People – LITMUS | University of Waterloo

Alfred C. H. Yu, Principal Investigator

Professor of Biomedical Engineering

alfred.yu@uwaterloo.ca

Alfred has a long-standing research interest in ultrasound imaging and therapeutics. He is a Full Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Alfred obtained his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Calgary, and he received his M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Toronto. He started his academic career at the University of Hong Kong, where he was the founding PI of HKU Biomedical Ultrasound Laboratory. He relocated his research group to Waterloo in 2015 to help spearhead Waterloo ECE department’s biomedical engineering research portfolio. A Senior Member of IEEE and AIUM, Alfred’s research is recognized by various prestigious prizes, including the IEEE Ultrasonics Early Career Investigator Award, the Frederic Lizzi Early Career Award, and the Ontario Early Researcher Award. He is now an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, & Frequency Control and an Editorial Board Member of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology. He also chairs the Medical Ultrasound TPC of IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium.

Adrian J. Y. Chee, Associate Scientist

adrian.chee@uwaterloo.ca

Adrian’s research specializes on the design of new vascular ultrasound techniques and related experimental tools. He is also the group’s de-facto lab manager. A globe trotter, Adrian obtained his B.Eng. degree in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and received his Ph.D. training at the University of Hong Kong. He also completed a research internship at Hitachi Central Research Laboratory in Tokyo, Japan.

Takuro Ishii, Associate Scientist

takuro.ishii@uwaterloo.ca

With a background in urology diagnostic technology development, Takuro is spearheading the application of high frame rate ultrasound to develop new urodynamic imaging tools. He completed his undergraduate degree and PhD studies at Chiba University in Japan. Takuro joined LITMUS after a brief spell working at his alma mater. He brings to the group multi-disciplinary knowledge in urology, computational fluid dynamics, and signal processing.

Jason Au, Associate Scientist

jason.au@uwaterloo.ca

Jason joins LITMUS with a background in cardiovascular exercise science and spinal cord injury physiology. He completed his PhD degree in kinesiology at McMaster University where his major focus was on longitudinal motion of the arterial wall and speckle-tracking echocardiography. Drawing on his experience with clinical exercise trials, he will be working towards human application projects for high-frame-rate imaging. Jason was previously funded by NSERC for his graduate studies, and is currently supported by a CIHR Post-doctoral Fellowship.

Hideki Yoshikawa, Associate Scientist

hideki.yoshikawa@uwaterloo.ca

With fourteen years of R&D experience in medical ultrasound scanner development at Hitachi Ltd., Hideki is devoted to improving functionality and quality of ultrasound imaging such as tissue elastography, contrast-enhanced US, and speckle tracking. He is a winner of the Young Scientist Award in JSUM 2011 and USE 2006. He received his MEng in 2003 from the University of Tokyo, Japan and his PhD in medical imaging in 2017 from Tohoku University, Japan. Hideki is now working with our group to conduct research in functional ultrasound imaging.

Takahide Terada, Associate Scientist

taka.terada@uwaterloo.ca

Trained in electronic engineering, Taka is an experienced researcher in electronic circuit design and hardware integration at Hitachi Ltd. He has filed more than 35 patents, and he has won the Young Scientist Award in USE 2016 and the APEC Outstanding Presentation Award in 2014. He received his BSc (2003), MSc (2005) and PhD in Engineering (2015) from Keio University, Japan. He is now working at LITMUS to develop new technological applications using high frame rate ultrasound imaging.

Billy Y. S. Yiu, PhD Student

billy.yiu@uwaterloo.ca

A long-time member of LITMUS, Billy is now working towards his PhD degree at the University of Waterloo. He has an active research interest in advanced ultrasound imaging, and is now involved in the design of high-frame-rate imaging techniques and related system tools. Billy received his B.Eng. (Hons) degree in Medical Engineering and an M.Phil. degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, both completed at the University of Hong Kong. He was a past recipient of the Young Scientist Award at the Symposium on Ultrasonic Electronics and the Young Investigator Gold Prize Award at the KSUM Annual Convention.

Saad Waraich, PhD Student

saad.waraich@uwaterloo.ca

Saad completed his undergraduate studies in Electrical Engineering at the National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST-PNEC) in Pakistan. He was a Chancellor’s Medal recipient at NUST-PNEC, and he has previously worked as a research assistant in ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation and embedded system projects at the PNEC NDT Centre. At LITMUS, Saad is keen to explore new directions in biomedical ultrasound imaging and phantom design.

Richard Shangguan, PhD Student

hanyue.shangguan@uwaterloo.ca

Richard obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Material Science Engineering at the University of Toronto in 2016. He gained initial experience in working with microbubbles during his undergraduate capstone project. He is now seeking to develop new biomedical ultrasound applications of these contrast agents as his research direction in graduate studies at the University of Waterloo.

Hassan Nahas, PhD Student

hassan.nahas@uwaterloo.ca

Hassan graduated from New York University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and with highest distinction (summa cum laude). With an affinity to biomedical engineering and signal processing, Hassan is now pursuing his MASc studies at the University of Waterloo. Before joining LITMUS, he has enjoyed multple spells as an undergraduate research assistant in projects related to biofilms, DNA microarray technology, Doppler ultrasound, and indoor localisation.

Chung Kit Ho, MASc Student

kit.ho@uwaterloo.ca

Kit graduated from the Medical Engineering Program at the University of Hong Kong in 2014. Following a brief industry work experience, he returned to Alfred’s laboratory to work as a Research Engineer. After gaining some hands-on experience in research, Kit decided that it is the right time for him to pursue graduate studies. He is now working towards his MASc degree at the University of Waterloo. He has technical strengths in designing novel vascular phantoms for ultrasound imaging investigations.

Di Xiao, PhD student

di.xiao@uwaterloo.ca

Di has a strong research interest in different forms of medical imaging. He completed his undergraduate degree in Mathematics at the University of California - Berkeley, where he worked on Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) research, and his masters degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, where he focused on MRI research. Afterwards, he worked at the IBM Toronto Software Lab. With a background in hardware, software, and mathematics, Di is looking forward to integrating his expertise to the field of ultrasound imaging.

Kevin Richer, MASc Student

krricher@uwaterloo.ca

Kevin obtained his BASc degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering with distinction at the University of Windsor in 2016. After completing his undergraduate studies, he immediately took a position in industry working with machine vision in industrial automation. Kevin decided to join LITMUS to build on his existing background by exploring biomedical ultrasound and its applications.

Rebekah Maffett, MASc Student

rebekah.maffett@uwaterloo.ca

Rebekah completed her BASc degree in Nanotechnology Engineering at the University of Waterloo in 2018. During her undergraduate degree, she worked in research fields ranging from materials science for the development of more efficient particle accelerators, to probing the radiation tolerance of CMOS and CCD image sensor designs. Rebekah joined LITMUS to further develop her interest in medical imaging technology by expanding her knowledge in biomedical ultrasonics and electrical engineering.

Masaaki Omura, Visiting PhD Student

Masaaki completed his BEng (2015) and MEng (2017) at Chiba University, Japan. Funded by the JSPS Research Fellowship for Young Scientists, he continues pursuing for his PhD in Science and Engineering at the same institution. Masaaki’s visit is an integral part of the collaborative research between LITMUS and Chiba University as part of the International Network of Multi-modal Medical Engineering for Precision Medicine by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Core-to-Core Program.