Ishan Vatsaraj Awarded AHA Pre-Doctoral Fellowship

Ishan Vatsaraj, in the Trayanova lab, has been awarded an American Heart Association (AHA) Pre-Doctoral Fellowship for his project entitled, AI-ECG analysis for screening comorbidities and evaluating risk of recurrence in AF patients. ‍

The project will develop and validate an artificial intelligence–enabled electrocardiography (AI-ECG) platform as a non-invasive tool for comprehensive AF care. This project draws on Ishan's previous AI/ML and computational modeling experience. Using large multi-center datasets of patients undergoing ablation, paired with electrocardiograms, electroanatomical maps, and detailed clinical profiles, Ishan and his colleagues will train and test advanced deep learning models to address three objectives, namely: 1) identify the extent and distribution of low-voltage areas (LVAs), 2) extend AI-ECG analysis to predict AF recurrence and time to recurrence after ablation, and 3) develop multimodal AI-ECG models that integrate clinical covariates to detect comorbidities such as obstructive sleep apnea, diabetes, and atrial functional mitral regurgitation, and evaluate their contribution to recurrence risk.
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The award will help support his doctoral studies with $35k/year for two years.