PHOTO-MEDICINE LAB UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
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The Team

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Principal Investigator & Director

Prof. Parsin H. Reza 
Professor Parsin Haji Reza joined the University of Waterloo in April 2018 as an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering within the Department of Systems Design Engineering, after completing his doctoral (2015) and postdoctoral research (2018) at the University of Alberta. Dr. Haji Reza has an interest in designing and developing novel hardware and software methods for clinical and pre-clinical biomedical applications. He pioneered several new technologies/concepts including, Photoacoustic Remote Sensing (PARS®) microscopy, an absorption-based, non-contact, non-invasive, label-free imaging technique. He co-founded a start-up company illumiSonics Inc., which is focusing on commercializing PARS® technology for pre-clinical and pharmaceutical applications To read more click here!
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Very open minded when it comes to ice-cream but generally fruity ice creams especially Mango!

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Administrative Assistant ​

​​Stephanie Clarke
Stephanie completed her undergraduate degree in Social Development Studies (SDS) at the University of Waterloo. Continuing her education, she completed an Ontario College Graduate Certificate in Public Service from Conestoga College.  Previously, she worked in other administrative roles for the Department of Systems Design Engineering and Engineering Outreach before joining the PhotoMedicine Lab's team and start-up company illumiSonics Inc.
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Mango or Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ​

Current Team


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Kevan Bell, PhD.
Past: University of Alberta
Kevan Bell joined the PhotoMedicine Labs as a post-doctoral fellow after completing his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Alberta. He had previously moved to the Waterloo Region in 2018 to work in the lab’s spin-off company, illumiSonics Inc., serving as Engineering Director while completing his thesis work. Kevan has played a pivotal role in the development of photoacoustic remote sensing (PARS®) microscopy and has contributed to the majority of currently published academic investigations on the topic. During his graduate career, Kevan was the recipient of both NSERC’s Post-Graduate Scholarship and Alberta Innovate’s Graduate Student Scholarship, as well as several institutional awards. Kevan brings a wide background and interests in optical physics, biophotonics, optical engineering, software development, simulation,  and project management. 
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Vanilla Bean

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Zohreh Hosseinaee
Awards: MITACS Accelerate Fellowship, Norman Edmund Award, Provost Doctoral Entrance Award for Women in Engineering.
After completing her B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering, Zohreh received her M.Sc. in photonics engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Iran. She started her Ph.D. in the Systems Design Engineering department at UW in 2016. She has worked in the field of Biphotonic and optical imaging, especially optical coherence tomography (OCT). Her current research interest includes multi-modal optical imaging and image processing.
 Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Swiss Chocolate

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Marian Boktor 
co-supervised by Dr. Paul Fieguth
Marian completed both her undergraduate and master's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport. She joined the PhotoMedicine Labs in January 2020 as a Ph.D student, and is being co-supervised by Dr. Parsin Haji Reza and Prof. Paul Fieguth. Her research interests include biological signal/data processing and analysis, data acquisition methods, image processing, computer vision, and machine learning techniques. Marian is a highly motivated researcher who believes knowledge is power - Loves traveling and helping people to survive.
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Stretchy Middle Eastern Ice-Cream or Blueberry Fro-Yo

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Benjamin Ecclestone 
Past: University of Guelph 
Awards: Dean's Scholarship
Ben completed his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Guelph. Following this, he will be joining the PhotoMedicine Labs in May 2020 as a M.A.Sc student under Prof. Parsin Haji Reza. His research interests include optical systems, data processing methods, image reconstruction techniques and the development of histological imaging techniques. 
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Vanilla Bean from Haagen-Dazs 
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Nicholas Pellegrino
Past: University of Waterloo 
Awards: Engineering Dean's Entrance Award
co-supervised by Dr. Paul Fieguth
​Nicholas graduated from Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo and joined the PhotoMedicine labs in May 2019 as a masters student. Co-supervised by Dr. Haji Reza and Prof. Fieguth, his main focus is on multi-spectral unmixing, working towards chromophore-selective PARS® imaging with applications in PARS® histology.
Email: nicholas.pellegrino@uwaterloo.ca
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Chocolate

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Layla Khalili 
Past: Mayo Clinic
Awards: MITACS accelerate fellowship
Layla graduated from the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse with a B.Sc. in Biomedical Physics and minor in Biology. After graduating, she worked for about a year at the Mayo Clinic in the Neurology department. Currently, she is pursuing her M.A.Sc. in Systems Design Engineering, and is working on an Ophthalmology project and IGF (Image Guided Fibre) project. She has always had a passion in Neurology/Neuroscience with the hopes of steering towards functional PARS® imaging of the brain in the future.
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Ben and Jerry's Non-Dairy Chunky Monkey or Mint ​

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Lyazzat Mukhangaliyeva 
Past: University of Waterloo 
co-supervised by Dr. Eihab Abdel-Rahman
Lyazzat graduated from the University of Waterloo with bachelor’s degree in Nanotechnology Engineering in 2015. She then joined PhotoMedicine Lab's as a volunteer in January 2020. Lyazzat will be starting her MASc in Systems Design Engineering Department in Fall 2020 co-supervised by Dr. Parsin Haji Reza and Prof. Eihab Abdel-Rahman. Her main research interest is in manipulating the optical wavefront using adaptive optics in order to correct for system misalignment, aberrations and other factors reducing the performance of PARS®.
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Swiss Chocolate with Walnuts & Strawberries from Marble Slab

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Alkris Warren
Past: Wilfred Laurier University 
Kris received is B.SC. in Photonics from WLU. After undergrad he worked in industry, first at Christie Digital assembling and testing optical components for use in projection display systems, then moved onto 2G Robotics, where he worked as a calibration and testing specialist. He was heavily involved in the development of systems that utilized opto-electronics principles, computer vision and date processing and analysis. His research interests primarily revolve around the field of optical product design and development. More specifically, he has a strong inclination towards the design, modelling and analysis of optical systems. 
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Ben and Jerry's Half Baked Cookie Dough

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Nima Abbasi 
Past: University of Waterloo
Nima received his BSc degree in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in August 2017 and his MASc degree from University of Waterloo in December 2019. His graduate research involved working with real-life fiber-optics data to find solutions for the mitigation of nonlinear impairments in optical links. He has experience working on Machine Learning/Deep Learning projects and also has an appetite for mathematics. Nima joined PhotoMedicine Labs in August 2020 as a research assistant aiming to contribute to the Data Acquisition/Image Processing aspects of the projects.
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: French Vanilla

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Alex Tummon Simmons 
Awards: NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award. 
Alex is a Biomedical Engineering student at the University of Waterloo (Class of 2021) and completed an 8-month co-op term with the PhotoMedicine Labs. He will be joining the PhotoMedicine Labs in fall 2021 as a M.A.Sc student under Dr. Parsin Haji Reza.He has significant prior research experience in other fields including focused ultrasound and materials testing. His current research focus is around the design and implementation of novel functional imaging devices.
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Gooey Mooey from Cows PEI

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James Tweel 
James is an undergraduate student in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Waterloo (Class of 2021). He will be joining the PhotoMedicine Labs in fall 2021 as a M.A.Sc student under Dr. Parsin Haji Reza. James has industry experience in software development and research experience in signal processing for remote monitoring of vital signs. His research interests include biomedical signal and image processing, medical imaging, and optical systems.
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Häagen-Dazs Belgian Chocolate

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Auguste Koh
Auguste is an undergraduate student in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Waterloo (Class of 2021). He first joined the PhotoMedicine Lab in September 2019 through an Undergraduate Research Assistantship. He is currently working as a URA again for the lab during the winter 2021 term. His work focuses on signal processing to improve images produced with PARS®. His research interests include biological signal processing, machine learning, and medical imaging.
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Pistachio 

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Faraz Ali 
Awards: Presidents Research Award
Faraz is an Undergraduate Research Assistant with the PhotoMedicine Labs for the winter 2021 term. He is a Biomedical Engineering student (Class of 2023) at the University of Waterloo. He has had previous experience in designing and developing software for medical devices. Faraz has a particular interest in image processing, and aims to pursue and option in Artificial Intelligence as part of his undergraduate degree. In his free time Faraz enjoys exercising, dance and watching horror movies. 
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Chocolate Hazelnut ​

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Matthew Lee 
Awards: Presidents Research Award
Matthew is an Undergraduate Research Assistant with the PhotoMedicine Labs for the winter 2021 term. He is a third year biomedical engineering student at the University of Waterloo with an interest in biomedical signal processing and machine intelligence. He has completed three work terms focusing on mechanical and software design for angioscopes and autofocus microscopes. Matthew is also a member of the Varsity Men’s Volleyball Team and enjoys cooking, playing chess and mountain biking in his free time. 
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Mint Chip 

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Aarzoo Chennan 
Aarzoo is a third-year biomedical engineering student at the University of Waterloo and am currently pursuing a specialization in neural engineering. She is a URA with the PhotoMedicine Labs for the winter 2021 term. She has an interest in signal processing and neuroprosthetics and has work experience implementing assistive software on firm-wide technologies. She likes to stay busy by practicing yoga, dance and travelling. 
Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Chocolate 

Past Members:


 Shahid Haider 
Postdoctoral fellow (Sept 2019-Sept 2020)
Current position: Optical System Engineer- Faro Technologies
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Saad Rasheed Abbasi
M.A.Sc Student (Jan 2019-Sept 2020)
Current position: PhD student in Systems Design Engineering at UW


Jasmine Chan
M.A.Sc Student (Jan 2019-Sept 2020)

​Mikaela MacMahon
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Sept 2018-Jan 2019)
President's award

Current position: Software Engineer at Google

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Cassandra Maxwell
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Sept 2018-Jan 2019)
URA award
Current position: Mechatronics Designer- MedAvail Technologies Inc.​

Anne Mei
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Sept 2020-Jan 2021)
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Furqan Syed
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Sept 2020-Jan 2021)

YanYan Tran 
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Sept 2020-Jan 2021)
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Muhammad Mohsin
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Sept 2020-Jan 2021)
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Amanda Hope
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Jan 2020-Apr 2020)

Maggie Zhang
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Jan 2020-Apr 2020)

Sheen Thusoo
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Jan 2020-Jan 2021)
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Karam Danial
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Jan 2020-Apr 2020)

Martin Le
Research Assistant, Co-op Student (Sept 2018- Jan 2020) 
URI award
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Serene Abu-Sardanah
Undergraduate Research Assistant (May 2019-Sept 2019)
Co-op Student (Sept 2019-Dec 2019) 

President's award ​



Chandu Subramaniam
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Sept 2019-Dec 2019)
Co-op Student (Sept 2019-Dec 2019) 

URA award
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James Tweel
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Sept 2019-Dec 2019)
URA award

Daniel Javaheri-Zadeh
​Undergraduate Research Assistant (Sept 2019-Dec 2019)
President's award
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Moujan Saderi 
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Sept 2019-Dec 2019)
URA award

Auguste Koh
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Sept 2019-Dec 2019)
URA award

John Quinto​
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Sept 2019-Dec 2019)
President's award

Aysegul Alpay 
Co-op Student (Sept 2018-Jan 2019)
URI award

Natasha Willis
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Sept 2019-Dec 2019)
President's award

Yun Kim
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Sept 2018-Jan 2019)
President's award

Bazil Lorenzo Sonier
Co-op Student (Sept 2018-May 2019)
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Amir Mohammad Farzaneh
​Visiting Scholar (May 2019-Aug 2019)
Ranked second in Iran National Exam ( more than 500,000 participants)
"Fight for your dreams and one day your dreams will fight for you!" Paulo Coelho
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​Biomedical Engineering
Systems Design Engineering
University of Waterloo

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  • Prof. Parsin H. Reza