Principal Investigator

Dr. Kang Kim

Principal Investigator

Professor of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh

Professor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh

Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Pittsburgh

Faculty member of UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute

Faculty member of University of Pittsburgh Vascular Medicine Institute

Faculty member of McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine

Adjunct faculty member of Biomedical Engineering Department, Carnegie Mellon University

Founding Director of Small Animal Ultrasonography Core

Research Areas: Ultrasound Thermal Strain Imaging, Photoacoustic Molecular Imaging, Ultrasound Elasticity Imaging, Shear Wave Imaging, Super-Resolution Ultrasound Imaging

Research Faculty

Dr. John Cormack

Research Instructor (2022-present)

Postdoctoral Scholar (2019-2022)

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, TX

BS in Mechanical Engineering, University of Rochester, NY

Research Areas: Ultrasound myocardium characterization, photoacoustic imaging

Fellowship: NIH T32 Post-doctoral training program in imaging sciences in translational cardiovascular research; NIH NRSA F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2021-2022, "Effect of right-ventricular structural remodeling during pressure overload on the mechanical behavior of myofibers in excised human myocardium"

Postdoctoral Fellows

Dr. Zhiyu Sheng

Postdoctoral Associate (2021-present)

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, university of Pittsburgh, PA

MS in Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University in the City of New York, NY

BS in Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

Research Areas: Closed-loop hybrid exoskeleton utilizing wearable ultrasound imaging sensors, Ultrasound Thermal Strain Imaging

Dr. Qiyang Chen

Postdoctoral Associate (2021-present)

Ph.D. in Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, PA

MS in Mechanical Engineering, George Washington University, DC

BS in Physics, Nanjing university, China

Research Areas: 3-D maneuverable feedback-controlled micro-swimmers for biomedical applications, Ultrasound Super-resolution Imaging, Ultrasound Thermal Strain Imaging

Phd Students

Reyhaneh Gholami

Ph.D. Student (2022-present)

M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran

B.Sc. in Civil Engineering, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran

Research Areas: Atherosclerotic plaque rupture simulation, Cardiovascular graft modeling, Cardiovascular ultrasound imaging

Fellowship: Berenfield Fellowship (2023-2024)

Ran Wei

Ph.D. Student (2023-present)

M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, PA

B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China

Research Areas: Ultrasound Thermal Strain Imaging

Zahra Hosseini

Ph.D. Student (2023-present)

M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Iran

B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering, Qazvin Islamic Azad University, Iran

Research Areas: Strain Ultrasound Elastography, Speckle Noise Reduction of Ultrasound B-mode Images.

Yu-hsuan Chao

Ph.D. Student (2023-present)

B.Sc. in Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, PA

Research Areas: Ultrasound elastography

Maryam Satarpour

Ph.D. Student (2023-present)

M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Iran

B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering, University of Isfahan, Iran

Research Areas: Ultrasound Image Processing, Elastography, Signal Processing

Undergraduate Students

Katherine R LeClaire

Senior undergraduate (2020-2024) majoring in bioengineering on the biomechanics track and minoring in mechanical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.

Research Areas: Image Analysis of Ultrasound myocardium characterization

Former Members

Dr. Qiang Zhang

Graduate Student (2017-2019);

Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA, 2021

M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, The University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 2019

M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, 2017

B.S. in Mechtronics Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, 2014

Research Areas: Neuromuscular modeling and functional electrical stimulation (FES) control; Human motion intent detection; Surface electromyography (sEMG) and ultrasound imaging signal processing; Machine learning-based control of robotic devices; Human-robot interaction

Post-doc Research Associate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.

Sindhana Anbalagan

B.S. in Biological Sciences 2022, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Minors in French and Chemistry

Research focus: Histological image analysis of ventricular myocardium for quantification of microstructure architecture and connection to ultrasound imaging performance.

Dr. Danial Sharifi Kia

Graduate Student (2018-2021)

M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, State University of New York, Binghamton, NY

B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Research Areas: Right Ventricular Failure in Pulmonary Hypertension; Right Ventricular Remodeling; Multi-Scale Cardiovascular Tissue Mechanics

Research and Development Engineer at Align Technology, San Jose, CA.

Dr. Waqas Khalid

Graduate Student (2016 - 2021)

MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, MN

BS in Computer Software Engineering, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Pakistan

Research Areas: Ultrasound thermal strain imaging, acoustic radiation force, shear wave elasticity imaging and Medical image and signal processing

Dr. Jaesok Yu

Graduate Student (2013 - 2018)

BS, MS in Electronic Engineering, Sogang University, Korea

Research Areas: Photoacoustic Molecular Imaging, Ultrasound Thermal Strain Imaging, Super-resolution Imaging

Currently Assistant Professor in Department of Robotics Engineering, DGIST, Daegu, South Korea

Harry James Volek

Undergraduate Student (2016 - 2018)

Graduate Student (2016 - present)

Electrical Engineering major and Bioengineering minor, University of Pittsburgh, PA

Research Areas:Ultrasound cardiac imaging and analysis of zebrafish model

Dr. Xuan Ding

Graduate Student (2012 - 2016)

BS in Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, NC

Research Areas: Multimodal Imaging combining Ultrasound Thermal Strain Imaging, Ultrasound Elasticity Imaging and Photoacoustic Molecular Imaging

Currently Resident in Vanderbilt Medical School

Dr. Man Nguyen

Postdoctoral Associate (2013 - 2016)

Ph.D in Biomedical Enginering, University of Southern California, CA

Research Areas: Ultrasound Thermal Strain Imaging, Ultrasound Elasticsity Imaging, Beamforming, Transducer Design

Currently with Philips Research North America, Cambridge, MA

Xiangwei Lin

Visiting Scholar (2014 - 2016)

MS in Control Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, China

Research Areas: Photoacoustic molecular imaging, Ultrasound imaging, Compressed sensing

Currently Postdoctoral Fellows in City University of Hong Kong

Dr. Daewoo Park

Postdoctoral Associate (2012 -2015)

PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, MI

Research Areas: Ultrasound Elasticity Imaging

Dr. Ahmed Mahmoud

Postdoctoral Associate (2011 - 2013)

PhD in Mechanical Engineering, West Virginia University, WV

Currently Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Cairo University, Egypt

Dr. Choon Hwai Yap

Postdoctoral Associate (2012 - 2013)

PhD in Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, GA

Currently Senior Lecturer in Dept of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, UK

Dr. Debaditya Dutta

Postdoctoral Associate (2010 - 2013)

PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, PA

Currently Associate Systems Consultant at Union Pacific Railroad

Dr. Zhaohui Wang

Postdoctoral Associate (2011 - 2013)

PhD in Electrical Engineering, University of Arizona, AZ

Currently Visiting Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University-Kingsville

Dr. Seunghan Ha

Postdoctoral Associate (2009 - 2012)

PhD in Biomedical engineering, Korea University, Korea

Currently Assistant Professor at Chungbuk Health and Science University, Korea

Dr. Jiao Yu

Postdoctoral Associate (2011 - 2012)

PhD in Physics, University of Mississippi, MS

Currently Assistant Professor at Liaoning Petroleum and Chemical Technology University, China

Dr. K. Prahlad Rao

Postdoctoral Associate (2008 - 2009)

PhD in Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India

Currently Associate Professor at King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia

Dr. Sakya Tripathy

Postdoctoral Associate (2009 - 2010)

PhD in Mechanical engineering, University of Virginia, VA

Currently with Simulia, Cleveland, OH

Dr. Jongsick Kim

Postdoctoral Associate (2010 - 2011)

PhD in Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, PA

Currently postdoctoral fellow at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL

Dr. Jingping Xu

Postdoctoral Associate (2009 - 2011)

PhD in Biomedical engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China

Currently with Philips Medical, Shanghai, China