Research Faculty
Co-Director
Michael Lu, MD, MPH
Michael T. Lu, MD, MPH, is Director of AI and Co-Director of the MGH Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center (CIRC), Director of the MGH Imaging Trials Center (MITC), Associate Chair of Imaging Science for the MGH Department of Radiology, and Associate Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Lu’s clinical expertise is in cardiovascular imaging, including the acquisition and interpretation of CT, MRI, and ultrasound of the heart and blood vessels.
His research focus is on A) clinical trials of cardiac CT to improve health and B) machine learning to predict health outcomes from multimodal imaging. He is Co-PI of the Data Coordinating Center (DCC) of the REPRIEVE trial, a NHLBI/NIH-sponsored multicenter randomized controlled trial of statins to reduce coronary plaque and prevent cardiovascular events in persons with HIV. Recent work has explored convolutional neural networks to predict long-term mortality, incident lung cancer, and longevity from chest radiograph (x-ray) images and to automate coronary artery calcium scoring on chest CT.
Dr. Lu earned his undergraduate, MD, and MPH degrees from Harvard University. His training included a transitional internship in Surgery and Medicine at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, residency in Diagnostic Radiology at the University of California, San Francisco, fellowship in Thoracic and Cardiac Imaging at MGH, and a NIH T32 fellowship in Cardiac Imaging at MGH.
Co-Director
Tomas Neilan, MD, MPH
Dr. Neilan received his M.D. from University College Dublin and MPH from Harvard School of Public Health. He completed internal medicine residency and cardiology training at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Dublin and again at Massachusetts General Hospital. He has also completed extensive training in echocardiography at Massachusetts General Hospital and cardiac magnetic resonance at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Neilan is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, the Director of the Cardio-Oncology Program and the Co-Director of the Cardiac MR PET CT Program.
Dr. Neilan has had a long-standing clinical and research interest in the cardiovascular care of patients with cancer. Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death and disability among cancer survivors and cardiovascular care for patients with cancer requires a tailored approach that is unique for each patient. He is specifically interested in how we can improve on the methods for detection of the cardiac toxicity after chemotherapy and radiotherapy and to use that information to determine how we care for patients.
Co-Director
Ahmed Tawakol, MD
Dr Tawakol graduated from Stanford Medical School and did his Medical Residency and Cardiovascular Diseases Fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He subsequently completed training in Nuclear Cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, after which he joined the Cardiology Division staff. His clinical focus is in nuclear cardiology and general cardiology, with a special focus on the identification of patients at highest risk for atherothrombotic event.
Dr Tawakol’s research interest is in imaging of atherosclerosis. His work has focused on developing novel diagnostic approaches and novel treatment strategies for atherosclerosis. To that end, Dr Tawakol has developed and validated molecular methods to characterize atherosclerotic plaques, and has made seminal observations validating the use of FDG-PET imaging for the measurement of atherosclerotic plaque inflammation. Currently, he is leading several multi-center trials to evaluate interventions targeting plaque inflammation and is evaluating the potential clinical role of vascular PET imaging for improving the identification of patients at highest risk for atherothrombotic events.
Associate Director of Operations
Borek Foldyna, MD
Borek Foldyna, MD, is a Cardiovascular Radiologist, Member of Faculty at Harvard Medical School, and Administrative Director of the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Foldyna graduated and earned his doctorate from the University of Leipzig, Germany. Within Radiology’s broad field, Dr. Foldyna has received extensive training in cardiovascular imaging and completed the Harvard Catalyst Education Program in applied biostatistics. Besides clinical utilization of cardiac imaging, Dr. Foldyna has co-investigated and lead several research efforts in investigator- and NIH-funded projects, including large trials, such as the Framingham Heart Study, PROMISE, and REPRIEVE trial. In collaboration with AIM, Dr. Foldyna has developed, validated, and applied deep-learning algorithms to assess the quality and quantity of coronary artery calcium, heart size, and epicardial adipose tissue on cardiac CT.
These efforts have resulted in several peer-reviewed publications and book chapter contributions. Additionally, Dr. Foldyna received the Siemens Outstanding Academic Research Award for his work on coronary artery calcium and the Top 3 Poster Award from the Harvard University Center for AIDS Research for investigating the natural history of coronary plaques in people living with HIV.
Brian Ghoshhajra, MD, MBA
Dr. Ghoshhajra is a board-certified Diagnostic Radiologist, with advanced training in Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (CT) and Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
Dr. Ghoshhajra specializes in the use of advanced cross-sectional imaging techniques (including Ultrasonography, CT, and MRI) to non-invasively diagnose diseases of the blood vessels and heart. His clinical interests include advanced non-invasive imaging for coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular and venous disease, and congenital heart disease.
His training includes a Transitional Residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, PA, Diagnostic Radiology Residency at the Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA, and a National Institutes of Health – sponsored Clinical and Research Fellowship in Cardiovascular Imaging at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. He also holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. He is board certified by the American Board of Radiology and the Certification Board of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, and has published more than 200 scientific and peer-reviewed articles and numerous book chapters on cardiovascular imaging. He is a currently serves as the President of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography.
Dr. Ghoshhajra is the Division Chief of Cardiovascular Imaging in the Department of Radiology, and an Associate Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School.
Nina Meyersohn, MD
Dr. Nina Meyersohn is a graduate of Harvard College magna cum laude and Harvard Medical School. She completed her residency in Diagnostic & Interventional Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a clinical fellowship in Cardiovascular Imaging and an NIH-funded T32 research fellowship under the guidance of Dr. Udo Hoffmann, chief of Cardiovascular Imaging. She has been an attending clinical radiologist in the Division of Cardiovascular Imaging since 2016 and is involved in ongoing research through the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center, including large multicenter trials such as the PROMISE and REPRIEVE trials and interdisciplinary projects in cardiac CT and MRI with the radiation oncology department and the emergency department. Dr. Meyersohn served as Associate Program Director for the Cardiovascular Imaging Fellowship from 2016 to 2018 and was named Program Director of the fellowship in 2018.
Mike Osborne, MD
Dr. Michael Osborne is a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Associate Director of Nuclear Cardiology: Education at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He graduated summa cum laude with membership in Tau Beta Pi with a degree in biomedical engineering from Vanderbilt University in 2006. He subsequently graduated with honors and membership in the Gold Humanism Honor Society and Alpha Omega Alpha from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 2010. Dr. Osborne completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School in 2013. He completed his clinical and research fellowships in cardiovascular medicine and cardiovascular imaging at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 2018.
Dr. Osborne’s research uses advanced cardiovascular imaging techniques, especially positron emission tomography, to investigate the mechanisms linking psychosocial and environmental stressors to cardiometabolic diseases and to identify early markers of cardiovascular risk. In addition, he is interested in using imaging to characterize the impact of interventions on the link between chronic stress and cardiometabolic disease. Beyond his research, Dr. Osborne is a clinician with interests in nuclear cardiovascular imaging and preventive cardiology.
Azar Radfar, MD, PhD
Azar Radfar, MSc, PhD, MD is a non-invasive cardiologist. She received MSc in Biochemistry at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences and PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. She received her MD degree from Ross University School of Medicine. She completed her Internal Medicine Residency at University of Massachusetts University Hospital, her Cardiology Fellowship at University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital and her Cardiovascular Imaging-Nuclear Cardiology Fellowship at MGH. Her research interests are in applying advanced cardiovascular imaging, especially positron emission tomography, to better understand the mechanisms linking stressors to cardiovascular disease. She will be seeing patients on Yawkey 5, along with doing inpatient coverage and teaching service time, and participating in the Nuclear Cardiology and Echocardiography Labs.
Hugo Aerts, PhD
Hugo Aerts PhD is Director of the Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIM) Program at Harvard-MGB. AIM’s mission is to accelerate the application of AI algorithms in medical sciences and clinical practice. This academic program centralizes AI expertise stimulating cross-pollination among clinical and technical expertise areas, and provides a common platform to address a wide range of clinical challenges.
Dr. Aerts is a leader in medical AI and Principle Investigator on major NIH-supported efforts, including the Quantitative Imaging Network (U01) and Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (U24) initiatives of the NCI. In 2020 he was awarded a prestigious ERC Consolidator grant of the Horizon program from the European Union. His research has resulted in numerous peer-reviewed publications in top-tier journals. In 2022 he was awarded by Web of Science as he was among the top 1% highest cited scientists worldwide.
Dr. Aerts is an Associate Professor at Harvard University and an Adjunct Professor at Maastricht University. Dr. Aerts earned his Master in Engineering from Eindhoven Institute of Technology, his PhD from Maastricht University, and his postdoctoral fellowship from Harvard School of Public Health.
Antonia V. Seligowski, PhD
Dr. Seligowski’s Neurocardiac Effects of Stress & Trauma (NEST) Laboratory is housed within the MGH Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center (CIRC). The NEST Lab seeks to understand alterations in the brain-heart connection that arise from stressful or traumatic experiences. PTSD is widely known to be associated with heightened risk for cardiovascular disease and dysfunction, yet the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. With collaborators in CIRC, the NEST Lab uses techniques in imaging (e.g., FDG-PET) and psychophysiology (e.g., heart rate variability) to probe these mechanisms. Another goal of Dr. Seligowski’s research is to understand sex and gender differences in PTSD and cardiovascular disease. Women are more than two times as likely as men to receive a diagnosis of PTSD, and cardiovascular disease is known to have sex and gender effects. Estradiol has been shown to be a protective factor in both PTSD and cardiovascular disease, pointing to the significance of gonadal hormones in understanding sex and gender differences in these disorders. Thus, Dr. Seligowski’s research also seeks to characterize the different pathways by which men versus women with PTSD experience cardiovascular risk.
Fellows
Wesam Aldosoky, MD
Wesam leverages advanced multimodal cardiovascular imaging techniques (e.g., PET, CT, CMR) to investigate the interplay between inflammatory biomarkers, lifestyle factors, and stress-related activity on cardiovascular and thromboembolism risk, disparate cohorts. In addition, she is studying the relationship between inflammatory imaging phenotypes and calcification using an inflammatory cell-specific tracer (Ga 68 DOTA-TATE). She is also involved in the ARTISAN study that investigates the cardiac effects of Treprostinil on patients with pulmonary hypertension using Cardiac Magnetic Resonance.
Hometown:Mansoura, Egypt
Education:University of Mansoura, MD
Isabel Langenbach, MD
Isabel is a research fellow at CIRC / Mass General Hospital and is in her 2nd year of radiology residency at the University Hospital Cologne. She graduated and earned her doctoral degree from the University of Cologne, Germany. Her research interest includes cardiac computed tomography with a focus on women and inflammation, coronary artery disease, clinical implementation, and heart valve imaging. Isabel currently works on the INFORM trial investigating the role of inflammation in women with HIV for coronary artery disease. Further, she is involved in the PROMISE trial.
Hometown:Cologne, Germany
Education:Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Germany, MD
Matthias Jung, MD
Matthias is a Senior Resident in Radiology and a Research Fellow at CIRC at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University. He received his MD from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and completed his doctoral thesis (Dr. med.) in Molecular Medicine and Molecular Imaging at the Institute of Biochemistry at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. His research interest is to use artificial intelligence (AI) techniques as opportunistic analysis tools to improve disease prevention and prognosis and to advance precision medicine. Matthias is currently working on using deep learning to estimate measures of aging from whole-body MRI and investigating their association with long-term mortality using data from the German National Cohort (NAKO) and the UK Biobank. For this project, he received a grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Hometown:Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Education:University of Erlangen–Nuremberg, MD, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany, Resident
Azin Ghamari, MD
Azin is a postdoctoral fellow at the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center (CIRC), affiliated with Mass General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Her academic and professional background encompasses extensive research in the fields of cardiology and epidemiology. Azin has also contributed her medical expertise as a physician and medical assistant at the echocardiography clinic of the Children’s Medical Center of Excellence, which is affiliated with Tehran University of Medical School. In addition to her clinical experiences and research endeavors, Azin has previously held the role of lead manager for a large-scale cohort study in Iran. Her research pursuits primarily revolve around clinical-translational studies, with a special focus on areas such as heart failure, cardio-oncology, and cardiac imaging. In her current capacity at MGH CIRC, Azin is unwavering in her commitment to elucidating the intricate mechanisms underlying heart failure in individuals living with HIV and in the quest to formulate preventive strategies for this patient population.
Hometown:Tehran, Iran
Education:Tehran University of Medical Sciences, MD
Krystel Abi Karam, MD
Krystel is a postdoctoral research fellow at Mass General Hospital. She is passionately engaged in cardiovascular research, specifically focusing on acute coronary syndrome. Her current project explores the intricate relationship between sociopolitical risk factors and cardiovascular events within the general population.
Hometown:Beirut, Lebanon
Education:Saint-Joseph University of Beirut, Faculty of Medicine, Beirut, Lebanon
Vencel Juhasz, MD
Vencel completed his medical training in Hungary at Semmelweis University in 2019. Since then, he has been working as a cardiology resident and Ph.D. fellow (as of 2020) at the Heart and Vascular Center of Semmelweis University, specializing in sports cardiology and the uses of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) in the sophisticated characterization of athletic adaptation.
His current projects at MGH-CIRC focus on identifying factors that help prevent cardiac dysfunction in diverse cardio-oncology patient groups. This involves a sub-analysis of the STOP-CA study population to investigate further the protective effects of statins against chemotherapy-induced cardiac dysfunction and the investigation of pharmacological therapies that may help mitigate radiation therapy-derived cardiac involvement in breast cancer patients.
Hometown:Budapest, Hungary
Education:Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
Robert Rollings, MD
Dr. Robert Rollings is a research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. He graduated with degrees in chemistry and religion from Emory University. He graduated from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1981. Dr. Rollings completed his internship, residency and chief residency in internal medicine at Vanderbilt University Hospitals in 1985. He completed his clinical and fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont in 1987 and fellowship in cardiovascular MRI at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London in 2001. Dr. Rollings has been in clinical cardiology practice since 1987 in Georgia, where he has implemented and used advanced cardiovascular imaging techniques in direct patient care. In 2019, he completed the Stress Management and Resiliency Training Program at the Benson Henry Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital. Since that time he has been actively incorporating mind body medicine techniques into clinical cardiology practice. In 2024, he joined the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital as a research fellow in order contribute to their development and leveraging of novel imaging techniques to address important cardiovascular issues.
Hometown:Savannah, Georgia
Education:Emory University, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Jan Brendel, MD
Jan is a Radiology Resident and Research Fellow at CIRC, Mass General Hospital / Harvard University. He earned his MD and doctoral thesis (Dr. med.) in cardiac imaging from the University of Tuebingen, Germany. His research focuses on cardiac magnetic resonance and cardiac computed tomography, particularly in coronary artery disease. Currently, Jan is working on the REPRIEVE trial, investigating the progression of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and the efficacy of statin therapy in people living with HIV. To support his research, Jan was awarded a grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Hometown:Stuttgart, Germany
Education:Department of Radiology, Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany, Resident / University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany, MD
Andre Lupp Mota, MD
Andre is a Research Fellow at the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center (CIRC) at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University. He is particularly interested in using cardiovascular imaging to investigate surgical conditions, with a focus on the aorta, coronary arteries, and heart valves.
Hometown:Sao Paulo, BR
Education:University of Sao Paulo – MD, PhD
Gagandeep Arora, MD
Gagandeep recently completed his Internal Medicine training at UC Riverside School of Medicine. His research interests lie in advancing cardiac imaging techniques and interventions, with a particular focus on management of mechanical complications of myocardial infarctions. Gagandeep is a clinical fellow at CIRC.
Education:UC Riverside School of Medicine
Benjamin Bonner, MD
Ben is a postdoctoral fellow at the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center (CIRC), affiliated with Mass General Hospital/ Harvard Medical School. His research interests center around the development of novel MRI acquisition techniques such as alternative contrast agents and signal processing and motion correction protocols. He is a former Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Fellow (21’ – 22’).
Hometown:New Orleans, Louisiana
Education:LSU Health Sciences Center – New Orleans, MD
Ibrahim Hadzic, MS
Ibrahim Hadzic is a pre-doctoral research fellow at the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. He holds a Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence and is currently completing his PhD at Maastricht University. His research in AI applications for medical imaging spans various areas, including radiotherapy, foundation models, and cardiovascular diseases. His current work focuses on assessing epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) and pericoronary adipose tissue (PCAT) using AI approaches applied to large-scale cohort studies. This innovative research aims to enhance our understanding of cardiovascular risk factors and improve patient outcomes.
Hometown:Split, Croatia
Education:Maastricht University (the Netherlands) – MSc in Artificial Intelligence, University of Zagreb (Croatia) – BSc in Information Technology
Maria Khalil, MBBS
Maria Khalil is a board-certified internal medicine physician who completed her Internal Medicine training and Chief Residency at Loyola University in Chicago. She is currently a research fellow at CIRC and a nuclear cardiology fellow at MGH. In addition to her fellowship, she works on the cardiology step-down unit floor and at the CVD Rehab Center at MGH. Maria is passionate about multimodality imaging and is actively involved in projects that explore cardiovascular disease through various imaging techniques. She is a member of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC), where she was recently selected for the Future Leaders Symposium and serves on the ASNC Member Relations Committee. Her research focuses on the impact of PTSD on the accelerated development of cardiovascular disease risk factors, the interaction between socioeconomic disparities and the genetics of cardiovascular disease, and advanced projects in nuclear cardiology and imaging.
Hometown:Dallas, Texas
Education: University of Wisconsin- Madison, BA in Biology; Dow International Medical College -MBBS
Chong Hui Lau, MBBS
Chong is a research fellow at the CIRC and a nuclear cardiology fellow at MGH. He completed his internship, residency, and chief residency in internal medicine at Crozer Health in 2023. His clinical interests focus on cardiac imaging and coronary microvascular diseases. His research projects explore various topics, including the association of psychiatric polygenic scores with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, the risk of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) among unmarried individuals, the role of peri-aortic fat as a predictor of MACE, and the impact of PTSD on the development of deep vein thrombosis.
Hometown:Sarawak, Malaysia
Education:Kasturba Medical College, MBBS
Elissa Polomski, MD
Elissa is a Research Fellow at the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center, affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She earned her Medical Degree from Leiden University. Her research interest is cardio-oncology, with a particular focus on investigating the cardiovascular side effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors and the imaging of cardiotoxicity resulting from cancer therapies using coronary computed tomography angiography, PET/CT and echocardiography.
Hometown:The Hague, The Netherlands
Education:Leiden University, The Netherlands, MD
Research Staff
Staff Assistant
Peter Donegan, BS
Peter handles CIRC Research personnel for weekly and monthly staff. He acts as a liaison with the GPS International Office, MGH Credential Office, and Harvard Medical School. He also assists with program administration under Yuji Liao and Trinity Nguyen.
Hometown:Boston, MA
Education:UMass Boston, BS in Health Sciences, AS in Radiology Science
Sr Clinical Research Program/Project Manager
Kayla Paradis, MBA, BS
Kayla is the Data Coordinating Center (DCC) project manager for the REPRIEVE trial and the project manager for the PROMISE trial. She also provides oversight of general IT/Data Management and QA processes for CT studies under Dr. Michael Lu and Dr. Borek Foldyna.
Hometown:Central Massachusetts
Education:Worcester State University, BS in Biology and Chemistry; Fitchburg State University, MBA Healthcare Management
Clinical Research Coordinator II
Alula Assefa, BS
Alula works with Dr. Tawakol, Dr. Osborne, and their collaborators on numerous studies, including A5415, Heart and Mind, CAD Heart and Mind, RAMDALA, CBT & PTSD, PPG, ARTISAN, CLEAR HIV and EPIC HIV.
Hometown:Cambridge, MA
Education:University of Massachusetts Amherst, BS in Public Health Sciences
Data Analyst
Daniel Oo, BA
Daniel Oo is a data analyst at CIRC/MGH. He joined as an undergraduate student in the Machine Learning Group and has worked on cardiovascular risk prediction using deep learning and radiomics. He will be conducting research in cardiovascular AI and assisting with the chest X-ray AI clinical trial.
Hometown:Arcadia, CA
Education: Amherst College, Mathematics and Biochemistry & Biophysics
Clinical Research Coordinator
Annmarie Khawand, BS
Annmarie collaborates with Dr. Seligowski and Dr. Osborne on research studies employing FDG-PET imaging and autonomic measures to evaluate the effects of PTSD treatments on cardiovascular mechanisms
Hometown:North Attleboro, MA
Education:Tufts University, BS in Psychology and Community Health
Research Technician II
Ivanna Zorgno, BS
Ivanna is the Research Technician II at the MGH Metabolic Imaging Core (MMIC), working under the guidance of Core Director Dr. Borek Foldyna. Her role includes supervising, performing, and analyzing imaging acquisitions in Magnetic Resonance, Computed Tomography, and Ultrasound, with a primary focus on metabolic disease research.
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Education:Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires (ITBA), BS in Bioengineering
Senior Clinical Research Coordinator
Marilyn Galdamez, BS
Marilyn is the Core Manager at the MGH Metabolic Imaging Core (MMIC), responsible for overseeing operations, financial management, and research project facilitation under the leadership of Core Director, Dr. Foldyna. She has extensive experience supervising image acquisition and analysis across Magnetic Resonance, Computed Tomography, and Ultrasound, with a focus on Metabolic Syndrome and associated diseases.
Hometown:Citala, Chalatenango, El Salvador & Boston, MA
Education:Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), BS in Biomedical Engineering
Data Analyst
Lauren Cooke, SM, AB
is a data analyst with a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Harvard. Returning to CIRC after an internship dedicated to Interpretability in Cardiovascular Risk Prediction Models, Lauren’s research focuses on leveraging AI for social impact, particularly in medical and conservation fields. Her recent work concentrated on optimizing inverse reinforcement learning algorithms by refining reward functions to enhance learnability and applicability.
Hometown:Rockville, MD
Education:Harvard University, SM; Harvard College, AB
Students
Hannah Kim
Hannah examines the significance of adopting healthier lifestyles in reducing cardiac event likelihood, the impact of psychological conditions on the effectiveness of lifestyle changes on heart health, and potential indirect brain-cardiac connections. Additionally, she contributes to image analysis on PET/CT scans, studying the effect of stress, lifestyles, and diseases on bone marrow reuptake.
Hometown:Newport Beach, CA
Education:Amherst College, Psychology
Natasha Savianu
Natasha works alongside the Ahmed Tawakol Lab team to study the brain and heart connection. She uses imaging data from the MGB Biobank to uncover the role of stress and other neurological conditions on the development of cardiovascular disease. She is interested in how lifestyle choices can influence or improve the body’s response to stress and, ultimately, cardiovascular health.
Hometown:Oradea, Romania
Education:Amherst College, Neuroscience and French
Nicholas Jaffer
Nico is a rising sophomore at the University of Chicago and plans to study neuroscience and statistics. He is currently working on analyzing CT scans to determine coeliac ganglia area, which will hopefully in turn provide information on the long term negative effects of stress on body and mental health. He is also working on a study that discusses the impacts of varying income on the gain of cardiovascular risk factors (CVDRFs).
Hometown:Jamaica Plain, Boston
Education:University of Chicago
Recent CIRC Alumni
Name: | Position at CIRC: | Name: | Position at CIRC: |
---|---|---|---|
Thiago Quinaglia, MD, PhD | Research Fellow | Radhika Barve, BA | Clinical Research Project Manager |
Charbel Gharios, MD | Research Fellow | Kanako Ando, BS | Clinical Research Project Manager |
Carlos Gongora, MD | Research Fellow | Tamara Babenko, BS | Clinical Research Project Manager |
Marton Kolossvary, MD, PhD | Research Fellow | Omar Alani, BS | Clinical Research Coordinator I |
Fadi Pulous, PhD | Research Fellow | Megan McCloud, BS | Clinical Research Coordinator II |
Hadil Zureigat, MD | Research Fellow | Madeline Gerbracht, BS | Clinical Research Coordinator I |
Angelo Takigami, MD | Research Fellow | Sofia Nikolaidou, BA | Clinical Research Coordinator I |
Kenechukwu Mezue, MD MSc | Research Fellow | Xiaomin Becky Chen, BS | Clinical Research Coordinator I |
Julius Heemelaar, MD | Research Fellow | Nory Klop-Packel, BS | Clinical Research Coordinator II |
Giovanni Civieri, MD | Research Fellow | Jor Sam (Terry) Ho, MPH | Clinical Research Coordinator III |
Saman Doroodgar Jorshery, MD-MPH | Research Fellow | Supraja Sama, BS | Clinical Research Coordinator I |
Mangun Kaur Randhawa, MBBS | Research Fellow | Erin Hanlon | Clinical Research Coordinator II |
Iqra Qamar, MD | Clinical Fellow | Abdulaziz Alhamam, MD | Student |
Simran S. Grewal, DO | Clinical Fellow | Nathan Li | Student |
Julia Karady, MD | Research Faculty | Sanjana Singh | Student |
Veniamin Knyazev, BS | Administrative Assistant | Yanru Chen | Student |
Vinit Baliyan, MBBS | Research Faculty | Krisha Patel | Student |
Giovanni Civieri, MD | Research Fellow | Aniket Zinzuwadia | Student |
Thomas Mayrhofer, PhD | Instructor | Philipp Nikolaus Maintz | Student |
Marcel Langenbach, MD | Research Fellow | Lainie Louis-Jame | Student |
Alexander Cheng | Student | ||
Vaishnavi Cherukupalli | Student |