Alumni
Jafar Pourbemany, MEE, PhD student, CSU-CCF program, 2022-24.
Jafar Pourbemany received a BS degree in Electronics and an MS degree in Telecommunications from Yazd University. To pursue his Ph.D. in Computer Science, he has joined the network security and privacy research laboratory at Cleveland State University. Through his studies on the security of body area networks, he gained knowledge of biometric signals, specifically ECG. This experience, coupled with his skills in signal processing and computer science, encouraged him to utilize data science and machine learning in the healthcare field, particularly cardiac data analysis.
Natalia Amadio Barbato, BS. Graduate student, CSU-CCF program, 2022-24.
Natalia Amadio Barbato earned a BS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Akron in 2022 and immediately began graduate studies in the same field at Cleveland State University. Prior to joining the Cleveland Clinic, she gained experience in biophysical measurements and signal processing through her academic work. Her goal is to leverage her engineering expertise to advance human health.
Kazi Tayubul Haq, PhD
Academic Background: Master of Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, 2010. PhD in cardiovascular physiology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, 2016. Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Davis, (2016-2017). Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University Medical Center, New York (2017-2018). Postdoctoral fellow, OHSU, Tereshchenko lab (2018-2021). In August 2021, Dr. Haq joined Posnack Laboratory at the Children's National Heart Institute.
About me: "I am interested in developing computing tools for a better understanding of human cardiac electrophysiology in normal to complex diseased conditions. My interests along with my academic training in engineering, computer science, and cardiac electrophysiology encouraged me to address the questions regarding different cardiac manifestations. In my PhD dissertation, I proposed the first 2D computer model of intercellular Ca2+ dynamics in cardiac Purkinje cells to explain the mechanisms for different calcium events. During postdoctoral work at UC Davis, I employed a cardiac Purkinje action potential model to elucidate the electrical phenotype caused by the mutation in the Ik1 current carrying transmembrane channels (Kir2.x), which is linked to LQT9 manifestation. In my later work at the Columbia University Medical Center I developed single-cell electrophysiology model of human atrial cells that combines the action potential and intracellular Ca2+ dynamics. I also have developed a cellular automaton 3D atrial chamber model that simulates the activation and perpetuation of the re-entry phenomenon associated with atrial fibrillation. My research at OHSU primarily focused on the development of automatic ECG signal detection and measurement tools, which will be used to calculate the risk scores of sudden cardiac deaths. "
Nichole Rogovoy, BS
Nichole Rogovoy graduated in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Oregon. She worked as a Research Assistant in the Tereshchenko lab in 2018-19, responsible for managing all clinical research. Since joining our group, she has successfully completed enrollment in the Adaptive CRT effect on ELectrical dysSYNChrony (aCRT ELSYNC) clinical trial, has been working on the Global Electrical Heterogeneity and Clinical Outcomes study, and the Assessment of S-ICD Eligibility with 12-lead ECG study, while continuing to manage the other clinical projects in our lab. Nichole chose to work with our group after interning with us in the summer of 2017. She saw first-hand the potential that our work has to impact clinical outcomes, and felt passionate about contributing to our mission to find independent associations for the risk of sudden cardiac death. She is admitted to the OHSU MD program and is excited to further gain perspective on that career path from working with Dr. Tereshchenko. Nichole is starting as OHSU medical student in 2019!
Erick Andreas Peres Alday, PhD
Dr. Erick Andres Perez Alday was born in Coatzacoalcos (Veracruz, Mexico). His big curiosity about how things work, yield him to study physics engineering at Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico; where he received the award for the best student of the class 2004-2009. Erick completed his Master degree in theoretical physics at Universidad de Guanajuato in 2011. However, his thesis project was performed at Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. After that, he completed his Ph.D. in Physics at Biological Physics Group at the University of Manchester, Manchester UK. Erick was a post-doctoral fellow at the Tereshchenko Laboratory from June 2016 until March 2019. Erick was focusing on electrocardiographic imaging and body surface mapping projects, as well as participated in the development of novel approaches to 12-lead ECG analyses. In April 2019 Erick joined the Emory University, Department of Biomedical Informatics, Dr. Gari D. Clifford's group.
Annabel Li-Pershing , BS
Annabel Yin Li-Pershing was a Research Assistant at the Tereshchenko Laboratory in 2017-19. She graduated in 2015 from the University of California, Davis with B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Her undergraduate research focus spanned from cryogenic acoustics to robotics. After graduation, she was working as Associate Mechanical Engineer in Automation in SolarCity (now: Tesla Solar). Annabel is currently a Master student in Electrical Engineering at Portland State University with signal processing emphasis. Annabel developed an ECG viewer, helping physicians to visualize digital ECG and VCG. She enjoys baking, reading, and tinkering new electronics projects in her free time. In the future, her goal is to continue her work with signal processing and device development.
Christopher Hamilton, BA
Chris Hamilton graduated in 2016 from the University of Colorado at Boulder with distinction in Integrative Physiology. He was working as a Senior Research Assistant at the Knight Cardiovascular Institute for the Tereshchenko Laboratory in 2017-2018. He coordinated all trials for the lab. Chris was pivotal for our successful completion of enrollment in the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy study and for completion of enrollment in the EL-SID pilot study, which facilitated successful progression of the study from a pilot to a full study. He made a significant contribution to the enrollment of the EL-SYNC CRT RCT. Christopher developed the database for a multicenter retrospective GEH CO study and contributed to the research to optimize patient selection for receiving automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (AICDs). Chris is now a medical student at the Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.
Muammar Kabir, Ph.D.
Dr. Muammar Kabir received his Bachelors of Engineering Degree with Honours in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 2007 and his PhD in Biomedical Engineering with Dean’s recommendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence in 2012 from The University of Adelaide, Australia. His PhD Thesis focused on the development of a novel approach for the quantification of cardiorespiratory interaction using the concept of Joint Symbolic Dynamics, which provided a simple technique for diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea and other cardiorespiratory system disturbances. His major interests lie in the field of electrophysiology and biomedical signal processing. He joined Dr. Tereshchenko’s Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Fellow in February 2014, and was working until the end of 2016 on the development of novel electrocardiographic (ECG) biomarkers through extraction of necessary ECG parameters using several signal processing techniques, such as wavelet transforms and synchrosqueezing, to identify individuals at risk of life-threatening arrhythmias. Since 2017, Muammar is Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto, Canada
Jason Thomas, BS
Jason has been working as Senior Research Assistant in the Tereshchenko Laboratory in 2015-2017. His research interests focus around secondary use of health information for research and clinical decision-support, patient-centered outcomes, and health care transformation. Jason is heading to the University of Washington in the fall of 2017 to begin a PhD in Biomedical and Health Informatics. In his spare time he hikes, skis, bakes pies/breads/cakes/pepper jelly, gardens, and works to improve his coding skills
Golriz Sedaghat, BS
Golriz has been working as a research assistant in the lab in 2015 - 2017. She participated in the development of an algorithm for vectorcardiographic loop morphology characterization and participated in ECG data analyses. Golriz obtained Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering Degree from Portland State University (PSU) and is working towards Master of Science degree at PSU.
Lauren Hawkins, BS
Lauren Hawkins, BS, has been a research assistant in Dr. Tereshchenko’s laboratory since November 2014 till 2015. She completed a BS in anthropology at the University of Oregon, Clark Honors College in 2012 and a post-baccalaureate program in pre-medicine at Portland State University in 2014. Lauren has been accepted into an MD program, which will start in the fall of 2015. With Dr. Tereshchenko, Lauren was working on a translation of the laboratory’s research findings into clinical trials to improve cardiovascular outcomes. Currently Medical Student at the Emory Medical School.
Elyar Ghafoori, M.S.E.E.
Elyar received his master’s degree from California State University, Long Beach in Electrical Engineering and his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering -Bioelectric. He did his master thesis on Recognition of Atrial Fibrillation using Stationary Wavelet Transform and Neural Networks. He joined Larisa Tereshchenko’s lab at Knight Cardiovascular Institute, OHSU in August 2014 as a research assistant, and worked till 2015. He was working on numerous projects those involve processing and analyzing large datasets including, ECGs, VCGs, ICDEGMs and Echocardiograms in order to detect, classify and predict cardiac arrhythmias and develop risk factors for sudden cardiac death. Currently, Elyar is PhD student at the University of Utah.
Albert Feeny, BS
Albert worked in the Tereshchenko lab as a biomedical engineering undergraduate student at Johns Hopkins University from 2011-2013, conducting ECG analysis for prediction of SCD prediction and association with myocardial injury. He began medical school at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University in 2015, with intent of pursuing a career as a physician scientist. He is currently conducting research in cardiac electrophysiology, using ECG analysis, image processing, and machine learning methods for clinical studies.
Lichy Han, BS
Lichy worked in the Tereshchenko lab at Johns Hopkins from 2009-2012, where she helped develop a suite of tools for ECG and VCG analysis for SCD prediction. She is now an MD/PhD student at Stanford University, with her PhD in Biomedical Informatics, developing network-based methods to elucidate disease processes and drug effects. After graduation, she plans on doing residency and pursuing a career as a physician scientist.
Durgesh Das, BS
Durgesh worked in the Tereshchenko Lab at Johns Hopkins from 2010-2013, where he helped analyze EKGs using a suite of analysis tools and algorithms. During his time at Hopkins, he interned in pharma and medical devices, where he focused on cardiac R&D. He is currently an MBA + MS Comp Sci Candidate @ MIT.