Meet the Team
ACE LAB Research

Director
Dr Andrew Stephens
Andrew has over ten years of experience in the development of smart medical devices for optimising patient outcomes and streamlining medical care. His research expertise includes sensors and control systems, medical artificial intelligence, cardiovascular simulators, and embedded systems.
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Co Director, Head of Simulations
Dr Mehrdad Khamooshi
Dr Mehrdad Khamooshi is an emerging leader in cardiovascular and respiratory computational fluid dynamics (CFD), with over 5 years of postdoctoral experience. He is currently a Research Fellow at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), holds The Prince Charles Hospital Postdoctoral Fellowship, and leads simulation research at the Advanced Cardiovascular Engineering Laboratory (ACE LAB).He leads translational research in ECMO and VAD technologies that directly influence clinical practice and improve patient outcomes.
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Senior Research Fellow
Dr Navid Freidoonimehr
Dr Navid Freidoonimehr is a Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellow. He holds a PhD, MSc, and BSc in Mechanical Engineering, with a research focus on biofluid mechanics of the cardiovascular system. His interdisciplinary work integrates fluid mechanics, biomedical engineering, and clinical data to advance the understanding of cardiovascular function and disease. Dr Freidoonimehr's research aims to improve the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery diseases, with particular emphasis on coronary stenosis and microvascular spasm.

Research Fellow
Dr Avishka Wickramarachchi
Dr Avishka Wickramarachchi is postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Biomedical Technologies and is the lead expert mock circulatory loop researcher at the Advanced Cardiorespiratory Engineering laboratory. His research primarily focuses on developing novel device designs and improving clinical practice for patients suffering from cardiovascular and/or respiratory diseases. Avishka’s research takes many forms, including in silico cardiovascular models (lumped parameter and computational fluid dynamics modelling), in vitro benchtop simulators, and ex vivo hemocompatibility experiments. He has BEng Honours (2021) and PhD (2025) degrees from Monash University, with 10+ publications and 1 book chapter.

Research Associate
Madhu Dhamodarasamy
Madhu has a bachelor’s degree biomedical engineering and Masters in Engineering Management. She was previously President of Women in Engineering , Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers (IEEE) , in Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College and Project Coordinator (data and strategy) in VicWise, a non-government organisation empowering international students to achieve career goals through advocacy, collaboration, and support. Madhu is currently a Research Associate in the ACE LAB focusing on the development of in-vitro evaluation platforms, alongside her role as Team Lead of the international Heart Hackathon student team competition.
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PhD Student
Prashant Chand
Prashant is a PhD student at QUT, where his research focuses on advancing life-support technologies for critically ill patients. His doctoral work involves the development of an automated hybrid control and safety system for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) therapy, integrating physiological models with circuit-level feedback. With a background in mechanical engineering, Prashant's research interests span medical-wearable technology, cardiopulmonary support systems, and safety engineering in high-risk clinical environments. His current work also explores predictive tools to enhance early detection of ECMO-related complications, aiming to support clinicians in real-time decision-making.
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PhD Student
Emma Vande Wouwer
Emma Vande Wouwer is a PhD researcher at the ACE Laboratory, where she applies artificial intelligence to improve outcomes for patients on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO). She holds a BSc in Data Science & AI from Maastricht University, an MSc in Biomedical Engineering from Trinity College Dublin, and completed medical coursework at Maastricht.
Her work bridges clinical insight and technical innovation, with experience in AI pipelines for spine CT imaging (Maastro Clinic), cardiovascular signal analysis (St James’s Hospital Dublin), and NLP systems at APG Netherlands. She also led computer vision efforts for the award-winning Formula Trinity autonomous racing team and contributed to machine learning projects at Xpanse AI.

PhD Student
Joshua Lute
Joshua is a PhD student in the ACE LAB, creating a novel closed-loop cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) feedback device using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Joshua has a background in biomedical engineering, receiving a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering with a mechanical concentration. with research interests spanning wearable technology, brain-computer interface, neural engineering, and cardiovascular engineering.
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Artificial Heart Frontiers Program

AHFP Lead
Professor Shaun Gregory
Professor Shaun Gregory is a biomedical engineer with over a decade of experience in cardiovascular device development. His research focuses on translational cardiovascular engineering, with a particular emphasis on technologies that support or replace heart function. He is Director of the QUT Centre for Biomedical Technologies, Co-Director of the Artificial Heart Frontiers Program, and President of the International Society for Mechanical Circulatory Support. Professor Gregory is also the founder of the Heart Hackathon student innovation competition and leads the CardioRespiratory Engineering and Technology Laboratory.

Pump Design
Dr Jorge Amaya Catano
Dr Jorge Amaya Catano is a Research Fellow in the Artificial Heart Frontiers Program at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), where he leads the anatomical design, anatomical fitting, and validation of the MiniPump. He holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from QUT, as well as a Master’s and Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering. With a background that bridges industry and research, he has over five years of experience in mechanical engineering, including roles in advanced manufacturing, product design, and engineering leadership.
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Motor Design
Dr Yigit Karabulut
Yiğit KARABULUT received a B.Sc. degree (Hons.) from Ege University, İzmir, Turkey, in 2011, and an M.Sc. degree from Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey, in 2016. He completed a Ph.D. degree in electrical and electronics engineering at Ege University, İzmir, Turkey, in 2024. He is working as a research fellow at Artificial Heart Frontiers Program (AHFP) in Queensland University of Technology (QUT) now. His research interests include modelling, design, and controlling electrical machines.
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