The J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering would like to welcome Dr. Parisa Rashidi, who has recently accepted an Assistant Professor position!  

Dr. Rashidi is currently an Assistant Professor  in the Biomedical Informatics Division at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. Dr. Rashidi received her  BS degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Tehran and her PhD in Computer Science from Washington State University. Dr. Rashidi’s research involves developing novel biomedical informatics systems and various healthcare applications, with the underlying theme of big data and machine learning.

Some of Dr. Rashidi’s current projects include: (1) IntelliCare: This project focuses on analyzing the data captured from various phone sensors for detecting the onset of Major Depression Disorder. It provides adaptive therapeutic and intervention strategies by providing tailored care to each patient. (2) Early detection of dementia: This project focuses on early detection of dementia from behavioral and social markers captured by mobile and ambient sensors. (3) PACT: This is an augmentative and alternative communication tool for anomic aphasia patients to help them in their daily conversations by recommending relevant phrases in real time. It relies on advanced information retrieval and data mining techniques. (4) Adverse Event Detection: This project uses natural language processing, temporal data mining, and complex event processing techniques for discovering unknown factors contributing to adverse events using EHR data in conjunction with billing information and incident reports. (5) Smart Hospital: long term goal of the project is to develop intelligent patient care solutions using image processing and data mining techniques, along with the use of novel sensor technology.

We look forward to having Parisa on board soon!