About

| Me

Self-motivated scientist, entrepreneur, and creative problem solver with a broad range of software, mechanical, and electrical engineering abilities. Excellent at data collection, analysis, and visualization. Effectively communicates technical concepts and clear solutions to a diverse audience. Able to collaborate and lead a team in achieving important goals and optimized results. Committed to the development of novel new technologies and devices for the improvement of human health and quality of life.

Education

| honors

Duke University Durham, NC

Ph.D. Candidate, Biomedical Engineering, Prof. Martin P. Tornai, Thesis Advisor, July 2010 (expected)

M.S. Biomedical Engineering, Sept. 2008

Principle Investigator for a Department of Defense Breast Cancer Pre-Doctoral 3-year Fellowship
National Institute of Health Imaging 2-year Training Grant

Brigham Young University Provo, UT

B.S. Electrical/Computer Engineering, April 2004, GPA 3.8/4.0

Full tuition undergraduate scholarships

Experience

| what I've done

Duke University Medical Center Durham, NC
Research Assistant in SPECT-CT Imaging
2004 - Present

Designed and developed a compact 3-D breast imaging SPECT-CT system that is currently moving into initial clinical trials and being spun-off into a commercial company
Implemented innovative laser-guided automation hardware and software algorithms that decreased patient imaging time by more than 10 minutes while improving image quality and patient comfort
Collaborated with advisor and scientists to draft and edit a successful $4 Million NIH research proposal
Catalyzed the commercialization of an immunoassay sensor with a team of MBA and PhD candidates, researching markets, writing a business plan, and winning seed funding for the start-up company
- Winner of the 2009 Duke Engineering Grand Challenges Business Plan Competition and 2009 Duke Start-up Challenge in Health Track
- Co-authored over 20 (5 first author) journal publications and conference proceedings

Coherex Medical, Inc. Salt Lake City, UT

Research and Development Intern
May - Aug 2006

Aided in testing and development of a self-expanding stent for closure of cardiac septal defects that was recently CE Marked for distribution in Europe
Led product development of a cardiac RF generator enclosure with a touch screen display

L-3 Communications Salt Lake City, UT

Test Engineer
May - Aug 2004

Tested, debugged, and repaired advanced integrated circuit boards and networking equipment
Developed testing procedures for high-speed data communication systems for military aircrafts

Publications

| PhD = lots of writing

Papers in Press, Submitted, or in Preparation (In order of Authors, Year)

CN Brzymialkiewicz, MP Tornai, RL McKinley, SJ Cutler, JE Bowsher,"Performance of dedicated emission mammotomography for various breast shapes and sizes," Phys Med Biol, vol. 51, pp. 5051-64, 2006.

P Madhav, JE Bowsher, CN Brzymialkiewicz, SJ Cutler, MP Tornai. "Characterizing the MTF in 3D for a quantized SPECT camera having arbitrary trajectories." Submitted to IEEE Trans Nucl Sci.

SJ Cutler, KL Perez, MP Tornai. "Observer detection limits for a dedicated SPECT breast imaging system." Accepted for publication in Phys Med Biol

SJ Cutler, CN Brzymialkiewicz, MP Tornai. "Investigating the Effects of Energy Resolution in Dedicated Emission Mammotomography." In preparation for IEEE Trans Nucl Sci.

Conference Proceedings (In order of Authors, Year)

MP Tornai, CN Brzymialkiewicz, SJ Cutler, P Madhav. "Comparison of scintimammography and dedicated emission mammotomography." Presented at the 2004 IEEE Nucl. Sci. Symposium & Med. Imaging Conference, Rome, Italy, 16-22 Oct. 2004, and published in IEEE Conference Record NSS/MIC, 4:2818-2822.

MP Tornai, RL McKinley, CN Brzymialkiewicz, P Madhav, SJ Cutler, DJ Crotty, JE Bowsher, E Samei, CE Floyd. "Design and development of a fully-3D dedicated x-ray computed mammotomography system." Presented at the 2005 SPIE Medical Imaging Conference, San Diego, CA, 12-18 Feb. 2005, and published in Proc. SPIE: Physics of Medical Imaging, 5745:189-197.

SJ Cutler, CN Brzymialkiewicz, MP Tornai. "Investigating the Effects of Energy Resolution in Dedicated Emission Mammotomography." Presented at the 2005 Nucl. Sci. Symp. & Med. Imag. Conf., San Juan, Puerto Rico, 23-29 Oct. 2005, and published in 2005 IEEE Conference Record NSS/MIC, 2537-2541.

P Madhav, CN Brzymialkiewicz, SJ Cutler, JE Bowsher, MP Tornai. "Characterizing the MTF in 3D for a quantized SPECT camera having arbitrary trajectories." Presented at the 2005 IEEE Nucl. Sci. Symposium & Med. Imaging Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 23-29 Oct. 2005, and published in IEEE Conference Record NSS/MIC, 1722-1726.

E Dura, P Madhav, SJ Cutler, TG Turkington, MP Tornai. "Initial comparison of registration and fusion of CmT-SPECT mammotomography images." Presented at the 2006 SPIE Medical Imaging Conference, San Diego, CA, 11-16 Feb. 2006, and published in Proc. SPIE: Physics of Medical Imaging, 6142:1036-1045.

SJ Cutler, KL Perez, MP Tornai. "3-D Contrast-Detail Analysis for Dedicated Emission Mammotomography." Presented at the 2006 Nucl. Sci. Symp. & Med. Imag. Conf., San Diego, CA, 29 Oct. " 4 Nov. 2006, and published in IEEE Conference Record NSS/MIC, 5: 2954 " 2958.

SJ Cutler, DJ Crotty, P Madhav, KL Perez, MP Tornai. "Comparison of reduced angle and fully 3D acquisition sequencing and trajectories for dual-modality mammotomography." Presented at the 2007 IEEE Nucl. Sci. Symposium & Med. Imaging Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, 28 Oct.-3 Nov. 2007 and published in IEEE Conference Record NSS/MIC, 6:4044-4050.

KL Perez, SJ Cutler, and MP Tornai, "Empirical effects of angular sampling and background content on image quality in dedicated breast SPECT," Presented at the 2007 IEEE Nucl. Sci. Symposium & Med. Imaging Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, 28 Oct.-3 Nov. 2007 and published in IEEE Conference Record NSS/MIC. 4:3065-3069.

P Madhav, DJ Crotty, KL Perez, SJ Cutler, RL McKinley, TZ Wong, MP Tornai. "Initial patient study with dedicated dual-modality SPECT-CT mammotomography." Presented at the 2007 IEEE Nucl. Sci. Symposium & Med. Imaging Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, 28 Oct.-3 Nov. 2007 and published in IEEE Conference Record NSS/MIC, 5:3781-3787.

Abstracts and Presentations (In order of Authors, Year)

SJ Cutler, CN Brzymialkiewicz, MP Tornai. "Investigating the Effects of Energy Resolution in Dedicated Emission Mammotomography." Presented at the 2006 Duke Graduate Student Research Day, Durham, NC, 5 Apr. 2006.

SJ Cutler, CN Brzymialkiewicz, P Madhav, MP Tornai. "A new approach to 3D molecular breast imaging with dedicated emission mammotomography." Presented at the Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center Annual Meeting, Durham, NC, 10 Apr. 2006, 105-106.

MP Tornai, CN Brzymialkiewcz, RL McKinley, JE Bowsher, E Samei, P Madhav, SJ Cutler, DJ Crotty, CE Floyd. "3D molecular breast imaging." Presented at Duke Frontiers 2005, Durham, NC, 10 May, 2005.

P Madhav, SJ Cutler, RL McKinley, MP Tornai. "MTF characterization of 3D volumetric breast imaging systems with dedicated emission and dedicated transmission computed mammotomography." Presented at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering T32 Grant Meeting, Washington, D.C. 16 Jun. 2006.

DJ Crotty, P Madhav, KL Perez, SJ Cutler, RL McKinley, T Wong, PK Marcom, MP Tornai. "3D molecular breast imaging with dedicated emission mammotomography: results of the first patient study." Presented at the Duke University Center for Molecular and Biomolecular Imaging Meeting, Durham, NC, 11-13 March, 2007 and Duke Frontiers 2007, Durham, NC, 14 May, 2007.

P Madhav, DJ Crotty, SJ Cutler, KL Perez, RL McKinley, MP Tornai. "A novel dual-modality SPECT-CT system dedicated to 3D volumetric breast imaging." Presented at the Duke University Center for Molecular and Biomolecular Imaging Meeting, Durham, NC, 11-13 March, 2007 and Duke Frontiers 2007, Durham, NC, 14 May, 2007.

MP Tornai, P Madhav, DJ Crotty, SJ Cutler, RL McKinley, KL Perez, JE Bowsher. "Initial hybrid SPECT-CT system for dedicated fully-3D breast imaging." Presented at the 2007 Society of Nuclear Medicine Meeting, Washington, DC, 2-6 Jun. 2007.

MP Tornai, P Madhav, DJ Crotty, SJ Cutler, RL McKinley, KL Perez, JE Bowsher. "Application of volumetric molecular breast imaging with a dedicated SPECT-CT mammotomograph." Presented at the 2007 American Association of Physicists in Medicine Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, 22-26 Jul. 2007.

P Madhav, SJ Cutler, DJ Crotty, KL Perez, RL McKinley, MP Tornai. "3D volumetric breast imaging with a dedicated dual-modality SPECT-CT system." Presented at the 2007 Duke Biomedical Engineering Retreat, Myrtle Beach, SC, 7-9 Oct. 2007.

DJ Crotty, P Madhav, SJ Cutler, KL Perez, RL McKinley, MP Tornai, "Performance of a new dual-modality molecular-anatomical imaging system dedicated to breast cancer." Presented at the 2008 Duke Cancer Center Annual Meeting, Durham, NC, 10 Mar. 2008.

P Madhav, SJ Cutler, DJ Crotty, KL Perez, RL McKinley, PK Marcom, TZ Wong, MP Tornai. "Dedicated molecular and anatomical breast imaging " initial patient studies." Presented at the 2008 Duke Cancer Center Annual Meeting, Durham, NC, 10 Mar. 2008.

Contact

| get in touch