Boston, MA

Ali Ajdari, PhD.

Instructor in Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School · Massachusetts General Hospital · Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute

My research asks a simple question with a complicated answer: what if cancer treatment could learn from the patient as it unfolds? I develop computational methods that combine mathematical optimization, artificial intelligence, and longitudinal patient data to turn evolving treatment response into better clinical decisions — while there is still time to act.

01 · Monitor
Measure response

Extract clinically meaningful signals from imaging, biomarkers, wearables, and longitudinal treatment data.

02 · Personalize
Adapt treatment

Use prediction and optimization to determine when treatment should change, and how it should change for an individual patient.

03 · Deliver
Improve access

Build decision-support and optimization systems that make advanced cancer care more efficient, deployable, and accessible.

Current work

From methods to clinical systems.

Prospective study Active

Digital biomarker-assisted cardiovascular monitoring

Longitudinal physiological monitoring during and after radiotherapy using wearable-derived cardiovascular biomarkers.

Prediction + adaptation Active

Dynamic cardiovascular risk prediction & intervention

Integrating evolving heart-rate dynamics and cardiac dosimetry to identify risk during treatment and inform potential adaptation.

Optimization Method

Bi-level optimization for biologically informed radiotherapy

Embedding predictive models and biological objectives within clinically interpretable treatment-plan optimization.

Clinical operations NexusRT

Optimization for radiation oncology access

Decision-support for patient scheduling, machine allocation, capacity utilization, and timely access to radiation therapy.

Recent publications

Selected recent work.

2026
Parametric delineation of the clinical target volume for glioma: Model-based approach that tailors to physician contouring practices
Radiotherapy and Oncology
2026
Escalation of resting heart rate and tachycardia as a response to thoracic radiotherapy
International Journal of Radiation Oncology · Biology · Physics
2026
Bi-level multi-criteria optimization for risk-informed radiotherapy
Physics in Medicine & Biology
Explore
Radiation oncology · computational oncology · mathematical optimization · longitudinal biomarkers · clinical decision support