A system and method for characterizing tissues of a subject using multi-parametric imaging are provided. In some aspects, the method includes receiving a set of multi-parametric magnetic resonance (“MR”) images acquired from a subject using an MR imaging system, and selecting at least one region of interest (“ROI”) in the subject using one or more images in the set of multi-parametric MR images. The method also includes performing a texture analysis on corresponding ROIs in the set of multi-parametric MR images to generate a set of texture features, and applying a classification scheme, using the set of texture features, to characterize tissues in the ROI. The method further includes generating a report indicative of characterized tissues in the ROI.