaging biomarkers, such as CANARY (Computer-Aided Nodule Assessment and Risk Yield), facilitating the non-invasive characterization of peripheral lung cancer in the adenocarcinoma spectrum. Multiple validation studies have demonstrated excellent correlation between CANARY analysis, quantitative histologic assessment, and patient outcomes. CANARY is currently being evaluated in combination with a tissue-based genomic signature as part of an NCI-funded R01, for which I am the principal investigator. I was awarded a Lung Cancer Research Award from the Department of Defense to continue research in imaging biomarkers, distinguishing benign from malignant nodules on HRCT using quantitative imaging based on chest CT imaging (BRODERS radiomic model). This model has been validated and is currently implemented at Vanderbilt University and Mayo Clinic. Additionally, I am the principal investigator for an R01-funded project aiming to develop a multimodal predictive model for lung cancer using longitudinal clinical data from electronic health records and serial chest CT imaging. My clinical interests revolve around lung nodule diagnosis and minimally invasive biopsies. As the director of the Interventional Pulmonology section at Vanderbilt University, I oversee one of the largest volumes of robotic and navigational bronchoscopies in the US. I hold a shared appointment with the School of Engineering and have been a faculty of the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering for the past decade, working on novel rigid and flexible bronchoscopy robotic platforms that have led to several successful federally funded ongoing research projects. I have extensive clinical experience in advanced bronchoscopy using electromagnetic navigation, robotic bronchoscopy, cone-beam CT-assisted bronchoscopy, and the entire spectrum of airway interventions. I serve as the principal investigator for many translational and clinical investigator-initiated research projects on advanced bronchoscopic techniques, including the first cluster-randomized clinical trial in interventional pulmonology.