Kamran Avanaki, PhD, MS

Kamran Avanaki, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Dermatology and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago. He joined UIC in 2020. His lab has developed an optical imaging method and software that can non-invasively diagnose cutaneous melanoma, and they are in the process of developing an imaging-based method using photoacoustic imaging to diagnose breast cancer in dense breasts, and an instrument to help neurosurgeons to identify the tumor residuals after brain surgery. His area of research expertise is biomedical imaging instrumentation, specifically optical coherence tomography (OCT), as well as the development of signal/image analysis algorithms. Avanaki’s vision is to use these imaging modalities with image analysis algorithms to develop real-time, non-invasive imaging protocols that assist in the diagnosis of diseases related to human brain and skin. Another major pillar of his research is the development of bedside imaging systems to assess the brain of premature and/or low birth weight (<1500g) neonates who are vulnerable to brain injuries. Avanaki has a personal commitment to engineering research: his greatest professional fulfillment comes from the process of inventing and developing new methodologies for the diagnosis of disease.

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