Innovation Medicine Program (IMED)

Sohil Amin was born in Baltimore, Maryland and was raised in Saint Charles, a western suburb of Chicago. He went to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and graduated in 2020, majoring in Bioengineering and minoring in Chemistry. While at UIUC, he conducted undergraduate research in a micro- and nanotechnology lab, looking to develop a graphene-based sensor to detect DNA at small resolutions. He also worked as data analytics intern at Carle Hospital in Urbana. Sohil is excited to join IMED with the aim to findsolutions for real-world clinical problems with a combined engineering and medical approach. In his free time, Sohil enjoys swimming, watching sports and catching up on the news.

Yusairah grew up in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. She went on to graduate from Illinois Institute of Technology with a major in Biomedical Engineering. As part of her senior design project, she worked with Medline to design a female external catheter. After graduation, Yusairah worked as a research engineer at Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center where she conducted quality control tests on MRI scans. She is excited to bring these skills to IMED and further develop her interests in both medicine and innovation.

Rohan Bhattaram was born and raised in Kildeer, IL, a northwest suburb of Chicago.He attended the University of Illinois at Chicago where he graduated with a B.A.in General Psychology in 2019. His honors senior capstone project concerned the relationship between religiousness and stigma towards mental health counseling inthe South Asian community, especially among college-aged adults. Rohan then moved to London to pursue a M.Sc.in International Health Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science, which he graduated from in 2020. Rohan has interned at Consilium Scientific, a non-profit health policy organization, where he conducted research for his dissertation, which was an appraisal of the methodological quality of solid tumor cancer trials. Rohan has also interned at IQVIA, working in cancer drug development consulting with clients such as Pfizer and Myovant. Through IMED, Rohan aims to expand his learning in bioengineering and physician innovation. He intends to bridge gaps in health equity through technological advancements and entrepreneurship endeavors. In his free time, Rohan likes to read Indian philosophy and bike around Chicago for the next best coffee spot.

Katie Buzenius lives in downtown Chicago with her husband and daughter. She is an owner of Midwest Blood, a company providing blood management services in the Chicagoland Area. She started working clinically as an autotransfusionist in surgery while obtaining her business degree. She joined multiple transfusion organizations to improve the quality of perioperative transfusions. Through these organizations, she helped develop national standards, perform perioperative assessments for healthcare facilities, and extend educational opportunities to clinical technicians. Within the private sector, she has advised transfusion tech companies as well as consulted for clinical teams. Providing patient care motivated her to continue her educational journey to become a doctor. She completed her Masters of Science in Medical Physiology in 2019 at the University of Illinois in Chicago and is now enrolled there as a medical student. With the help of IMED and her previous business experiences, Katie hopes to developand implement innovative solutions within transfusion medicine. When she is not studying, youwill find her traveling with her family in a small van named TIFF, looking for places to go rock climbing.

Chris was born and raised in Elmhurst, IL. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an Evans Scholar where he studied Chemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology. Chris’ interest in technology began in his time as an undergraduate researcher in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, during which he developed a protocol for distinguishing real signals from spectral artifacts. Chris then took a hiatus from his research pursuits to learn about device quality as an intern at AbbVie Inc, gaining insights about the regulatory world and how medical devices and combination products are supported on a day-to-day basis. He later accepted a full-time position at AbbVie as a quality chemist. Chris is excited to build upon his previous experiences through the IMED program and contribute to the next generation of medical technology as a clinician. In his free time, Chris enjoys playing guitar.

After growing up in River Forest, IL, Alex attended Northwestern University where he earned a B.S.in Biomedical Engineering and minored in Global Health. During college, in addition to a summer research assistant position at UIC and R&D internships at Baxter Healthcare, Alex worked on multiple projects designing technological solutions for low-resource environments. After college, he gained valuable experience as the director of product development at a nascent medical device startup aiming to preemptively detect kidney injury in the ICU. Following that role, Alex then became the Grants and Operations Lead at Briteseed, LLC, a startup developing advanced laparoscopic and robotic surgical technologies, where he managed federally funded research projects and oversaw much of the user-centered design process for the company’s surgical tools. Alex is excited to combine his interests in healthcare innovation and addressing healthcare disparities with his career as a physician.Outside of school, Alex is an avid baker and soccer player and loves spending time outdoors.

Victoria Marino was born and raised in San Diego, California. She transferred to Harvey Mudd from Palomar College, a community college in San Marcos, California and earned a B.S. in Engineering with a concentration in Spanish. Past research experience includes research at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (genetics lab), Cornell-Rockefeller-Sloan Kettering (neurobiological lab) and in HMC’s bioengineering department as part of the Engman Fellowship Program. Other project involvement includes work on projects for Intuitive Surgical and Nike Inc. She worked as a medical scribe in the Emergency Room and Family Practice. She enjoys spending time with family and all things athletic.

Faisal Masood was born in Pakistan but moved to Illinois at the age of four. He graduated in May 2020 from theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he attained his B.S. in bioengineering with a minor in chemistry. Throughout his time as an undergraduate, Faisal was passionate about using technology and his engineering background to lessen educational disparities in his community. Early on in his undergraduate career, he noticed that a local school lacked the necessary funds to provide complete skeletal models to their anatomy classes. He worked with a group of peers to develop a pipeline to convert MRI scans into 3D printed anatomy models. This group he co-founded also delivered lectures on engineering and hosted 3D printing workshops as a means to spark a love of learning in the local, rural community. Faisal was also heavily involved in tissue engineering researchand further exercised his love of teaching and education as a laboratory assistant for a cell and tissue engineering lab. A strong proponent of education and lessening educational disparities, Faisal is confident that IMED will provide him an additional platform to foster collaboration with like-minded individuals. He is excited to further develop his design and entrepreneurial skills. Apart from his studies, Faisal loves to play guitar, experiment withnew recipes, and spend time with his loved ones.

Sneh Patel was raised in the suburbs of Chicago. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a B.A. in Chemistry. His senior capstone project was centered on an idea in memory research called future thinking. In his project, he analyzed how prediction outcomes affected memory. Sneh also is part of a research lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago that primarily focuses on pancreatic cancer. He is excited about joining IMED and learning the mindset of a physician focused on innovation. In his free time, Sneh enjoys playing basketball and listening to music.

Born and raised in Niles, a town on the outskirts of Chicago, Ryan moved to the East Coast to attend Boston College, where he majored in Biology and minored in Faith, Peace, and Justice. During his time at Boston College, Ryan was involved in preclinical research on cancer metabolism. Specifically, Ryan examined the effects of glucose and glutamine deprivation on the proliferation and metastasis of Glioblastoma Multiforme in mouse models. His responsibilities included intracerebral tumor implantation, drug/diet administration, and bioluminescence quantification, along with other data collection techniques. After graduation, Ryan transitioned to clinical research at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where he was the lead coordinator on a number of oncology-related clinical trials. Ryan’s spent most of his time coordinating an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Brigham’s Radiology and Urology Departments. The trial examined a novel drug delivery/diagnostic device, which is implanted locally into tumor lesions under MRI-guidance. As a member of IMED, Ryan hopes to continue working with interdisciplinary teams to find innovative solutions to real world problems. Apart from academia, Ryan enjoys hiking, traveling, and playing/watching soccer.

Chad Simon grew up in Buffalo Grove, a northwestern suburb of Chicago. After living in Israel for two years, he attended University of Maryland, where he graduated in 2020 with a degree in bioengineering. While at UMD, he was a member of the QUEST honors program, a co-curricular, three-year program consisting of engineering, business, and computer science students. In QUEST, he gained a variety of design and systems thinking skills through a number of projects, including consulting for a Maryland-based defense contractor. In addition to QUEST, he performed research in the Bio-inspired Advanced Manufacturing Lab, where he applied his love for 3D design and printing to develop a 3D cell sorting device. While in college, he worked with Stratasys and a Jerusalem-based hand surgeon to develop a 3D-printed hand model for surgical resident training. For his senior design project, he and his good friends partnered with a pediatrician at Children’s National to create a 3D-printed, adjustable cast design for infant clubfoot correction. Chad’s experiences throughout his education has led him to the IMED program, where he plans to hone his clinical need finding and innovation skills. In his free time, Chadloves to read, run, and watch movies.