Natalia Trayanova
Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine
PhD, FHRS, FAHA
Murray B. Sachs Endowed Chair
Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine
Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Trayanova holds the inaugural MurrayB. Sachs Professorship in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at JohnsHopkins University. She is also a Professor of Medicine at the Johns HopkinsSchool of Medicine, and a Professor of Applied Mathematics and Statistics. She envisioned,created, and directs the Alliance for CardiovascularDiagnostic and Treatment Innovation,a research enterprise aimed at bringing directly into the clinic innovativeengineering and AI approaches to cardiovascular health. She is also the Directorfor AI Research in Health and Medicine at Johns Hopkins University under the Data Science and AI Institute, where she is responsible for directingefforts across the university in developing and deploying AI applications that advancehealthcare delivery and improve patient outcomes. She also directs the ComputationalCardiology Laboratory.
Dr. Trayanova is internationallyrecognized as the leader in multi-scale computational modeling of whole heartelectrophysiology and arrhythmias. She has pioneered the development and use ofclinical-image-based digital twins of patient hearts that faithfully representthe functioning of the patient’s diseased organ. Using her first-of-their-kindpersonalized heart digital twins and deep learning approaches, Dr. Trayanova hasdeveloped new technologies for accurately predicting risk of cardiac arrest andfor the precise delivery of catheter ablation therapies in patients with heartrhythm disorders. For her pioneering work in computational cardiology, she has receivedNIH Director’s Pioneer Award. Herresearch output includes 450 published papers and book chapters. She haspublished extensively in the most prestigious journals, such as The Lancet,Nature Cardiovascular Medicine, Nature Communications, Nature BME, ScienceAdvances, Science TM, Physiological Reviews, Nature Reviews Cardiology, eLife,and others.
Dr. Trayanova’s technologicalinnovations are also ushering in newpersonalized approaches to heart health. She has developed digital-twin-guidedtreatment strategies for patients with complex cardiac rhythm disorders. Herseminal papers in Nature Biomedical Engineering in 2018 and 2019demonstrated, in prospective patient studies, the utility and significantbenefit of using personalized digital twins in the interventional management ofcardiac arrhythmias. The AI approaches developed by her team are far-reachingand aimed directly at improving patient outcomes and healthcare delivery. Shehas developed novel multi-modality deep learning approaches to predictpersonalized risk of sudden cardiac death in patients with different cardiacdiseases.
Dr. Trayanova is the inventor on numerous patents and patent applications filedworld-wide. In recognition of her innovation, she was named Fellow ofthe National Academy of Inventors in 2020. Trayanova’s work has received world-widerecognition, and she is the recipient of numerous honors and awards. In 2019, Dr. Trayanova was inducted in the Women ofTechnology International Hall of Fame, an honor conferredonly on 5women each year from around the world. Also in 2019, shereceived the Distinguished Scientist Award from Heart Rhythm Society. Thiswas followed by the Zipes Distinguished Award by the same society in 2020, andby the Gordon Moe Award by the Cardiac Electrophysiology Society in 2023. In2024 Trayanova was named the recipient of the Hodgkin-Huxley-Katz Award by thePhysiological Society. Trayanova has been named a Fellow of every American andEuropean clinical cardiology society, testifying to her impact in clinicalpractice. She is also a Fellow of AIMBE, BMES, IAMBE, and IUPS. She hasgiven over 370 invited lectures, majority of them keynotes or plenary lectures.Dr. Trayanova’s work has also received widespread media coverage and recognition, and she has also given a TEDx talk.