Upload your resume. PhdFit's six research agents compare your background with faculty profiles, recent publications, lab focus, and outreach opportunities, then rank professors with evidence you can review.
Ask how her lab is extending interpretability methods into fairness audits for real-world AI systems.
University of Washington · Geography
Active 1970–2026
I'm interested in the scientific study of Cannabis hemp flowers and its implications for health and society. The phenomenon of cannabinergy, an essential cell-to-cell signalling system found throughout the human body, was discovered through the integrative bioscientific study of Cannabis.
Ketamine assisted psychotherapy in postpartum mood and anxiety disorders: a limited case series
Frontiers in Psychiatry · 2026-01-22
The postpartum period is notorious for rapid and profound changes for birthing individuals and their families. Significant shifts to hormonal and physical health, routines and family roles, and the salience of personal and community risk factors all contribute to potential psychiatric and psychological distress for parents, sometimes diagnosed as a postpartum mood or anxiety disorder (PMAD). Existing pharmacologic treatment modalities for PMADs do not comprehensively address the profound shifts of the postpartum period, often inadequate at reaching peak therapeutic efficacy in a shorter time frame, in patient accessibility, or offering sustained benefit. Ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP), is increasingly recognized as a therapeutic option for a range of psychiatric disorders and has been explored as a modality to prevent PMADs when used during Cesarean births. This retrospective case series examines three cases where ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP) was introduced during the first two years postpartum as part of a comprehensive treatment plan for PMADs. This study describes the utility of ketamine assisted psychotherapy to the postpartum individual, and offers perspective on the impact of psychedelic insights through treatment of PMAD symptoms
The Comorbidities of Pediatric Sleep-Disordered Breathing
2025-02-21
Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and its more severe form, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), is a disorder of airway obstruction with multisystem implications and associated complications. OSAS affects children from infancy to adulthood and is responsible for behavioral, cognitive, and growth impairment, as well as cardiovascular and perioperative respiratory morbidity and mortality. OSAS is commonly associated with comorbid conditions, including obesity and asthma. This chapter describes the comorbidities of SDB and OSAS. Although adenotonsillectomy has been the most used treatment option for OSAS in childhood, this chapter focuses on the efforts underway to identify medical and dental treatment options, including teledontics or nonrestrictive orthodontics.
2025-11-01
Many new diagnostic PET imaging agents along with their companion radiopharmaceutical therapy (RPT) compounds have been adopted for cancer therapy. We recently constructed a compact and mobile PET device to enable interactive PET imaging capability at point-of-care (PoC) settings to support real-time molecular imaging guidance for RPT and other treatments like radiation therapy. Despite its precise tumor targeting and minimal collateral damage, proton therapy faces challenges in achieving accurate in-vivo dosimetry, particularly in ensuring that the delivered radiation dose matches the planned dose. This study evaluates the feasibility of in-vivo dosimetry measurement using PoC-PET imaging to characterize proton beam-induced radionuclides in a subject.
The Effect of Added Sugar on Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (POSAS)
2025-02-21
The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is increasingly evident in children and adolescents, portending a tsunami of chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, obesity, and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), leading to early mortality as this generation ages. In contrast to the systemic metabolism of glucose, the liver is the primary metabolic clearinghouse for 4 specific foodstuffs that have been associated with the development of MetS: trans-fats, branched-chain amino acids, ethanol, and fructose. These four substrates (1) are not insulin-regulated and (2) deliver metabolic intermediates to hepatic mitochondria without an appropriate "pop-off" mechanism for excess substrate, enhancing lipogenesis and ectopic adipose storage. Excessive fatty tissue deposits, especially in the upper airway, impact its patency during sleep, leading to the development of OSA. This chapter describes the consequential impact of added sugar and processed food in developing OSA in children and the role of teledontics as non-restrictive orthodontics in preventing and treating OSA in pediatric patients.
A Broadband Ultrasensitive Gamma Imager (BUGI) Technology for Simultaneous PET-SPECT Imaging
2025-11-01
Alpha-emitting radiopharmaceutical therapy (α RPT) delivers high-LET radiation to induce DNA double-strand breaks in metastatic prostate cancer. Tumor resistance may arise through PARP upregulation, making PARP-PET imaging a valuable non-invasive tool to assess DNA repair and guide personalized αRPT.
Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders and Obstructive Sleep Apnea
2025-02-21 · 1 citations
Evolutionary alterations in the human pharyngorofacial complex (POFC) and upper respiratory tract caused an anatomical disease known as sleep-related breathing disorder (SRDB), which has a more severe form, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Some of these changes include acute oral cavity-skull base angulation, pharyngeal collapse with anterior migration of the foramen magnum, shortening of the maxillary, ethmoid, palatal, and mandibular bones causing posterior migration of the tongue into the pharynx, descent of the larynx, shortening of the soft palate with loss of the epiglottic-soft palate lock-up. Although it is generally accepted that some of these modifications had advantageous selection pressures for bipedalism, the development of voice, speaking, and language eventually had a significant role, as did binocular vision and locomotion. Here, it is demonstrated that these alterations are the anatomic basis of OSA. The field of dentistry and especially orthodontics, with its enormous capability to influence the growth and development of PharyngOroFacial (POF) anatomy, creates a vital role for the profession as part of the dental/medical team in early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of SRBD and OSA. The dental field needs to engage in a paradigm shift and view POF discrepancies not only as the cause of patient's dental and facial aesthetic disharmonies but also as their impact on the development and function of their airway system. Dental and orthodontic treatment strategies should now expand to reflect an effort to impact and improve the patient's overall health positively. In this chapter, we have attempted to systematically describe the role of dentistry and orthodontics in caring for patients with SRBD, including OSA.
2025-02-21
Objective To assess a novel hybrid mandibular advancement device (HMAD) as a component of the teledontic-telegnathic protocol for treating obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJD). Methods Ninety-one individuals with OSA and TMJD's retrospective baseline and titration polysomnograms were compared after using HMAD (ApnoDent®) for 6 to 12 months. Results According to the clinical data, 95.5% of patients had their TMJD symptoms resolved (p à .00001). Ninety-one percent of individuals in the mild-moderate category and 77% of cases in the severe-very severe category had the best resolution with an AHI of less than five (p = .0001). Conclusions Another therapy option for patients with mild to extremely severe OSA and TMJD may be HMAD.
Development of a Portable PET System W/Real-Time Us Tracking for Interactive Point-of-Care Imaging
2025-11-01
This study presents an updated Point-of-Care (PoC) PET system integrated with ultrasound (US), designed to enhance diagnostic imaging and image-guided interventions in environments where conventional PET/CT systems are impractical, such as operation room or intensive care units. We constructed a prototype dual-modality PoC-PET/US system using a Kuka KR 10 R1100 sixx robotic arm, a rotation stage, eight PET detector modules, and an Atracsys stereo camera (FusionTrack250) all mounted on a trolley. It employs list-mode data acquisition and GPU-based MLEM reconstruction engine for rapid on-the-fly image processing. A Python-based control interface streamlines robotic positioning, data acquisition, event sorting, and image reconstruction, reducing overall scanning and reconstruction time by 20 %. The PET imaging capability of the system was evaluated using a fillable tumor phantom with lesion sizes from 3.3 mm to 11.4 mm and a tumor-to-background ratio of 20:1. The PET/US co-registration capability was evaluated using a silicone phantom containing <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">64</sup> to compare with conventional PET/CT. Lastly, PET images were collected for FDG and <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">64</sup> injected mice to exhibit tracer uptake. Initial results indicate that PoC-PET images closely approximate the resolution of clinical PET/CT systems. Stereo camera accuracy was validated by mounting a passive marker on the robotic arm, yielding sub-millimeter translational and sub-degree rotational error relative to ground truth. The integration of PoC-PET with free-hand US tracking marks a significant advancement in dual-modal imaging, offering flexible, high-performance bedside diagnostics that complement traditional setups; ultimately enabling real-time image guided interventions such as biopsy and ablation procedures.
Value in Health · 2024-12-01
Development of a Portable and Versatile PET System for Interactive Point-of-Care Imaging
2024-09-25
Current clinical PET/CT scanners are optimized for diagnostic accuracy & clinical throughput, primarily for whole-body FDG imaging in cancer detection & monitoring. However, these systems often cannot accommodate immobilized or intensive-care patients. The increasing availability of novel radio-theranostics underlines the need for versatile, accessible molecular imaging tools. This study introduces a Point-of-Care (POC) PET technology integrated with ultrasound (US), developed to enhance diagnostic capabilities in settings where conventional PET/CT scanners are impractical. The POC-PET incorporates a Kuka KR 10 R1100 sixx robotic arm, a rotation stage, & 8 time-of-flight (TOF) PET detector modules mounted on a trolley. It features Lutetium-Yttrium Oxy-orthosilicate (LYSO) arrays, Multi-Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC) arrays, & front-end electronics. A US transducer can be added between 2 front PET detectors, forming a combined PET/US probe. This system uses list-mode data acquisition & GPU-based MLEM reconstruction for rapid image processing. We evaluated the system using a tumor phantom mimicking Derenzo patterns & varying lesion sizes ($3.3 \mathrm{~mm}-11.4 \mathrm{~mm}$) & a tumor-to-background activity conc. ratio of 20:1. Ref. images were acquired using a Siemens Biograph Vision PET/CT for comparison. We imaged a silicone phantom containing ${ }^{64} \mathrm{Cu}$ solution & compared the PET/US images to standard PET/CT images. Initial results show that POC-PET images closely approximate the resolution of a clinical PET/CT. The versatility of the system was further validated at a proton therapy facility, where rapid imaging post-irradiation & real-time reconstruction illustrated its potential for clinical use. The development of the POC-PET technology with US integration marks a significant advancement in dual-modal imaging, providing bedside diagnostics and high-performance imaging on par with traditional systems, while also enabling real-time image-guided interventions like biopsy & ablation procedures.
Anu Varghese
Hafsa Javed
Simon Merritt
Callum Donaldson
John Navin
Laura Jones
M.D.
Unknown
Ph.D.
Unknown
PhdFit ranks faculty by your research interests, methods, and publications — grounded in their actual work, not templates.
Syed Haris Ahmed
Paula Rogers