PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Chris McIntosh

Chris McIntosh is a medical AI researcher whose work turns machine learning into tools for cancer treatment and patient monitoring. He earned a computing science degree at Simon Fraser University, completed a PhD under Ghassan Hamarneh, and joined the University of Toronto as an assistant professor in 2019. With Thomas Purdie, he helped develop a system that creates radiation plans in minutes, and he later led a clinical study of machine-generated plans for prostate cancer. He is a senior scientist at UHN and an associate professor at Toronto, where his research includes multimodal radiology AI and smartwatch-based heart failure prediction.

Badges

Timeline

  1. 2005–2012

    Computing and medical imaging

    He earns a BSc with honours in computing science at Simon Fraser University in 2005 and a PhD under Ghassan Hamarneh in 2011. He joins the Department of Radiation Physics as a research associate in 2012, working in Tom Purdie's and David Jaffray's labs.

  2. 2018

    Automated radiation planning

    In 2018, McIntosh and Thomas Purdie's team develop an AI system for radiation treatment planning. It uses machine learning to compare a patient's images with similar cases and create a personalized plan; clinical staff at Princess Margaret use the technology to treat a prostate cancer patient in 2018.

  3. 2019

    Starting a medical AI lab

    In 2019, he joins the University of Toronto's Department of Medical Biophysics as an assistant professor and starts a lab on AI for diagnosis, segmentation, quality assurance, and treatment planning. By 2019, his radiation therapy work with Tom Purdie is commercialized and deployed in hospitals around the world.

  4. 2021

    A medical imaging chair

    In February 2021, the Joint Department of Medical Imaging announces his appointment as the R. Howard Webster Foundation Chair in Medical Imaging and AI.

  5. 2021

    Clinical tests of AI plans

    In 2021, McIntosh and colleagues compare machine-learning radiation treatments with human plans for 100 patients. Physicians judge 89 per cent of the machine-learning plans clinically acceptable and select 72 per cent over human plans; the process cuts planning time from 118 hours to 47 hours.

  6. March 2025

    Clinical integration and multimodal AI

    In March 2025, as Chair in Medical Imaging and AI, he says he leads research and clinical integration and mentors trainees. He describes multimodal AI that combines imaging with broader patient physiology as a path to more personalized diagnoses and treatments.

  7. 2026

    Smartwatch and radiology AI

    In 2026, he coauthors AlphaRAD, accepted to ECCV, which studies zero-shot chest-radiology classification and spatial grounding. His team also develops an AI algorithm to predict heart failure from smartwatch data.

  8. As of October 2026

    Senior scientist and professor

    As of October 2026, he is Lead AI Scientist and Senior Scientist at the University Health Network's Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, and an Associate Professor in the University of Toronto's departments of Medical Biophysics, Computer Science, and Medical Imaging.

Career

  1. Since 2019University of TorontoAssistant Professor
  2. NowUniversity Health NetworkLead AI Scientist and Senior Scientist
  3. From 2021Joint Department of Medical ImagingR. Howard Webster Foundation Chair in Medical Imaging and AI
  4. From 2012Department of Radiation PhysicsResearch Associate

Education

  1. 2005Simon Fraser UniversityBSc with honours in computing science

From the biography.

  1. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Toronto. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Toronto. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  3. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorateIncludes University of Toronto. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorate. Across 2,116 people with both an undergraduate degree and a doctorate recorded, we trace which undergraduate schools feed which doctoral programs, how often students stay at the same school, and how paths differ by birth-country region.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Toronto. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Chris McIntosh yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. MBP Welcomes Dr. Chris McIntosh medbio.utoronto.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Artificial intelligence feeds need for speed uhn.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Announcing Dr. Chris McIntosh as the R. Howard Webster Foundation Chair in Medical Imaging and AI medical-imaging.utoronto.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. U of T Researchers Examine Use of AI in Radiation Oncology temertymedicine.utoronto.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Meeting MI - Radiologists Behind AI: Dr. Chris McIntosh, JDMI AI Chair medical-imaging.utoronto.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Vector Institute 2025-26 Annual Report annual-report.vectorinstitute.ai. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Chris McIntosh Lab | Healthcare AI at U of T & UHN mcintoshml.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.