Catherine Coolens

At a Glance

• Quantitative Imaging for Personalised Cancer Medicine
• Research spans full breadth of development and validation of functional imaging methods and representation of the tumor microenvironment
• Pre-clinical and 3D-printing phantom development
• CT/MRI/PET biomarkers of response to cancer treatment
• Diseases studied include brain tumours, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, CNS and liver cancers
• We collaborate extensively with other labs, clinicians and clinician scientists

Short Bio

Catherine Coolens is a Professor at the University of Toronto, Department of Radiation Oncology and a Staff Medical Physicist in the Radiation Medicine Program at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre – University Health Network. She received her PhD in Medical Radiation Physics under Steve Webb at the Institute of Cancer Research, University of London working on Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy optimization. She consequently obtained her board-certification and worked at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London (UK) where she worked on organ-motion tracking and gated imaging and therapy techniques. In 2008 she was recruited to Toronto where she started her own lab focusing on non-invasive quantitative imaging biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and treatment response. She is currently the Chair of the Molecular Imaging in Radiation Oncology Work Group (WGMIR) for the AAPM and clinical operational lead for the GammaKnife program at the PM.

Research Synopsis

At Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Dr. Coolens and her team work on three main topics:

1. Development and validation of functional imaging techniques for imaging of tumor micro-vascularity and radiation therapy response. This has been successful in dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) CT and MRI and is being further investigated for metabolic imaging using PET-MRI. The validation of these techniques in done in silico as well as through development of functional testing frameworks and 3D-printed biological phantoms.
2. Pharmaco-kinetic and fluid dynamic modeling of solute transport to probe the tumor microenvironment and assess biological features such as tumor hypoxia and efficacy of drug delivery. This spans use of contrast agents for quantitative imaging as well as larger weight molecules used in immunotherapy and nanoparticle-based therapeutics.
3. Clinical trials, focused on CNS and liver where the above techniques can be assessed for their prognostic ability to personalize cancer treatment and elucidate best management strategies based on early response assessment and tumor control evaluation.

Recent Publications

Google Scholar Search for Dr. Catherine Coolens.

1. Multi-institutional atlas of brain metastases informs spatial modeling for precision imaging and personalized therapy. Barrios J, Porter E, Capaldi DPI, Upadhaya T, Chen WC, Perks JR, Apte A, Aristophanous M, LoCastro E, Hsu D, Stone PH, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Valdes G, Jiang F, Maddalena M, Ballangrud A, Prezelski K, Lin H, Sun JY, Aldin MAK, Chau OW, Ziemer B, Seaberg M, Sneed PK, Nakamura JL, Boreta LC, Fogh SE, Raleigh DR, Chew J, Vasudevan H, Cha S, Hess C, Fragoso R, Shultz DB, Pike L, Hervey-Jumper SL, Tsang DS, Theodosopoulos P, Cooke D, Benedict SH, Sheng K, Seuntjens J, Coolens C, Deasy JO, Braunstein S, Morin O.Nat Commun. 2025 May 15;16(1):4536. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-59584-7.PMID: 40374598 Free PMC article.
2. Treatment Planning Methods for Dose Painting by Numbers Treatment in Gamma Knife Radiosurgery. Tham BZ, Aleman DM, Nordström H, Nygren N, Coolens C.Adv Radiat Oncol. 2024 May 1;9(8):101534. doi: 10.1016/j.adro.2024.101534. eCollection 2024 Aug.PMID: 39104874 Free PMC article.
3. Repeatability and reproducibility of prostate apparent diffusion coefficient values on a 1.5 T magnetic resonance linear accelerator. Fernando N, Tadic T, Li W, Patel T, Padayachee J, Santiago AT, Dang J, Chung P, Gutierrez E, Coolens C, Taylor E, Winter JD.Phys Imaging Radiat Oncol. 2024 Mar 15;30:100570. doi: 10.1016/j.phro.2024.100570. eCollection 2024 Apr.PMID: 38544680 Free PMC article.
4. Physical dose validation of dynamic treatment for Gamma Knife radiosurgery. Tham BZ, Aleman DM, Heaton RK, Nordström H, Coolens C.Med Phys. 2024 May;51(5):3635-3647. doi: 10.1002/mp.17034. Epub 2024 Mar 22.PMID: 38517433
5. Recommendations for improved reproducibility of ADC derivation on behalf of the Elekta MRI-linac consortium image analysis working group. Bisgaard ALH, Keesman R, van Lier ALHMW, Coolens C, van Houdt PJ, Tree A, Wetscherek A, Romesser PB, Tyagi N, Lo Russo M, Habrich J, Vesprini D, Lau AZ, Mook S, Chung P, Kerkmeijer LGW, Gouw ZAR, Lorenzen EL, van der Heide UA, Schytte T, Brink C, Mahmood F.Radiother Oncol. 2023 Sep;186:109803. doi: 10.1016/j.radonc.2023.109803. Epub 2023 Jul 10.PMID: 37437609 Free PMC article.
6. Plan Assessment Metrics for Dose Painting in Stereotactic Radiosurgery. Tham BZ, Aleman D, Nordström H, Nygren N, Coolens C.Adv Radiat Oncol. 2023 Jun 9;8(6):101281. doi: 10.1016/j.adro.2023.101281. eCollection 2023 Nov-Dec.PMID: 37415903 Free PMC article.
7. Using a Nominal Group Technique to Develop a Science Communication Curriculum for Health Professionals and Clinical Researchers. Giuliani ME, Papadakos T, Coolens C, Fregnani J, Gebhardt P, Julius A, Pramesh CS, Quartey NK, Papadakos J.J Cancer Educ. 2023 Oct;38(5):1459-1465. doi: 10.1007/s13187-023-02282-z. Epub 2023 Mar 17.PMID: 36930438 Free PMC article.
8. Assessment of intra-fraction motion during frameless image guided Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery. Li W, Bootsma G, Shultz D, Laperriere N, Millar BA, Cho YB, Jaffray DA, Chung C, Coolens C.Phys Imaging Radiat Oncol. 2023 Jan 21;25:100415. doi: 10.1016/j.phro.2023.100415. eCollection 2023 Jan.PMID: 36718356 Free PMC article.
9. Incorporating cross-voxel exchange for the analysis of dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging data: pre-clinical results. Sinno N, Taylor E, Hompland T, Milosevic M, Jaffray DA, Coolens C.Phys Med Biol. 2022 Dec 12;67(24). doi: 10.1088/1361-6560/aca512.PMID: 36541560
10. Pattern of Recurrence of Glioblastoma Versus Grade 4 IDH-Mutant Astrocytoma Following Chemoradiation: A Retrospective Matched-Cohort Analysis. Stewart J, Sahgal A, Chan AKM, Soliman H, Tseng CL, Detsky J, Myrehaug S, Atenafu EG, Helmi A, Perry J, Keith J, Jane Lim-Fat M, Munoz DG, Zadeh G, Shultz DB, Das S, Coolens C, Alcaide-Leon P, Maralani PJ.Technol Cancer Res Treat. 2022 Jan-Dec;21:15330338221109650. doi: 10.1177/15330338221109650.PMID: 35762826 Free PMC article.
11. Incorporating cross-voxel exchange into the analysis of dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging data: theory, simulations and experimental results. Sinno N, Taylor E, Milosevic M, Jaffray DA, Coolens C.Phys Med Biol. 2021 Oct 14;66(20). doi: 10.1088/1361-6560/ac2205.PMID: 34650009
12. Integration of quantitative imaging biomarkers in clinical trials for MR-guided radiotherapy: Conceptual guidance for multicentre studies from the MR-Linac Consortium Imaging Biomarker Working Group. van Houdt PJ, Saeed H, Thorwarth D, Fuller CD, Hall WA, McDonald BA, Shukla-Dave A, Kooreman ES, Philippens MEP, van Lier ALHMW, Keesman R, Mahmood F, Coolens C, Stanescu T, Wang J, Tyagi N, Wetscherek A, van der Heide UA.Eur J Cancer. 2021 Aug;153:64-71. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2021.04.041. Epub 2021 Jun 15.PMID: 34144436 Free PMC article.
13. Transformational Role of Medical Imaging in (Radiation) Oncology. Coolens C, Gwilliam MN, Alcaide-Leon P, de Freitas Faria IM, Ynoe de Moraes F.Cancers (Basel). 2021 May 23;13(11):2557. doi: 10.3390/cancers13112557.PMID: 34070984 Free PMC article. Review.
14. Implementation of Cardiac Stereotactic Radiotherapy: From Literature to the Linac. Glicksman RM, Bhaskaran A, Nanthakumar K, Lindsay P, Coolens C, Conroy L, Letourneau D, Lok BH, Giuliani M, Hope A.Cureus. 2021 Feb 28;13(2):e13606. doi: 10.7759/cureus.13606.PMID: 33816005 Free PMC article.
15. Impact of EGFR mutation on outcomes following SRS for brain metastases in non-small cell lung cancer. Moraes FY, Mansouri A, Dasgupta A, Ramotar M, Kosyak N, Weiss J, Laperriere N, Millar BA, Berlin A, Conrad T, van Prooijen M, Heaton R, Coolens C, Winter J, Bernstein M, Zadeh G, Kongkham P, Doherty M, Shultz DB.Lung Cancer. 2021 May;155:34-39. doi: 10.1016/j.lungcan.2021.02.036. Epub 2021 Mar 2.PMID: 33721614
16. Clinicopathologic and Treatment Features of Long-Term Surviving Brain Metastasis Patients. Dasgupta A, Co J, Winter J, Millar BA, Laperriere N, Tsang DS, van Prooijen M, Damyanovich A, Heaton R, Coolens C, Bernstein M, Kongkham P, Zadeh G, Berlin A, Conrad T, Moraes FY, Shultz DB.Curr Oncol. 2021 Jan 18;28(1):549-559. doi: 10.3390/curroncol28010054.PMID: 33477698 Free PMC article.
17. Patient perspectives on frame versus mask immobilization for gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery. Li W, Cashell A, Lee I, Tamerou M, Coolens C, Bernstein M, Kongkham P, Laperriere N, Shultz D.J Med Imaging Radiat Sci. 2020 Dec;51(4):567-573. doi: 10.1016/j.jmir.2020.08.001. Epub 2020 Aug 22.PMID: 32839140