Donald Plewes, PhD

Professor Emeritus, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto

Dr. Donald Plewes, CIMTEC board member

Dr. Donald Plewes is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto. Dr. Plewes’s career has been devoted to the physics of medical imaging. He has conducted research in x-ray/CT imaging, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging with clinical applications related to cardiovascular disease and cancer. 

His work has explored the use of phase MRI methods for the evaluation of flow characteristics in cardiovascular applications, tissue biomechanical based on MR elastography and ultrasound detection with MRI.  Dr. Plewes was co-principle investigator of a 12-year clinical trial of breast MRI that demonstrated a more than two-fold increase in sensitivity over mammography or ultrasound in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. His team was central to the creation of the high-risk breast MRI screening program which was launched in 2011 under the Ontario Breast Screening Program. In 2004, Dr. Plewes and members of his group founded Sentinelle Medical to manufacture and distribute breast MRI technology worldwide.

Affiliations: 

Professor Emeritus, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto