Urology AI Lab
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are rapidly evolving technologies that are being adopted across nearly every sector—from finance and manufacturing to retail and logistics. In healthcare, their use is expanding beyond traditional applications such as diagnostic image analysis to more complex tasks that support the entire care pathway, including disease classification, prognosis modeling, and automated decision-making.[1]
The Southern Illinois University Division of Urology has partnered with the Saint Louis University Department of Computer Science to advance research on AI applications in robotic surgery. Our current projects focus on surgical anatomy and aim to enhance surgical safety and quality through the use of AI.
For those interested in collaboration or joining the research team, please contact Dr. Danuta Dynda.
1. Morris, M. X., Fiocco, D., Caneva, T., Yiapanis, P., & Orgill, D. P. (2024). Current and future applications of artificial intelligence in surgery: implications for clinical practice and research. Frontiers in Surgery, 11, 1393898.
Our Publications
Ewen Rondel, Lin Guo, Flavio Esposito, Mohammad Mahmoud. Spatial-Temporal Consistency Enhanced Segmentation for Laparoscopic Surgical videos. Medical Imaging with Deep Learning 2025 - Short Papers
Lin Guo, Francesco Fiorella, Andrea Pinto, Alessio Sacco, Mohammad Mahmoud, Flavio Esposito. MAESTRO: Supporting Real-Time Segmentation Networks on Surgical Systems via Edge Computing. Medical Imaging with Deep Learning 2025 - Short Papers
Chandler Hudson, Flavio Esposito, Lorenzo Pisanò, Ryan Buettner, Maria Monn, Bradley Schwartz, Mohammad Mahmoud. Enhanced anatomic structure identification in robotic surgery images via a novel combination of computer vision techniques. North Central Section of AUA 2024 Meeting
Meet the team
Danuta Dynda
SIU School of Medicine
Dr. Danuta Dynda is a Research Associate Professor in the Division of Urology and the Center for Clinical Research at SIU Medicine. In the Division of Urology, the other divisions of the Department of Surgery, and working in collaboration with the Center for Clinical Research, she is tasked with managing and facilitating projects at varying stages of progress, including, but not limited to, grant submissions, protocol development, specimen collection, regulatory work, manuscript preparation, database management, Resident support and medical student research education and involvement.
Flavio Esposito, PhD
Saint Louis University
Flavio Esposito is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Saint Louis University (SLU), where he also serves as Graduate Coordinator and a Fellow of the SLU Research Institute. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Boston University in 2013 and his M.S. in Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Florence, Italy. His research focuses on computer networks, distributed systems, and applied machine learning, with interdisciplinary applications spanning agriculture, medicine, and cyber-physical systems. Dr. Esposito secured over $4 million in external funding, including multiple NSF awards and industry gifts. Flavio has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, including 4 best paper awards, and other publications in top venues such as USENIX NSDI, IEEE INFOCOM, and the ACM/IEEE Transactions on Networking.
Mohammad Mahmoud, MD
SIU School of Medicine
Dr. Mohammad Mahmoud is appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Urology and an Assistant Professor of Biostatistics in the Center for Clinical Research. Dr. Mahmoud attended medical school at Damascus University and completed his urology residency at the University of Chicago. He simultaneously completed a Urologic Oncology fellowship and a Masters of Science in Biostatistics at Indiana University. HIs practices focuses on cancer of the bladder, prostate, testicles, kidneys, ureter, urethra, penis, and on retroperitoneal tumors. His research interests include clinical cancer research as well as the application, safety, and ethics of artificial intelligence in urologic surgery.
Bradley Schwartz, DO, FACS, MAMSE
SIU School of Medicine
Dr. Bradley Schwartz is Professor and the Frank and Linda Vala Endowed Chairman of Urology at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and Director of the Center for Urologic Minimally Invasive Surgery and Endourology. He specializes in minimally invasive surgery for adrenal disease, both malignant and benign kidney disease, laparoscopy, robotics and stone disease.
Chiara Camerota, PhD
Saint Louis University
Dr. Chiara Camerota is a postdoctoral researcher in Computer Science at Saint Louis University, holding a Ph.D. in Information Engineering from the University of Florence, awarded in 2025. Her academic pursuits include statistics, computer science, and applied machine learning, with a specific focus on network systems and the Internet of Things. She has a keen interest in data-centric artificial intelligence, representation learning, and the development of scalable and robust systems to address real-world data challenges. Her work is characterized by a commitment to advancing both theoretical foundations and practical applications.
Lin Guo, PhD
Saint Louis University
Dr. Lin Guo is a postdoctoral fellow at Saint Louis University, specializing in machine learning for medical imaging and surgical AI. He leads the development of an AI Copilot for laparoscopic surgery with vision–language models to provide 3D perception, organ segmentation, and intraoperative decision support. Dr. Guo’s research explores how human knowledge and domain priors can be embedded into ML models to enhance reliability and interpretability in clinical contexts. His work reflects a commitment to advancing biomedical AI by combining algorithmic innovation with real-world medical applications, with an emphasis on building clinically trustworthy, knowledge-informed AI systems.
