Dilara Long

Graduate School
College of Medicine – Tucson
Year Entered Program: 
2020
Grad Year: 
2024
Degrees Received: 

Bachelor of Arts in Physics and Philosophy from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (2018)

PhD Program: 
Biomedical Engineering
Thesis Advisor: 
PI: Jennifer Barton, PhD
Co-PI: John Heusinkveld, MD
Thesis Research: 

An aspiring physician-scientist in interventional radiology, I hope to contribute toward the development of minimally invasive image-guided devices to improve diagnosis and therapeutic management of women's health conditions. The focus of my research involves involves optical coherence tomography (OCT) endoscopy, a high-resolution imaging modality which can be implemented into sub-mm catheters for visualization of luminal tissue microstructure and function. My current projects involve optical imaging of the female reproductive tract and the development of a miniature OCT endoscopes to improve our understanding of normal reproductive physiology and detection of pathology, particularly endometriosis and ovarian cancer, in the fallopian tubes (the falloposcope).

About Me: 

I'm passionate about teaching and mentoring students in STEM as well as advocating for women, LGBTQ+, and underserved populations. Some leadership positions and extracurricular activities I'm involved with at the college of medicine include:

  • Co-director, MSTP Colloquium & Continuity clinic
  • Professionalism committee member, UACOM-T
  • Co-director, MSTP Recruitment Committee
  • Class of 2024 Preclerkship Student Representative
  • Patient coordinator, UACOM-T Commitment to Underserved Populations (CUP) Women's Clinic
Honors & Awards: 
  • 2024-2028 NIH F30 Ruth L. Kirschstein Individual Predoctoral NRSA for MD/​PhD and other Dual Degree Fellowships, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
  • 2024-2025 Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation Award, Kathryn Johnston West Scholar
  • 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting Medical Student Travel Scholarship, Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) 
  • 2023 Cancer Research Training & Education Coordination (CRTEC) Travel Award, University of Arizona Cancer Center
  • 2023 Edmund Optics Bronze Educational Award, Edmund Optics ($5000)
  • 2023 Norman Edmund Inspiration Award Winner, Edmund Optics ($5000)
  • 2022 CVIR Most Cited Article (doi: 10.1007/s00270-020-02760-7)
  • 2021 Editorial commentary, "Solbiati LA. Augmented Reality: Thrilling Future for Interventional Oncology? Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. 2021 May;44(5):782-783. doi: 10.1007/s00270-021-02801-9. PMID: 33835377."
  • 2020 Minnie's Finalist for Best New Radiology Software - Clara COVID-19 AI Classification Model, Nvidia and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (https://www.auntminnie.com/index.aspx?sec=nws&sub=rad&pag=dis&ItemID=130306)
  • 2020 Best Basic Science Abstract Award, Society of Interventional Oncology (https://www.eventscribe.com/2020/posters/SIOANNUAL/SplitViewer.asp?PID=N...)
  • 2018 Sunnybrook Award for Excellence in Student Data Research: “A Multi-Institutional Retrospective Clinical and Dosimetric Analyses of 1033 Oligometastatic Patients Treated with SBRT from the Consortium for Oligometastases Research - CORE”
Selected Publications: 

Publications​

  • Li M, Varble NA, Gurram S, Long DJ, Valera V, Gopal N, Bakhutashvili I, Reed S, Pritchard WF, Karanian JW, Xu S, Wood BJ. Bladder image stitching algorithm for navigation and referencing using a standard cystoscope. Sci Rep 14, 29168 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-80284-7.
  • Long DJ, Rice PF, Routh J, Kim S, Struycken L, Fisher J, Besselsen D, Galvez D, Walton R, Barton JK, Heusinkveld JM. Optical coherence tomography for the detection of electrothermal ureteral injury in an ex-vivo porcine model. BIOS Biophotonics Discovery. 2024 Jan;1(1):015001. doi: 10.1117/1.BIOS1.1.015001. Epub 2024 May 12.
  • Rocha AD, Drake WK, Rice PF, Long DJ, Shir H, Walton RHM, Reed MN, Galvez D, Gorman T, Heusinkveld JM, Barton JK. Iterative prototyping based on lessons learned from the falloposcope in vivo pilot study experience. J Biomed Opt. 2023 Dec;28(12):121206. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.28.12.121206. Epub 2023 Aug 12. PMID: 37577082; PMCID: PMC10423010.
  • Mikhail AS, Pritchard WF, Negussie AH, Inkiyad G, Long DJ, et al. Cone-beam computed tomography-based spatial prediction of drug dose after transarterial chemoembolization using radiopaque drug-eluting beads in woodchuck hepatocellular carcinoma. Invest Radiol. 2022 Mar 2. doi: 10.1097/RLI.0000000000000864.
  • Long DJ, Li M, De Ruiter QMB, et al. Comparison of smartphone augmented reality, smartglasses augmented reality, and 3D CBCT-guided fluoroscopy navigation for percutaneous needle insertion: a phantom study. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. 2021 Jan;44(1):70-78. doi: 10.1007/s00270-020-02760-7. Epub 2020 Sep 8. PMID: 32901435.
  • Varble N, Blain M, Kassin M, Xu S, Turkbey EB, Amalou A, Long DJ, et al. CT and clinical assessment in asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic patients with early SARS-CoV-2 in outbreak settings. Eur Radiol. 2020 Nov;30(11):6178-6187. doi: 10.1007/s00330-020-07401-8. Epub 2020 Jul 17. PMID: 32681147.
  • Harmon SA, Sanford TH, Xu S, Turkbey EB, Roth H, Xu Z, Yang C, Xu D, Wood BJ, Jones EC, Summers RM, Long DJ, et al. Artificial intelligence for the detection of COVID-19 pneumonia on chest CT using multinational datasets. Nat Commun. 2020 Aug 14;11(1):4080. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-17971-2.
  • Li M, Seifabadi R, Long DJ, et al. Smartphone- versus smartglasses-based augmented reality (AR) for percutaneous needle interventions: system accuracy and feasibility study. Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg. 2020 Dec;15(12):2297-2304. doi: 10.1007/s11548-020-02235-7. Epub 2020 Sep 3.

Proceedings

  • Long DJ, Rice PF, Scully D, Xia T, Walton R, Aguirre A, Heusinkveld JM, Larina IV, Barton JK. Functional optical coherence tomography (OCT) for mapping of cilia beat frequency in the human fallopian tube ex vivo. Proc SPIE. 2024 Mar 12;12831:1283108. doi: 10.1117/12.3002970.
  • Long DJ, Rice PF, Mazi D, Barton J, Heusinkeld J. Optical coherence tomography for the detection of electrothermal injury in radiofrequency-induced ex-vivo porcine ureters. Proc SPIE. 2023 Mar 14;12353:1235306. doi: 10.1117/12.2648512.
  • Rocha AD, Drake WK, Rice PF, Long DJ, Shir H, Walton RHM, Reed MN, Galvez D, Potter CJ, Gorman T, Heusinkveld JM, Barton JK. Iterative prototyping based on lessons learned from the falloposcope in vivo pilot study experience. Proc. SPIE. 2023 Mar 14;12356:1235602. doi: 10.1117/12.2647896. PMID: 34162879.
  • Seifabadi R, Li M, Long DJ, et al. Accuracy study of smartglasses/smartphone AR systems for percutaneous needle interventions. Proc SPIE. 2020 Mar 16;11315:1131511. doi: 10.1117/12.2549278.

Abstracts & Presentations

  • "Optical coherence tomography (OCT) for structural and functional analysis of the human fallopian tubes" Long, D.J., Walton, R., Scully, D., Xia, T., Walton, R., Aguirre, A., Heusinkveld, J., Larina, I.V., Barton, J.K. Poster Presentation at ARCS Foundation Phoenix Scholar Awards Dinner, Phoenix, AZ, April 2024.
  • "Tubal catheterization with a miniature triple-modality optical falloposcope: A future IR procedure?" Long, D.J., Rocha, A., Drake, W., Rice, P., Galvez, D., Reed, M., Struycken, L.,  Heusinkveld, J., Barton, J.K. Oral presentation at SIR, Salt Lake City, UT, March 2024.
  • "Applications for Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) in Interventional Radiology" Long, D.J., Wood, B., Barton, J.K., Struycken, L. Oral presentation at SIR, Salt Lake City, UT, March 2024.
  • "Optical Coherence Tomography for Functional Mapping of the Human Fallopian Tubes" Walton, R., Long, D.J., Scully, D., Xia, T., Walton, R., Aguirre, A., Heusinkveld, J., Larina, I.V., Barton, J.K. Poster Presentation at University of Arizona BME Day, Tucson, AZ, March 2024.
  • "Evaluation of safety and feasibility of imaging normal fallopian tubes with an experimental OCT-MFI microendoscope." Rocha AD, Drake WK, Rice PF, Long DJ, Reed MN, Galvez D, Heusinkveld JM, Barton JK. Oral presentation at SPIE Photonics West, San Francisco, CA, January 2024.
  • "Functional optical coherence tomography (OCT) for mapping of cilia beat frequency in the human fallopian tube ex vivo" Long, DJ, Rice, P., Scully, D., Xia, T., Walton, R., Aguirre, A., Heusinkveld, J., Larina, I.V., Barton, J.K.. Oral presentation at SPIE Photonics West, San Francisco, CA, January 2024.
  • "Optical Coherence Tomography Imaging of the Fallopian Tubes" Long, DJ. Oral presentation at Data Blitz, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson, November 2023.
  • "Applications for Optical Coherence Tomography Imaging in Genitourinary Surgery" Long, D.J. Oral presentation at Urogynecology Grand Rounds, Banner University Medical Center - Tucson, AZ, August 2023.
  • "Optical Coherence Tomography Endoscopy for the Detection of Iatrogenic Electrothermal Ureteral Injury" Long, DJ. Abstract / oral presentation at Research Day, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson, March 2023.
  • "Augmented Reality / Mixed Reality for Interventional Radiology" Long, DJ., Li, M., Wood, B.W. Invited speaker at Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) annual meeting, Phoenix, AZ, March 2023.
  • "We are IR: Representation & Mentorship in IR" Invited panelist at SIR annual meeting, Phoenix, AZ, March 2023.
  • "Optical Coherence Tomography for the Detection of Thermal Injury in an Ex-Vivo Porcine Ureter Model" Long, DJ, Rice, P, Sawyer, T., Rocha, A., Galvez, D., Utzinger, U., Heusinkveld, J., Barton, J. Paper presented at SPIE Photonics West, January 2023.
  • "Optical Coherence Tomography as a Method for Monitoring Extent of Radiofrequency Ablation for Treatment of Renal Cancer: Proof of Concept in Ex-Vivo Porcine Kidney" Long, D., Wood, B., Barton, J. Abstract/poster presented at Cancer Research - Present & Future conference, University of Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, AZ, September 2022. 
  • "Addressing Health Care Disparities in 2S-LGBTQ+ Populations" Long, D., Cramton, R., et al. Lecture presented to incoming medical students at UACOM-T, September 1st, 2022.
  • “Smartphone- and Smartglasses-based Augmented Reality For Percutaneous Needle Placements: A Comparison Study Of System Accuracy and Operator Performance” Long, D.J., Li, M., Wood, B.W. Oral/poster presentation and NIH Clinical Center (CC) Postbac Poster Day, May 2020.
  • “Effect of Radiofrequency Ablation and Checkpoint Inhibition on Immune Response and Tumor-Specific Cytotoxicity in a Pre-Clinical Mouse Melanoma Model” D. Long, O. Franco-Mahecha, A. Christou, et al. Abstract / oral presentation at Society of Interventional Oncology (SIO), New Orleans, LA, January 2020.
  • “Tracked Cystoscopy for Bladder Cancer Surveillance” D. Long, A. Amalou, J. Karanian, W. Pritchard, Z. Tse, S. Xu, B. Wood. Abstract/poster presented at Society of Interventional Oncology (SIO), 768111 (2020).
  • “Accuracy Study of AR Systems for Percutaneous Needle Interventions – iPhone vs HoloLens” M. Li, R. Seifabadi, D. Long, et al. Abstract/poster presented at Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), 1550 (2020).
  • “Doxorubicin Dose Prediction with CBCT and Extravascular Drug Penetration Heatmaps Following TACE with Radiopaque Drug-eluting Beads in Woodchuck Hepatocellular Carcinoma Model” A. Mikhail, W. Pritchard, A. Negussie, D. Long, et al. Abstract/poster presented at Society of Interventional Oncology (SIO), 767601 (2020).
  • “Correlating Drug Dose and Radiopaque Drug-eluting Bead Density on CT Following Chemoembolization in a Woodchuck Hepatic Tumor Model” D. Long, A. Mikhail, B. Wood. Oral presentation at NIH Radiology and Diagnostics Imaging Sciences Summer Internship Conference, Bethesda, MD, August 2018. 
MD-PhD Committee Student Rep: 
MD-PhD Committee Student Rep