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Group Member Biographies

Antonio C. Westphalen, M.D., Ph.D., MAS is a Professor of Radiology, Urology, and Radiation Oncology, and Section Chief of Abdominal Imaging at the University of Washington. His research interests are centered on the use of advanced imaging technologies to diagnose and guide treatment of genitourinary diseases, particularly prostate cancer. Dr. Westphalen’s goal is to improve the quality of care and patients’ outcomes through the responsible incorporation of imaging modalities into multidisciplinary workflows. 

Anna V. Naumova, Ph.D., is a Research Associate Professor at the Department of Radiology, UW Medicine. Her research is focused on the development of non-invasive imaging techniques for the visualization of transplanted cells. The ultimate goal of Dr. Naumova’s research is to bring new quantitative imaging technologies to address the unmet needs of regenerative medicine, myocardial tissue characterization, and heart failure treatment outcome with transplanted cells. 

Guilherme Moura Da Cunha, M.D., is an Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of Washington. His main research interest is to use deep learning to improve accuracy and workflow of quantitative MR imaging analysis. He is currently working on a deep learning model for multi-organ segmentation on MR images and Liver MRI-PDFF prediction from Contrast-Enhanced CT images. 

Avanti Gulhane, M.D., DNB, FSCMR an acting clinical instructor in the dept of Cardiothoracic imaging at the University of Washington. She is a part of clinical trials on nuclear imaging in prostate cancer and Theranostics in Neuroendocrine tumor research at the Seattle cancer care Alliance and Fred Hutch. Her areas of research in cardiac imaging include CT-derived fractional flow reserve in TAVR patients, 7T CMR, Cardiac MR in cardiovascular implantable electronic devices and electrophysiology, CMR-guided ventricular tachycardia ablations, and quantitative susceptibility mapping on CMR in patients with reperfusion injury. 

Karen Ordovas, M.D., MAS is a Professor of Radiology and Medicine, Section Chief of Cardiothoracic Imaging at the University of Washington. She specializes in advanced Cardiac and Pulmonary Imaging, in particular cardiovascular MR and CT. Dr. Ordovas’ research interests include establishing evidence-based applications for coronary CMR and CCT in several clinical settings, with emphasis on non-ischemic cardiomyopathies, women’s cardiovascular diseases, and adults with congenital heart disease. 

Hamid Chalian, M.D., is an Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of Washington. He is interested in the development of novel techniques for more accurate assessments of cardiac diseases, such as coronary artery diseases and atherosclerotic plaque characterization. Dr. Chalian is also a lung cancer screening advocate. Part of his research focuses on the improvement of lung cancer screening guidelines and techniques for earlier detection and more precise characterizations of lung cancer in high-risk populations.  

Mohamed Abdelmotleb is a second year cardiothoracic imaging fellow and part of the ABR alternate pathway of the University of Washington. A graduate of Hamad Medical Corporation's radiology residency program—an affiliate of Weill Cornell Medical College of Qatar—and the University of Calgary's Stephenson's Cardiac Imaging Center fellowship program, his research interests include stress MR imaging and congenital heart disease.

Mehrzad Shafiei, M.D. is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Radiology at the University of Washington. She is currently working under the direct supervision of Dr. Ordovas and Dr. Westphalen. Her research is focused on novel post-processing tools to find new imaging biomarkers for the diagnosis and management of nonischemic cardiomyopathies and transitional zone prostate cancer. 

Ali Nabipoor, M.D. is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Radiology Department at the University of Washington. His research is focused on the role of imaging in the assessment of malignant tumor kinetics and improving the accuracy of computed tomography scans in the diagnosis of cardiac structural diseases.