PROJECT SUMMARY Candidate’s Long-Term Career Goal: Dr. Jennifer Wang’s career goal is to become an independently funded physician scientist conducting research using quantitative imaging and machine learning to define and phenotype the clinical syndrome of combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema (CPFE). Through the plan detailed in this F32 proposal, Dr. Wang will gain intensive training in epidemiology, biostatistics, and data science to provide a strong foundation for a K23 award submission. Clinical Problem to be Addressed: Combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema is a devastating disease that is understudied and underdiagnosed, with a lack of rigorous, standardized diagnostic criteria. There is growing interest in creating quantitative imaging thresholds of fibrosis and emphysema. Clinical outcomes, including transplant free survival and lung function decline, are poor for CPFE patients; however, there are also no large-scale studies evaluating these endpoints. Dr. Wang’s recent work has demonstrated that a deep learning based radiomic classifier of fibrosis can predict poor clinical outcomes. Candidate Background: Dr. Wang is an instructor in the division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Michigan (UM). She is also a T32 research fellow completing a Master’s in Health and Health Care Research. She received her MD from Duke (2017), publishing a first author research paper on imaging in interstitial lung disease in Thorax. She refined her interest in imaging and chronic lung disease during pulmonary critical care fellowship at UM. She has published 10 papers, including 6 first author and presented at several American Thoracic Society International Conferences, winning a 2022 abstract award. Career Development Plan: Dr. Wang will complete formal Master’s training in 2024 and will continue to gain expertise in biostatistics and data science techniques through additional didactic coursework and multidisciplinary mentorship and collaboration. Sponsors: Her primary sponsor, Dr MeiLan Han at UM, is an expert in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and has mentored numerous clinician-scientists. Dr. Wang and Dr. Han have worked together since 2020 and published several manuscripts together. Her longstanding research team consists of data scientists, biostatisticians and interstitial lung disease clinician investigators, including co-sponsor Dr Justin Oldham. Aims: In the 1st aim, Dr. Wang will define CPFE through quantitative imaging methodologies. In the 2nd aim, she will compare patient outcomes including survival, lung function decline, and development of comorbidities in CPFE patients with emphysema and fibrosis predominant subgroups. Deliverables for Aims: Dr. Wang’s proposed Aims will lead to 1-2 first author research manuscripts and yearly representation at national and international conferences. Her findings will lead to a K23 application focused on improving early screening and phenotyping of CPFE by lev...