PEOPLE

Current Members

Thomas Heldt, PhD, is the Richard J. Cohen (1976) Chair in Medical Engineering & Science and Associated Director of the Institute for Medical Engineering & Science (IMES) at MIT. He is also a Professor of Electrical & Biomedical Engineering with MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, a Principal Investigators with the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE), and the faculty director of PhysioNet and the Medical Electronic Device Realization Center (MEDRC).

Thomas studied Physics and Medicine at Johannes Gutenberg University, Germany, and continued his studies of Physics at Yale University and MIT. He received the PhD degree in Medical Physics from the Harvard-MITDivision of Health Sciences and Technology and commenced postdoctoral training at MIT’s Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronics Systems. Prior to joining the faculty, Thomas was a Principal Research Scientist with RLE, where he co-founded and co-directed (with Prof. George Verghese) the Computational Physiology and Clinical Inference Group.

Thomas’s research interests focus on biomedical instrumentation, signal processing, mathematical modeling, and model identification to support real-time clinical decision making, monitoring of disease progression, and titration of therapy, primarily in neurocritical and neonatal critical care. Thomas is particularly interested in developing mechanistic understanding of physiologic systems, and in formulating appropriately chosen computational physiologic models for improved patient care. Thomas also recently assumed the leadership of PhysioNet (with Dr. Tom Pollard), a pioneering and highly influential open-access repository for biomedical signals and clinical data. His research is conducted in close collaboration with colleagues at MIT and clinicians from Boston-area hospitals.

Based in Los Angeles, Dora Pereli serves as Professor Heldt’s administrative assistant. With a strong background in organization and a keen eye for detail, Dora helps manage the daily operations of Professor Heldt’s work, ensuring everything runs smoothly.

Jamie is pursuing his PhD in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) under the supervision of Professor Thomas Heldt and Professor Vivienne Sze. His current research is primarily concerned with the use of consumer electronics and deep learning-based eye tracking algorithms for neurological disease monitoring. He received the BA and MA degrees in Economics and the BCS degree in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia in 2015, 2016 and 2018, respectively, the MASc degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto in 2020, and the SM degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 2026.

Isabella Romero Estevez is a Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT. She received her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM) in 2024.

She worked as a research intern at Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal (Madrid) in 2022, where she focused on early detection of cancerous thyroid nodules from ultrasound videos under the mentorship of Dr. Pablo Valderrabano. In 2022-2023, she conducted research on the design and implementation of a robotic device to assist in mirror therapy with Prof. Pedro Malagon (UPM) and Prof. Quentin Sanders (George Mason University).

In 2023-2024, she joined Prof. Thomas Heldt’s lab as a visiting student, working in collaboration with Prof. Lydia Bourouiba, and she is currently continuing her doctoral research in the same group. Her current work focuses on ultrasound-based detection and characterization of gaseous and solid emboli in flow, with applications in critically ill pediatric patients.

Lee Portnoff currently supports several projects for the Fluid Healths Network. Previously he worked as a Research Biologist in the Research Branch of the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). His career has focused on aerosol science and personal protective equipment research, with experience developing aerosol monitoring devices at the University of California, Davis, and consulting work with institutions including Johns Hopkins University and Charles University in Prague. His primary area of research focused on respiratory protection and source control, including recent publications on the performance of respirators, surgical masks, and protective clothing materials against airborne particles and bodily fluids.

Christina is an MEng student in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. She earned her B.S. in EECS from MIT in 2025. Her current research focuses on leveraging novel ultrasound transducer technology to advance cerebral blood flow measurement.

Alumni

Andrea Fanelli

Research Scientist (2017-2018) Postdoc (2013-2017)

Working primarily on the noninvasive ICP estimation approach

Abubakar Abid

Zixi Liu