Nov. 28, 2023

Mary York

Hi all, I’m Mary. I’m from Lonedell, a small rural town in eastern Missouri. I went into my undergraduate degree with a passion for biology and helping others. Towards the end of my degree I realized how important and abundant data is in modern biological research. So, I decided to go into a computationally heavy M.S. degree with no computational background, and it stuck! My master’s thesis was aimed at improving the classification of Alzheimers disease status from MRS derived data by using Bayesian networks to simulate new observations. I made connections in the Bioinformatics and Analytics Core throughout my…

Nov. 28, 2023

Deshan Wattegama

Deshan Wattegama is a Ph.D. student in the IDAS lab following a health informatics Ph.D. program. He worked as a senior software engineer for over 4 years and has domain knowledge in supply chain management, stock brokering, etc. He is interested in the usage of blockchain and AI in healthcare systems and using VR, and AR technologies to improve the quality of healthcare systems.

Nov. 28, 2023

Joseph Soundararajan

I am a Ph.D. student with experience in biological and data science. As a graduate student, currently in training to use tools to increase biomedical productivity and improve the impact of our research on improving public health. As an undergraduate, my research included the possible role of vitamin E in the regeneration of testicular tissue in zebrafish after injury. As such, I have experience working with animal models, including zebrafish and mice. Currently at Mizzou, I am working with Dr. Dong Xu on using GNN (graphical Neural Networks) in analyzing and visualizing large sets of single-cell RNA data. This methods…

Nov. 28, 2023

Md Kamruz Zaman Rana

Md Kamruz Zaman Rana, a Biomedical Informatics Software Engineer at the University of Missouri, is concurrently advancing his studies with a doctoral degree in Health Informatics at the MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics. Prior to his current role, Rana accrued significant experience as a graduate research assistant over a period of 3.5 years. Additionally, he holds a Master of Science in Medical Informatics and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering. Rana boasts an impressive professional background, with 3 years in web and mobile application development, later progressing to become the lead Android developer at Rankmylist…

Nov. 28, 2023

Polycarp Nalela

I have a Bachelors degree in Science Technology, Masters degree in Biotechnology, and currently pursing a PhD in Informatics. I have worked with data especially analytics for over 10 years. Initially, I started with R analyzing data from breeding trials such as genotype by environment (G&E); genome wide association studies (GWAS); and population genomics. As I advanced my analysis of big and complex data and taking advanced courses in statistics, genomics, databases, machine learning, data mining, and cloud computing, I found myself learning other programing languages (Python, SQL, Bash, C++, and JS) that I now apply in routine workflows. I…

Nov. 27, 2023

Farzaneh Esmaili

Farzaneh is currently pursuing her PhD in Bioinformatics at the University of Missouri, building on her previous master’s degree in Software and IT Engineering from Iran. Known for her vibrant energy and passion for coding, her famous phrase “I’m coding and doing awesome” encapsulates her lifelong dedication to technology and innovation. Beyond academia, she finds joy in outdoor activities and dance, embodying an active lifestyle. Her passion lies at the intersection of AI and its applications in bioinformatics. With a solid foundation in natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision, she is driven by the conviction that AI can significantly…

Nov. 27, 2023

Yibo Chen

Second year PhD student.

Nov. 27, 2023

Christopher Algire

Chris is a PhD student at the University of Missouri’s Institute for Data Science and Informatics. His research interests explore the intersection of Informatics and machine learning. He seeks to advance machine learning algorithms through novel methods using a multi-disciplinary approach, with an emphasis on the role of Informatics in optimizations and representations. His previous experience in industry and government focused on multi-modal data fusion. He implemented agent-based systems and evolutionary algorithms at IBM before working on NLP applications. He also implemented high-performance architectures which resulted in distributed systems for the algorithms he developed. Chris also managed and led a…

Nov. 27, 2023

Mohammad Beheshti

I’m a Health Informatician and PhD student in Health Informatics, specializing in data analytics and data science, with a keen focus on clinical and population data analysis. Currently, I’m a Graduate Research Assistant at the Missouri Cancer Registry and Research Center, where I collaborate closely with the database team to perform the ETL process for cancer data collected from across the state of Missouri. My work also involves building predictive models and utilizing data to enhance patient outcomes. I’m deeply passionate about using data to drive positive changes in healthcare.