Dr. Cathy Helgason is a tenured Professor of Neurology and Director of Cerebrovascuular Services at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Dr Helgason graduated from the University of Iceland Medical School, completed a Residency in Neurology at the University of Chicago, and a Fellowship in Cerebrovascular Disease at Michael Reese Hospital, and in Electrophysiology at Rush Presbyterian Saint Luke's Hospital.
Dr. Hegason is certified in Neurology and Vascular Neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
Dr Helgason's area of research has evolved from strictly clinical research to that involving modeling complex non linear living systems, specifically that of the single patient, using fuzzy theory and artificial adaptive systems. In 1993 and 1994 Dr Helgason and her colleagues described in detail the phenomenon of different response to the effect of aspirin in different individual patients and the development of decreased response and increasing dosage requirement over time in some and the complete loss of response in other patients. This research has continued and is now focused on the genetic requirements for aspirin response. As continued focus on the individual patient and his/her specific requirements for effective therapy, Dr Helgason has defined a way to measurably compare patients. She has also defined the measures necessary to test the null hypothesis using fuzzy theory. Further research in this area is under progess to define the dynamic of disease and response to therapy unique to each patient. Her work has received special recognition in the engineering community and most recently at the Paul Ehrlich II Conference held in Nurnberg, Germany, the theme of which was The Magic Bullet, a concept most appreciated in the fields of oncology and infectious disease. She is a member of IEEE Systems Man and Cybernetics Board of Governors, North American Fuzzy Information Processing Society Board of Governors, and serves on the editorial board of numerous peer reviewed journals in medicine and soft computing. Dr Helgason's clinical practice is a busy one, with a main focus on stroke, and is located at UIC.
Helgason CM, Jobe TH: Fuzzy logic and Continuous Cellular Automata Permit a Measure of Unique Action to Describe and Predict the Differences in Clinical Response of Individual Stroke Patients to Therapy with Warfarin. Current Treatment Options in Cardiovascular Medicine 2005; 7: 211-218
Jobe TH, Lopez F, Helgason C: A Fuzzy Theory of Cortical Computation: Neuropoietic Engrams, Fuzzy Hypercubes, and the Nature of Consciousness. Med Hypothesis 2006; 66: 121-132
Momary KM, Nutescu EA, Shapiro NL, Viana MA, Helgason CM, Cavallari L. Vitamin K epoxide reductase complex 1 polymorphism and warfarin dose in African Americans. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2006;79:P32.
Helgason CM: Thrombophilia in Ischemic Stroke Subtypes: Implications for Treatment. Current Treatment Options in Cardiovascular Medicine 2006, 8(3):259-266.
Cavallari LH, Helgason CM, Brace LD, Viana, MA, Nutescu EA. Sex differences in the antiplatelet effect of aspirin after stroke. Ann Pharmacother 2006 Apr 11;812-817.
Helgason CM, Jobe TH: Stroke is a Dynamic Process Best Captured Using a Fuzzy Logic Based Scientific Approach to Information and Causation. IC –Med 2007:1: 1-6.
Taber R, Yager RR, Helgason CM: Quantization Effects on the Equilibrium Behavior of Combined Fuzzy Cognitive Maps. International Journal of Intelligent Systems 2007; 22: 181-202.
Helgason CM, Jobe TH Fuzzy Measures of Symmetry Breaking of Conditions, Similarity, and Comparison: Non Statistical Information for the Single Patient . Open Acess Cybernetics & Systemics 2008; 2: 11-19.
Helgason CM, Grossi E, Pandey D, Valika A, Cursio JA, Brace LD: Platelet Aggregation and Recruitment with Aspirin –Clopidogrel Therapy. Cerebrovascular Dis 2008; 189: accessible on line at www. Karger.com/ced. In Press for paper edition. 2008; 25: 392-400.
Helgason CM, Jobe TH: Measurable Prediction for the Single Patient and the Results of Large Double Blind Controlled Randomized Trials. PLos One, 2008: April 1, 2008 edition, on line open access publication.