The disclosed technology relates generally to medical imaging, and more particularly, some embodiments relate to systems and methods for creating and using a covariate modulated or “dynamic” atlas. Some embodiments of the disclosure provide a method for predicting an alas using General Additive Model (GAM) parameters, wherein the GAM parameters are derived by registering (and optionally segmenting) a plurality of image data sets from a plurality of different subjects to an initial atlas estimate (e.g., a seed atlas), and analyzing the resulting registration, segmentation, and intensity parameters as correlated with input covariates.