Kumar Abhishek

I am a PhD student in the Medical Image Analysis Lab (MIAL), where I work on developing and applying computer vision and machine learning algorithms to interpret medical images.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO COME TO SFU?

During my undergraduate studies at IIT Guwahati in India as well as during my employment after that, I had worked in the areas of image processing and computer vision. I wanted to expand my knowledge in these areas and given SFU's stellar reputation in visual computing research, I chose to pursue graduate studies here. Professor Ghassan Hamarneh's research in medical image processing was particularly interesting to me because of its potential impact on healthcare in the real world, and therefore I joined SFU for an MSc degree in Fall 2018. I obtained my MSc degree in Spring 2020, and decided to pursue a PhD degree in the same lab under his supervision.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR RESEARCH OR YOUR PROGRAM TO A FAMILY MEMBER?

The primary focus of my research has been on medical image analysis for dermatological applications, particularly, skin cancer detection. My MSc thesis research was on novel algorithms for improved and robust skin lesion segmentation from images, which I have continued to work on during my PhD. I am also interested in a number of other problems involving other medical imaging modalities (such as X-Ray and PET) and I am presently working on using deep learning to predict the clinical management decisions for diseases. Instead of predicting the clinical diagnosis, I am investigating the viability and the utility of predicting the clinical management decisions directly from images.

WHAT ARE YOU PARTICULARLY ENJOYING ABOUT YOUR STUDIES/RESEARCH AT SFU?

The members of MIAL are an amazing group of people to work with, and I am really appreciative of how supportive and helpful my supervisor and my colleagues from MIAL are, which makes seeking help and collaborating on projects from other areas a great experience. Our lab also has collaborations with hospitals and research centers outside SFU, which again helps with expertise from different domains. Finally, the School of Computing Science in general has a great sense of community.

HAVE YOU BEEN THE RECIPIENT OF ANY MAJOR OR DONOR-FUNDED AWARDS? IF SO, PLEASE TELL US WHICH ONES AND A LITTLE ABOUT HOW THE AWARDS HAVE IMPACTED YOUR STUDIES AND/OR RESEARCH.

Yes, I have received the Special Graduate Entrance Scholarship, the Computing Science Graduate Fellowship, the Borden Ladner Gervais Graduate Scholarship, and the Brian J. Blaha Memorial Graduate Scholarship in Computing Science. I am deeply grateful for these scholarships as they have been immensely helpful and have allowed me to focus more on my research.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PROGRAM/POSTDOC POSITION TO SOMEONE STILL SEARCHING FOR A PROGRAM OR POSTDOC POSITION?

The PhD program in Computing Science at SFU offers great exposure to diverse research areas through a wide variety of courses as well as research labs working on different topics. The faculty members are very supportive and always reachable for help with research, and there are numerous opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborations.

Contact Kumar: kabhishe@sfu.ca