2008/2009 HMDN Executive Board
Gayathree Murugappan, President
Status: Gaya Murugappan is a fourth year biomedical engineering student with a concentration in cell and tissue engineering and materials science at Johns Hopkins University
About: Gaya’s research focuses on stem cell culture techniques to improve the viability of cell-based therapeutics. Gaya has co-led a student design team in the design and prototyping of an abdominal surgery device in collaboration with the director of Gynecologic Oncology at JHMI.
Shivam Shah, Vice President
Status: Shivam Shah is a third year biomedical engineering student with a dual minor in Entrepreneurship & Management and Applied Mathematics and Statistics at Johns Hopkins University
About: Shivam is currently a co-leader of a student design team. He is involved in research in Dr. Yarema’s Cell and Carbohydrate Engineering Lab.
Aditya Polsani, Advisor
Status: Industrial Liaison Associate for the Whitaker Biomedical Engineering Institute and the Brain Science Institute
About: Aditya earned his Bachelors in Dental Surgery from Bapuji Dental College in India, and a Masters degree in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University.He currently plays a hands-on role in the day-to-day management of the new Center for Bioengineering Innovation & Design (CBID). At CBID, he is involved with recruiting and building biomedical design teams comprising of students, clinicians and engineers, sourcing medical device projects and managing intellectual property.
Vikram Aggarwal, M.S.E, Graduate Representative
Status: Vikram Aggarwal is a PhD candidate in biomedical engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
About: Mr. Aggarwal received a B.ASc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada in 2005. His primary research interests include neuroprosthetics, Brain-Computer Interfaces, and biomedical instrumentation. His current focus is on developing cortical control algorithms for dexterous control of upper-limb neurprostheses. He is the co-founder of cVision Medical Solutions, a medical device startup that has developed an instrument to noninvasively measure central venous pressure using ultrasound.
Bryce Chiang, Graduate Representative
Status: Bryce Chiang is a combined BS/MSE student currently in his 5th year at Johns Hopkins University
About: Bryce’s undergraduate focus area was in computational biology. His graduate work will be in ECE. He currently works in the Vestibular Neuroengineering Lab in the Dept of Otolaryngology, JHMI. Bryce’s thesis work will revolve around the redesign of a 3-D vestibular prosthesis.
Anshuman Gupta
Status: Anshuman Gupta is a second year biomedical engineering student at Johns Hopkins University
About: Anshuman was a member of a design team that created a novel device for bowel packing. Most recently, Anshuman worked as an intern at a start-up, Cobalt Biofuels, doing work on the effects of biofueling on heat transfer as it relates to the distillation.
Sameer Manek
Status: Sameer Manek is a second year biomedical engineering undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University
About: Sameer and his design team recently created SurgyPack: a novel surgical device for bowel packing. He has been working in the Radiology division of the Institute for Cellular Engineering at JHMI testing new methods for cellular encapsulation, immunoprotection, and cell tracking of pancreatic islets for long-term treatment of type 1 diabetes.
Michael Shen
Status: Michael Shen is a third year biomedical engineering student minoring in mathematics at Johns Hopkins University
About: Michael has gained significant research experience in the lab of Dr. John Park at the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, focusing on the use of pseudotyped viruses to deliver gene therapy to malignant gliomas. He is currently researching under Dr. Yue in the Calcium Signals Lab at JHMI.
Marlene Shi
Status: Marlene is a second year biomedical engineering student at Johns Hopkins University
About: Marlene worked with a team of seven others to design and create an articulated biter for neuroendoscopic surgery. She has previously worked as a marketing and finance intern at Fusion Specialties, a privately held manufacturing company in the fashion and mannequin production industry. Most recently, she interned in the Office of Economic Development of Denver.
James Wang
Status: James Wang is a third year biomedical engineering student at Johns Hopkins University
About: James was a senior member on a team that designed a distraction osteogenesis device for traumatic fractures in third world countries. He has a strong intrest in business and is the president of the Hopkins Organization of Finance and Investment as well as the campus’s primary digital advertisement service, Hopkins Dynamic Advertising.
Andrew Wisneski
Status: Andrew Wisneski is a second year biomedical engineering student at Johns Hopkins University
About: Andrew has spent previous summers volunteering at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Francisco, where he learned about cardiovascular medicine. He was a member of a design team that tackled a project to improve the biliary tube.