Our Team
Dr Jacob L. Jaremko
Principal Investigator, Professor and Canada CIFAR AI Chair at University of Alberta
Biography
Jacob Jaremko is a Professor of Radiology and Adjunct Professor of Computing Science at the University of Alberta, a practicing board-certified Pediatric and Musculoskeletal radiologist and partner at Medical Imaging Consultants, and co-founder of 3 startup companies, including MEDO.ai. He has a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. He is a Canada CIFAR AI Chair and Fellow of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute. His research has focused on developing objective imaging medical imaging diagnostic tools at the clinical point of care -- building the 21st-century stethoscope. biomarkers of disease in ultrasound and MRI, and on implementing AI-augmented.
Abhilash Hareendranathan
Assistant Professor, University of Alberta
Biography
Dr. Abhilash Rakkunedeth Hareendranathan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging at the University of Alberta, specializing in artificial intelligence (AI), medical image analysis, and ultrasound imaging. With extensive international research experience, he has collaborated with multidisciplinary teams across Singapore, Germany and Canada.
Rod Frey
CEO Datamint, Software Design/Consulting
Biography
I'm a technologist and an entrepreneur who has founded several companies over the last 25 years. My current passion is the application and dissemination of AI and Machine Learning in the healthcare system, which I believe is the only path to continuing to improve care in an environment of spiralling costs.
Sonance.ai is a company whose mission is to accelerate AI and machine learning in healthcare, especially radiographic applications. We do that by providing DataMint, an online home for ML researchers that streamlines dataset management, image annotation, model versioning, and experiment tracking. We also facilitate deployment of AI models to clinical and point-of-care settings for field testing via a portable Ultrasound application running on a tablet and laser-focused on researcher needs.
Kumaradevan Punithakumar
Associate Professor • Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Radiology & Diagnostic Imaging
Biography
Dr. Kumaradevan Punithakumar received his B.Sc.Eng. (with First class Hons.) degree in Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, and his M.A.Sc and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from McMaster University.
Dr. Punithakumar was the recipient of the Industrial Research and Development Fellowship by the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada in 2008, and the Outstanding Associate Editor award by the IEEE Access in 2018 and 2020. Areas of interest include medical image analysis and visualization, machine learning, computer vision, information fusion, object tracking, and nonlinear filtering.
Cassandra Gallant
Clinical Lead of Implementations
Biography
Dr. Cassandra Gallant is a physician and the Clinical Lead of Implementations for the Newborn Arthritis Prevention Screening (NAPS) project a collaboration with the University of Alberta and Arthritis Society with initiatives to prevent osteoarthritis in its infancy. After completing her medical degree with clinical training in both Canada and abroad, Dr. Gallant transitioned into medical imaging and artificial intelligence (AI) research as a Research Coordinator at the University of Alberta. In this role, she contributed to several pioneering initiatives integrating AI-enhanced imaging into care pathways. Her passion for advancing equitable healthcare access led her to become the Clinical Implementations Lead, where she now oversees province-wide deployment of early screening for developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). Dr. Gallant works closely with rural and Indigenous communities to build sustainable, community-led screening programs, using portable ultrasound technology to bring care closer to home. Her clinical insight, combined with a deep commitment to innovation and health equity, continues to drive the successful integration of new technologies into frontline healthcare delivery.
Somayeh Raiesdana
Research Associate
Biography
Dr. Somayeh Raiesdana holds a BSc, MSc, and PhD in Biomedical Engineering, as well as a Master’s degree in Neuroscience. She has extensive experience in healthcare project coordination and management, and is an expert in medical signal and image analysis using various machine learning and AI techniques. She is currently working as a Research Associate with the NIDUS Lab, focusing on research ethics, funding applications, and projects' implementation.
Shrimanti Ghosh
Postdoc
Biography
I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Department of Radiology at the University of Alberta and NIDUS Lab, where I focus on developing AI-driven techniques for automated bone fracture detection and tendon tear identification in ultrasound imaging. After completing M.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Calcutta, India, I completed M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Computing Science at the University of Alberta, Canada. My main research interests include Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Medical Image Processing, Signal Processing, and Operations Research. I am deeply passionate about both teaching and research. With over six years of teaching experience, I have had the pleasure of instructing undergraduate and master’s students from diverse backgrounds, building meaningful connections with them, which I truly enjoy. I am particularly interested in health-related research that combines mathematical and computational models to drive innovation. I have learned creative dance, Indian classical dance, and painting for 12 years. These artistic pursuits are a significant part of my life, along with my passion for singing, reading, traveling, cooking various cuisines, and spending quality time with my family.
Soolmaz Abbasi
Postdoc
Biography
Soolmaz Abbasi is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alberta in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, Radiology & Diagnostic Imaging Department. She joined the lab with a robust background in deep learning and machine learning for medical image analysis. Soolmaz earned her PhD in artificial intelligence at Yazd University, specializing in visual object tracking using one-shot learning. She also holds a master’s degree in artificial intelligence from Shiraz University, where she focused on brain tumor detection and segmentation in MRI images. Her research interests lie in computer vision, deep learning, and medical image processing, with a strong emphasis on enhancing diagnostic and predictive capabilities in healthcare. Soolmaz is passionate about transforming advanced computational methods into practical tools for clinical applications and is enthusiastic about contributing to projects that expand AI’s role in medicine, aiming to bridge the gap between technical innovation and clinical utility.
Assefa Wahd
PhD Student
Biography
I am a second-year PhD student in the Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging at the University of Alberta. I completed my Master’s degree in Computer Software from the Korea National University of Science and Technology (UST) in Daejeon, South Korea, and my Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Information Engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China (UESTC) in Chengdu. My research focuses on adapting foundational AI models, initially developed for general computer vision, to the field of medical imaging. I address the challenges of limited medical data and computational resources by exploring techniques such as parameter-efficient fine-tuning, model pruning, and self-supervised learning. I aim to minimize the need for expert-labeled data and make AI-driven solutions more accessible and practical for healthcare applications.
Adam Mcarthur
PhD Student
Biography
Adam McArthur is a Graduate AI Researcher in the NIDUS Lab at the University of Alberta and an Open Source Engineer at G-Research in London England. He is passionate about improving healthcare through carefully considered technology and is a strong advocate for open-source principles. He is collaborating with partners across the world to enhance the reliability, trustworthiness, and efficiency of AI in Radiology, mostly focussing on Musculoskeletal Ultrasound. Adam's PHD is on Hip Dysplasia AI and how we can use Open Source Software to democratise access to Medical AI globally.
Midhila Madhusoodanan
PhD Student
Biography
I am currently pursuing a PhD in the Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging, focusing on developing an advanced image analysis pipeline to improve the quality of bone ultrasound images using Artificial Intelligence. My research aims to empower novice users to confidently perform ultrasound examinations using affordable, portable POCUS devices. I hold a postgraduate degree from Government Engineering College, Bartonhill, India. Beyond academia, I am a trained Kuchipudi dancer, deeply passionate about exploring the synergy between art and science.
Yuyue(Lily) Zhou
PhD Student
Biography
Lily Zhou is a graduate student in the Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging at the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on developing AI-driven tools for musculoskeletal ultrasound, particularly for the detection of wrist and elbow fractures in children. By combining deep learning techniques with point-of-care ultrasound, her work aims to improve diagnostic accuracy and accessibility in emergency and remote care settings.
Maha Ezzelarab
MSc Student
Biography
I am an MSc student in Medical Sciences. I completed my undergraduate degree in Systems and Biomedical Engineering from Cairo University. My past research experience includes brain tumor segmentation, motion artifact correction using deep learning, and implementing active learning strategies to enhance clinical model performance. My current research focuses on advancing ultrasound image analysis for injury detection and segmentation using reinforcement learning and deep learning techniques.
Chloe Karrie Anne Stiles
PhD Student
Biography
Chloe is a PhD student whose research is primarily focused on the implementation of the AI-powered portable ultrasound device to screen for hip dysplasia in infants across Alberta. Her MSc research focused on estimating bone stiffness in the proximal humerus in patients who have undergone stemless shoulder arthroplasty for end-stage osteoarthritis. After her PhD, she intends on furthering her education by attending medical school, with a desire to pursue radiology. Outside of academics, Chloe loves to travel and has lived in 4 countries. She is a lifelong ballet dancer, self-proclaimed baked goods connoisseur, and board game enthusiast.
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