Contact
Faculty of Science - Computing Science
- pierreb@ualberta.ca
Overview
Area of Study / Keywords
Virtual and Augmented Reality Medical Imaging Machine Learning for Biosensors Quantum Computing Geometric Signal Processing Medical AI
About
Dr. Boulanger is Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta, where he held joint appointments in Computing Science and Radiology. His distinguished 42-year career included 18 years as a senior research officer at the National Research Council of Canada (1983-2001), followed by 24 years at the University of Alberta (2001-2025) as a full professor. He directed the Advanced Human Computer Interface Laboratory and continues to serve as scientific director of the SERVIER Virtual Cardiac Centre. During 2013-2023, he held the CISCO Chair in Healthcare Solutions, a $2 million endowment from CISCO Systems dedicated to applying network technologies and AI in healthcare.
He remains active on editorial boards and international committees while serving as CTO of , RoboSonica Inc., a company specializing in robotic-assisted echocardiography.
Research
Dr. Boulanger's research has advanced medical imaging, 3D computer vision, and immersive technologies over a 42-year career. He pioneered patient-specific modeling techniques integrating multimodal imaging for surgical planning and developed real-time visualization systems using GPU computing. His work established frameworks for haptic-based surgical training and telehealth systems, including the MedROAD platform. He created collaborative virtual environments for medical applications and advanced free-viewpoint video technologies. Currently, he leads research in quantum image processing and geometry-aware neural networks, exploring how quantum manifolds and geometric priors can transform medical image analysis. His contributions span 415+ publications, 10 patents, and 104 supervised graduate students.
During my retirement, I am actively pursuing advanced research at the intersection of quantum computing and image processing, with a particular focus on leveraging quantum manifolds for novel computational approaches. This work explores how quantum mechanical principles can be applied to enhance traditional image processing algorithms, potentially offering exponential improvements in processing speed and capability for complex visual data analysis.
Concurrently, I am pioneering the development of next-generation geometry-aware neural networks that integrate geometric understanding directly into their architectural design. These networks aim to process spatial and structural information more naturally than conventional neural networks, potentially revolutionizing applications in medical imaging, computer vision, and 3D reconstruction. By incorporating geometric priors and manifold learning principles, these networks promise to achieve better generalization with less training data while maintaining mathematical rigor in their representations.
A significant portion of my time is dedicated to authoring a comprehensive textbook on Quantum Image Processing, which will serve as both a theoretical foundation and practical guide for researchers and practitioners in this emerging field. The book will cover fundamental quantum computing concepts, their application to image processing tasks, implementation strategies on current quantum hardware, and future directions for the field. This work aims to bridge the gap between quantum physics, computer science, and practical imaging applications, making this cutting-edge technology accessible to a broader scientific community.
Teaching
Introduction to Virtual/Augmented Reality and Telepresence
Virtual and augmented reality can provide an immersive environment for testing scenarios, games, and training. For example, manufacturing and engineering tasks, medical planning and training, art and design, rehabilitation, Physics, Biology and Chemistry concept exploration, and many others can benefit from a virtual reality environment. This course focuses on the challenges of setting up a user-friendly virtual reality scene where users can interact intuitively and naturally. Interactive techniques and sensor-based devices, such as haptic and head-mount displays, create a virtual environment for scientific analysis, visualisation exploration, and Tele-presence. How mobile users can participate in these applications will be discussed. I will be teaching this course as an external teacher in Fall 2026.
Featured Publications
Pierre Boulanger
Journal AI in Medicine. 2026 January; 1 (1):37 10.3390/aimed1010004
Pierre Boulanger and Sadid Bin Hasan
Journal of Imaging. 2025 May; 11 (5) 10.3390/jimaging11050167
View additional publications