Pengfei Song

Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Dr. Pengfei Song conducted his PhD and postdoctoral training on the topics of ultrasound elastography and microvascular imaging under the supervisions of Drs. James Greenleaf and Shigao Chen at Mayo Clinic. Before joining Duke University, Dr. Pengfei Song was a Y. T. Lo Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His current research interests include ultrafast ultrasound imaging, super-resolution ultrasound, functional ultrasound, 3D ultrasound imaging, deep learning applied to ultrasound imaging, and ultrasound shear wave elastography. 

Dr. Song has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal papers with a Google Scholar total citation exceeding 7000 and an h-index of 44 (as of November, 2025). He holds several patents that have been licensed and commercialized by major ultrasound companies and used worldwide in the clinic. Dr. Song has delivered over 40 invited presentations including twice at the Gordon Research Conference. He has been consistently ranked as an excellent instructor by his students.

Dr. Song is a recipient of the NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, the NSF CAREER Award, the NIBIB Trailblazer Award, the IEEE Ultrasonics Early Career Investigator Award, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) Early Career Acceleration Award, and the Campus Distinguished Promotion Award at the University of Illinois. His research program has been continuously funded by NIH, DOD CDMRP, NSF, ARPA-H, and CZI. He is an elected Fellow of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM), a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors(NAI), a Senior Member of IEEE, and a Full Member of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). 

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Contact Information

  • Office Location: 1427 Fitzpatrick Center, Box 90281, Durham, NC 27708
  • Email Address: pengfei.song@duke.edu
  • Websites:

Education

  • Ph.D. Mayo Clinic, 2014

Research Interests

Super-resolution ultrasound imaging; ultrafast 3D ultrasound imaging; deep learning applications in ultrasound imaging; ultrasound shear wave elastography. 

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

  • Campus Distinguished Promotion Award. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 2024
  • List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 2024
  • IEEE UFFC Society – Ultrasonics Early Career Investigator Award. IEEE. 2023
  • National Science Foundation CAREER Awards - Multiple Sciences. National Science Foundation (NSF). 2023
  • Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) Ben Barres Early Career Acceleration Award. Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) . 2023
  • Y. T. Lo Faculty Fellow. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 2023
  • Ultrasound Super-resolution Imaging Challenge Winner (in vivo category). IEEE. 2022
  • Distinguished Reviewer. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging. 2022
  • Deans Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 2022
  • Early Career Excellence Award for Alumni. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 2022
  • Researchers to Know. Illinois Science & Technology Coalition (ISTC). 2021
  • Senior Member. National Academy of Inventors. 2020
  • Fellow. American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM). 2020
  • NIBIB Trailblazer Award. NIH/NIBIB. 2020
  • Senior Member. IEEE. 2019
  • Edward C. Kendall Alumni Award for Meritorious Research. Mayo Clinic. 2018
  • K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award. NIH/NCI. 2017
  • IEEE UFFC Society Student Paper Competition Award. IEEE. 2012

Courses Taught

  • BME 671L: Signal Processing and Applied Mathematics
  • BME 542: Principles of Ultrasound Imaging (GE, IM)
  • BME 394: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)

Representative Publications

  • Wang, Yike, Matthew R. Lowerison, Zhe Huang, Qi You, Bing-Ze Lin, Daniel A. Llano, and Pengfei Song. “Longitudinal awake imaging of mouse deep brain microvasculature with super-resolution ultrasound localization microscopy.” ELife 13 (November 6, 2025). https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.95168.4.
  • Wang, Yike, Matthew R. Lowerison, Zhe Huang, Qi You, Bing-Ze Lin, Daniel A. Llano, and Pengfei Song. “Longitudinal awake imaging of mouse deep brain microvasculature with super-resolution ultrasound localization microscopy.,” November 2025. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.95168.
  • Wang, Yike, Matthew R. Lowerison, Zhe Huang, Qi You, Bing-Ze Lin, Daniel A. Llano, and Pengfei Song. “Longitudinal Awake Imaging of Mouse Deep Brain Microvasculature with Super-resolution Ultrasound Localization Microscopy.” ELife Sciences Publications, Ltd, October 3, 2025. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.95168.3.
  • Shin, YiRang, Bing-Ze Lin, Matthew R. Lowerison, Qi You, and Pengfei Song. “High-Volume Acquisition Rate Nonlinear Imaging Enables Robust 3-D Ultrasound Localization Microscopy.” IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control 72, no. 9 (September 2025): 1199–1212. https://doi.org/10.1109/tuffc.2025.3589815.
  • Wang, Yike, Matthew R. Lowerison, Zhe Huang, YiRang Shin, Bing-Ze Lin, and Pengfei Song. “Microbubble Track-based Functional Ultrasound Localization Microscopy in Awake Mice.,” August 22, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.08.18.670859.