Current lab members

Ali Khan, PhD
I am a Scientist at the Robarts Research Institute and Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Biophysics and Medical Imaging at Western University. I obtained my PhD from Simon Fraser University and joined Western University in 2011 as a post-doctoral fellow. My research is focussed on the development of intelligent image processing and analysis technologies, and their application in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders.

Uzair Hussain, PhD
I am a postdoc at Robarts Research Institute at Western University, London. I obtained my Ph.D. from Memorial University in theoretical physics with a focus on black holes. My MSc was in theoretical astrophysics from the University of Waterloo and BSc in physics from McMaster University. My research focuses on diffusion MRI (dMRI), and my current projects aim to model diffusion processes in geometrically complex regions of the brain like the neocortex and the hippocampus. We employ techniques from differential geometry to flatten these complex regions and then model diffusion processes in the flattened space in order to enhance detection of abnormalities from dMRI.
Postdoctoral fellow (CONP research scholar), co-supervised with Dr.Ali Khan & Dr. Corey Baron

Roy Haast, PhD
My work focuses on in vivo characterization of the cortex using multi-parameter quantitative imaging at 7 Tesla. Here, I'm both interested in the brain's normal population anatomical variability, as well as how these measures change due to disease. Current projects involve quantification of the hippocampal formation's vascularization using high-resolution ASL, arterial maps and venograms, and how these can be used to improve its functional characterization
Postdoctoral fellow ( BrainsCAN ), co-supervised with Dr.Ali Khan & Stefan Kohler

Henry Cheng
I use 7T MRI scans to identify the piriform cortex and analyze its role in epileptic seizures.
M.D. Student, co-supervised by Dr. Ali Khan and Dr. David Stevens.

Jonathan Lau
Neurosurgery Resident, PhD student (co-supervised Terry Peters)

Dimuthu Hemachandra
I am a Ph.D. student in the School of Biomedical Engineering at UWO. I completed my undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka and I obtained my MSc. in Astrophysics from the University of Western Ontario. My current research project is focused on analyzing the structural connectivity of the brain using Diffusion MRI to find a biomarker for Parkinson’s disease.
PhD. student, Biomedical Engineering. co-supervised by Dr. Ali Khan & Dr. Penny MacDonald

Jason Kai
I am a PhD student in the Department of Medical Biophysics. I completed my undergraduate degree in Electrical & Biomedical engineering at McMaster University before first joining the lab as a summer research student. My research is primarily focused on investigating the brain's short-range structural connections which join together nearby regions using multi-parametric MRI techniques.
PhD student, Medical Biophysics, supervised by Dr. Ali Khan

Jordan DeKraker
My work has focused on developing a topological coordinate framework for the hippocampus, a highly convoluted brain structure that is critical in memory, navigation, and affected by many neurological disorders. I have now applied this coordinate framework to MRI and histological datasets in search of anatomical details that correlate with cognitive variables or disease onsets.
PhD student, Neuroscience, co-supervised with Dr.Ali Khan & Stefan Kohler

Loxlan Kasa
My research focuses on applying advanced MRI techniques to quantify brain microstructure in patients with neuropathological disorder and diseases. I am currently investigating the ability of a higher order tensor model called diffusion kurtosis imaging, aiming to better characterize brain tissue of temporal lobe epilepsy patients ultimately leading to accurate diagnosis and treatment.
Education:
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BSc and PGDip in Physics, University of Papua New Guinea
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MEng in Biomedical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, China
Awards & Scholarships:
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Western Graduate Research Scholarship
PhD student, Biomedical Engineering, jointly co-supervised with Terry Peters

Sudesna Chakraborty
I am a PhD student in the Neuroscience graduate program. I received my BSc from University of Pittsburgh and MSc from the University of Texas at Dallas both in Neuroscience. My past research work has focused on memory and how it is effected by healthy aging as well as neurological diseases. Currently, I am working on quantitative MRI modelling of healthy ageing.
Awards & Scholarships: BMI International Graduate Student Scholarship
PhD student, Neuroscience, co-supervised with Dr.Ali Khan & Dr. Taylor Schmitz

Brad Karat
I am a MSc student in the Neuroscience graduate program. I completed my undergraduate degree in Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour from McMaster University. My current research focuses on microstructural modelling of the Hippocampus in native and flattened space using diffusion MRI.
MSc, Neuroscience, supervised Dr. Ali Khan

Kayla Mae Ferko
My research focuses on using functional MRI and a novel behavioural paradigm to probe Pattern Separation outside of the Ventral Visual Stream.
Awards and Scholarships:
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NSERC USRA, Summer 2017
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Ontario Graduate Scholarship, Sept 2018
MSc., Neuroscience, co-supervised Dr.Ali Khan & Dr.Stefan Kholer

Mary Taylor
I am a MSc student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program. I completed my
undergraduate degree at Brock University in Neuropsychology. My work is
focused on the use of functional and structural imaging to characterize and
monitor network patterns in patients with focal epilepsy, as well as relating
these patterns to cognitive performance.
Awards & Scholarships: Dean’s Research Scholarship (2020)
MSc, Neuroscience, co-supervised by Dr. Ali Khan & Dr. Maryam Nouri

Sara Pac
I am a Master’s candidate in the Neuroscience graduate program. I completed my undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at Western University. My current research project involves developing a probabilistic atlas of the human amygdala nuclei using ultra-high field MRI. What's this item about? What makes it interesting? Write a catchy description to grab your audience's attention...
MSc, Neuroscience, co-supervised by Dr. Ali Khan & Dr. Emma Duerden

Tristan Kuehn
I am a MESc student in the School of Biomedical Engineering. I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Waterloo in Systems Design Engineering. At Waterloo I had the opportunity to work with medical image processing and 3D printing with novel materials for biomedical purposes. I am currently working on development of physical phantoms for validation of diffusion MRI protocols.
MESc, Biomedical Engineering, supervised Dr. Ali Khan

Patrick J. Park
I am an undergraduate electrical engineering student at Western University. My work so far has focused on creating reproducible software pipelines and shareable datasets. I have applied these tools to study geometric distortion in MRI and trajectory accuracy analysis for stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG).
BEng, Electrical Engineer, Supervised by Ali Khan

Geetika Gupta
I am a third year undergraduate student in Medical Sciences. I will be working on cortical segmentation and quantification in 9.4T MRI.
Work-study Undergraduate student, Medical sciences

Farah Mushtaha
I'm an undergraduate student in Medical Biophysics. My project focuses on developing and characterizing 3D printed Axon-mimetic phantoms for Diffusion MRI validation.
Medical Science undergraduate, co-supervised by Dr.Khan and Dr.Baron
Lab alumni

John Demarco
Masters in Clinical Anatomy

Hossein Rejali
Masters in Biomedical Engineering
Kristin Ikeda
Masters in Neuroscience (graduated Summer 2017), currently Staff Epileptologist Halifax (Dalhousie)
Catherine Currie
Histology Technologist, retired

Benjamin Kwan
Diagnostic Radiology Resident

Brendan Santyr
Medical Student, Schulich Research Opportunities Program, currently Neurosurgery Resident UWO

Utsav Pardasani
Masters in Biomedical Engineering (graduated Summer 2016), currently R&D Engineer at Clearpath Robotics
Brian Wang
Undergraduate NSERC USRA, currently Medical Student at McMaster University

Charlotte Blinston
Masters in Biomedical Engineering (graduated Spring 2017), currently Research Coordinator at OBI
Tony Zeng
Visiting medical student (Chengdu, China)
Daniel Tovbis
Undergraduate Honors Thesis, Medical Biophysics
Christy Lam
Undergraduate Honors Thesis, Neuroscience