The Matthew J. Wilson Professorship of Research Radiology II
The Professorship was established in 1955 through gifts from Matthew J. Wilson, Jr. (1895–1963), and Mrs. Fred C. Newcombe (1890–1979) to honor their father, Matthew J. Wilson, MD (1861–1931), a distinguished Philadelphia physician and civic leader.
Dr. Wilson practiced medicine in the Philadelphia community for over 50 years, during the period when the “family doctor” was called upon to treat all general and special ailments. He was a member of the Philadelphia Board of Education for 25 years.
Current Chairholder
Despina Kontos, PhD
Despina Kontos, PhD is the Matthew J. Wilson Professor of Research Radiology II and Associate Vice-Chair for Research at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Radiology. A computer scientist by training, she leverages machine learning and AI to investigate the role of quantitative imaging as a predictive biomarker for guiding personalized clinical decisions in cancer screening, prognosis, and treatment.
Dr. Kontos’s lab has pioneered computational methods for breast cancer risk assessment with digital breast tomosynthesis, including novel volumetric density measures. She is currently working on developing novel imaging biomarkers to assess response to immunotherapies for lung cancer.
Dr. Kontos is also leading several research studies funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Cancer Institute (NCI) and private foundations to incorporate quantitative multi-modality imaging measures into next-generation multi-omic cancer risk prediction models.
Previous Chairholders
- Eugene P. Pendergrass, MD 1964–1966
- James T. Brennan, MD 1968–1978
- Harold L. Kundel, MD 1980–2001
- Mitchell D. Schnall, MD, PhD 2001–2012
- David Mankoff, MD, PhD