CIA Lab Team Members

Clinical Image Analysis Lab

I am the Director of Center for Biomedical Informatics and Professor of Internal Medicine, Pathology and Biomedical Engineering at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Director of the Clinical Image Analysis Lab. I received my BSc. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Bilkent University, Turkey and my MSc. Degree in Digital Systems Engineering from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, England. From 1999 to 2001, I was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Radiology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Following my postdoctoral work, I worked as a senior researcher and a product director at a high-tech company, specializing in computer-aided detection and diagnosis of cancer from radiological images. Previously, I was Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Pathology, Director of Division of Clinical and Translational Informatics at the Ohio State University.

I am an author of over 200 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and have been awarded three patents for my inventions in medical image analysis. I am the recipient of several awards including the British Foreign and Commonwealth Organization Award, NCI caBIG Embodying the Vision Award, NIH Exceptional, Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration (EUREKA) Award, Children’s Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award, The OSU Cancer Center REAP Award, and Pelotonia Idea Award. As an internationally recognized researcher and educator, I am a senior of member of IEEE, SPIE, and AMIA. I currently serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Pathology Informatics and Journal of Medical Imaging; and organizes the Pathology Informatics Histopathological Image Analysis (HIMA) workshop.

Research Highlights

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I am an enthusiastic and passionate person. I completed the B.S. degree in computer science from International Islamic University, Islamabad in 2019. I am currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Virginia Tech/Wake Forest University BME program. I am is interested to develop novel healthcare solutions utilizing various machine learning techniques. In spare time, I like to learn new technologies, and outdoor sports.

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Research Fellow

I am joining the Center for Biomedical Informatics as a Research Fellow. Following my B.S. in Mathematics, I earned an M.S. in Applied Mathematics from Sharif University of Technology, an M.A. in Statistics from Washington State University, and a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Washington State University, where I taught many courses such as Calculus series, Advanced Linear Algebra for Ph.D. students, Linear and Nonlinear Optimization, Statistics, and Ordinary Differential Equations. I then completed a postdoc (2020-2022) in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Wake Forest University, where I served as a Graduate Committee member, and taught many courses such as Calculus series, Linear Algebra, Optimization, and Differential Equations. I am a mentor in the National Math Alliance for Doctoral Studies in Mathematical Science.

I passed the Department of Mathematics and Statistics’ Graduate Qualifying Exam (GQE) at Washington State University with the highest score within the past few years. I received a Sidney G. Hacker Graduate Mathematics Scholarship from the Department of Mathematics at Washington State University, which recognizes excellence in graduate research as well as the Craft Scholarship from the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Washington State University, which is offered in recognition of the outstanding achievements. In Iran, I ranked number eight of more than 20,000 students taking the Master of Science in applied mathematics exam, and number nine of more than 20,000 students taking the Master of Science in theoretical (pure) mathematics exam.

I am very interested in machine learning and deep learning and their applications in healthcare. I am also very passionate in applications of linear algebra, tensors, optimization, statistics, and computational mathematics in machine learning and deep learning. I have experience in Python, MATLAB, R, SAS, Java script, PHP, and C/C++. In the 2021-2022 academic year, I was leading the Machine Learning Group at Wake Forest University.

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Graduate Student

I am a Ph.D. student in the Wake Forest University/Virginia Tech joint PhD Program in Biomedical Engineering. I am working with Drs. Khalid Niazi and Metin Gurcan in the Department of General Internal Medicine on the Wake Forest School of Medicine campus. I have a Master's degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Jeonbuk National University in South Korea, and a Bachelor's degree in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering from NEDUET in Pakistan. During my Master's, I focused on the applications of AI in precision agriculture. At Wake Forest, I am conducting research at the intersection of AI and healthcare, with a focus on developing AI-based tools to improve digital pathology.

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Graduate Student

I am pursuing my Ph.D. degree in the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University BME program. I received my B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering in 2018 from Shandong University, China. In 2020, I graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering. I am passionate about developing creative AI-based solutions to enhance pathology and other healthcare areas. My research interests includes image analysis, deep learning, especially self-supervised learning and multi-instance learning. I spend my spare time on anime, video games, traveling, and basketball.

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I am a postdoctoral research fellow at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, working in the field of transcriptomic data analysis and biological age prediction using CT images. Previously, I earned my Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. I also hold an M.S. and B.S. in Electronic and Communication Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology. My research interests lie in the development and application of machine learning and deep learning techniques for image analysis, particularly in the fields of biomedical imaging and health monitoring.

I am currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University Biomedical Engineering (BME) program. In 2024, I earned my Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering from Chongqing Medical University, where my research focused on developing deep learning algorithms for the automatic segmentation of lesions in breast ultrasound images. My thesis was recognized with the Outstanding Master's Thesis Award from Chongqing Medical University. My research interests include medical image computing, deep learning, and their applications in radiological and pathological images. I am dedicated to translating my research into clinical practice to enhance diagnostic accuracy, improve efficiency, and reduce patient suffering. In my spare time, I enjoy gaming, working out, and playing basketball.

I am a Ph.D. student at the Virginia Tech – Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences (SBES). I am currently working in the Clinical Image Analysis Lab (CIA Lab) under the guidance of Dr. Khalid Niazi. My research focuses on leveraging vision-language models in healthcare, particularly in digital pathology. Before joining SBES, I served as a Product Owner - AI at Expertflow, where I led a team of AI Engineers in developing LLM-based features and AI-driven solutions for contact centers. My extensive experience in artificial intelligence and passion for advancing health care technology drive My current research pursuits.