Resume

I had two successful main projects that reached publication during my time as a research associate at the University of Denver Cardiovascular Biomechanics Lab. Additionally, I actively participated in various other projects as a team leader or team member, collaborating with fellow students.

1) The Role of FSI Simulations in Improving Structural and Hemodynamic Performance of Bioprosthetic Heart Valves (BHVs)

Responsibilities:
• Conducted and reported in-vitro pulsatile flow tests on a BHV according to ISO-5840 standards.
• Modeled a BHV (CE PERIMOUNT Magna Ease) inside a pulse duplicator (In-vitro valve testing system) using SolidWorks.
• Developed 2-way fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulations of the BHV inside a pulse duplicator to assess long-term durability, blood stasis, and risk of valve thrombosis.
• Validated the model by comparing its results with PIV measurements, achieving a high accuracy rate of 96% in jet length in the peak systole (The results were presented as the finalist in the paper competition at the SB3C 2023).

2) The Measurement of Bovine Pericardium Density and its Implications on Leaflet Stress Distribution in BHVs

• Ran Several Design of Experiment (DOE) to find the density of surgical heart valves leaflets.
• Developed a Python code to find Fung strain energy function coefficients using biaxial testing data (Ovine model).
• Conducted FEA simulations to assess long-term durability of bioprosthetic and transcatheter heart valves using Abaqus, revealing up to 30.7% reduction in the maximum stress levels with the new tissue properties.
• Optimized the material properties of a bioprosthetic heart valve, achieving an accuracy rate of over 94% in predicting valve opening behavior (The results were presented at the SB3C 2023).