Biography and CV
Professional Summary
I am Principal Investigator (PI) / Program Director (PD) of the Orthopaedic Translational Engineering Laboratory (OTEL) in the Department of Orthopaedics at Dartmouth Health in New Hampshire. The goal of the research program is to develop translational imaging technology, novel therapeutic approaches, and diagnostic techniques using molecular and kinetic imaging, and other advanced biophotonics to enhance clinical decisions and treatment in orthopaedic trauma, advanced infection, and cancer.
I have a strong record of national and international funding and institutional support, which has lead to the sustainable growth of the OTEL program. This includes most recently, an R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the NCI and an R01 Investigator-initiated award from the NIAMS. Uniquely, I have received formal education in physics, medical imaging and mathematics, as well as physiology and pharmacology; this dual-emphasis has given me the foundation to understand and advance the translational aspects of image guidance. During my doctoral studies, I developed and validated time-resolved near-infrared techniques to detect and assess traumatic brain injury. I became a skilled optical engineer, designing and fabricating medical devices and imaging systems, and developed proficiency in MATLAB, C++ and Python programming. I obtained certification from MIT
A significant focus of OTEL is on the critical area of orthopaedic trauma surgery and infection. Along with my surgeon-colleagues, I have built up a strong collaborative effort with a talented team of researchers and technicians to address this critical area. Solutions include applying biomedical optics, photodynamic therapy, and surgical guidance approaches to improve decision making in orthopaedic trauma and orthopaedic infection; these have lead to several NIH- and DOD-funded projects, and five ongoing registered clinical trials. The OTEL lab itself is situated in a state-of-the-art facility with a BSL-2/Pathogen Risk-Group 2 area that allow us to carefully apply S. aureus, S. pyrogenes, S. epidermidis in small animal, rabbit and pig models of osteomyelitis, implant-associated infection, and high-energy open contaminated fracture to understand, engineer and evaluate novel treatments and techniques for these diseases of significant societal impact.
Education
- Dartmouth College (Postdoctoral Fellow, Biomedical Engineering, 2013-2015)
- University of Western Ontario (PhD, Medical Biophysics, 2008-2013)
- University of Western Ontario (BMSc, Physiology & Medical Biophysics 2003-2008)
Current Positions
- Senior Scientist, Department of Orthopaedics, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Lebanon, NH
- Assistant Professor, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH
- Founding Consultant, Alithis R&D, Meriden, NH
- Cofounder, FWD Imaging Inc., Claremont, NH
Funding
- Adjuvant Photodynamic Therapy to Reduce Bacterial Bioburden in High-Energy Contaminated Open Fractures (R01 AR081952)
- Prevention of Implant-Skin/Bone Interface Infection in Osseointegrated Prostheses with Photodynamic Therapy (R01 PRORP ARA HT 9425-23-1-0800)
- Molecular guided surgery for enhanced resection of solid tumors (K99/R00 CA190890)
Highlighted Publications
- JT Elliott, AV Dsouza, SC Davis, JD Olson, KD Paulsen, DW Roberts, BW Pogue. Review of fluorescence guided surgery visualization and overlay techniques. Biomed Opt Expr 2015. PMCID: PMC4605037.
- Elliott JT, Marra K, Evans LT, Davis SC, Samkoe KS, Feldwisch J, Paulsen KD, Roberts DW, Pogue BW. Simultaneous in vivo fluorescent markers for perfusion, protoporphyrin metabolism, and EGFR expression for optically guided identification of orthotopic glioma. Clinical Cancer Research. 2017 May 1;23(9):2203-12. PMCID: PMC5411329
- Elliott JT, Diop M, Morrison LB, d'Esterre CD, Lee TY, Lawrence KS. Quantifying cerebral blood flow in an adult pig ischemia model by a depth-resolved dynamic contrast-enhanced optical method. Neuroimage. 2014 Jul 1;94:303-11. PMID: 24650601
- JT Elliott, S Jiang, BW Pogue, IL Gitajn. Bone-specific kinetic model to quantify periosteal and endosteal blood flow using indocyanine green in fluorescence guided orthopedic surgery. J Biophotonics 2019. PMCID: PMC7263175
- JT Elliott, AV Dsouza, K Marra, BW Pogue, DW Roberts, KD Paulsen. Microdose fluorescence imaging of ABY-029 on an operating microscope adapted by custom illumination and imaging modules. Biomed Opt Expr 2016. PMCID: PMC5030010
- JT Elliott, RR Addante, GP Slobogean, S Jiang, ER Henderson, BW Pogue, IL Gitajn. Intraoperative fluorescence perfusion assessment should be corrected by a measured subject-specific arterial input function. J Biomed Opt 2020. PMCID: PMC7282620
Personal Biography
I live in rural New Hampshire with my wife, Laura, and three young children. We moved from Canada to the US ten years ago, and have put down roots in a wonderful community with close proximity to the Dartmouth College campus.
In this little slice of paradise, we have the freedom to raise sheep and chickens, grow a variety of vegetables and produce eggs, quiche, and mediterranean meals for our neighbors as part of Alithis Farms LLC.
