LII Staff Members

Kevin D. Evans, PhD is Professor and Director of the Laboratory for Investigatory Imaging.  Dr. Evans started the lab in 2007 and has had consistent funding from federal and state agencies, as well as private foundations.  As a PI or co-PI, Dr. Evans has been working on novel cardiovascular disease assessment measures, fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, and capturing imaging data and reduce musculoskeletal injuries.  Dr. Evans is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography.  He is also the past Chair of the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers and the past President of the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers and Educational Foundation. Currently, Dr. Evans has several ongoing funded projects that focus on cardiovascular disease and survey research into sonographer and sonologist health and well-being.

Huriah Al Sultan, MS, RRT, RRT-NPS, RRT-ACCS, Assistant Lab Director, is completing her PhD in Health & Rehabilitation Sciences.  Huriah has expertise in respiratory therapy and work experience at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.  Huriah has experience in Saudi Arabian hospitals and the medical college which will be invaluable as we continue to work to find diagnostic methods for assessing COVID-19 survivors.  Huriah will be focusing her pediatric experience on ways for our team to diagnosis issues of “long haul” COVID in adults and children. Huriah will be working with the MRT students as well as becoming an expert in lung ultrasound.  Huriah’s doctoral research will revolve around the factors that are making diverse pediatric populations at risk for COVID-19 and its many variants. Huriah is working on a prospective study of young adults with lingering COVID-19.

Katie Crane, BS, SPT is a new PhD student in our lab and brings a wealth of physiologic testing experience.  Katie is completing her Doctorate in Physical Therapy at OSU and as a dual degree student will transition to our work.   Katie earned her BS degree in Exercise Science from the University of Akron.  Her research interests focus on optimizing human movement to acheive the best outcomes, exploring aspects such as movement mechanics for sports performance and effective training from both the musculoskeletal and physical therapy perspectives. Katie is joining the WRMSD longitudinal survey project which is going to help her enhance our participants’ ergonomic practices and reduce work risk for injury. Katie brings a deep passion for sports to her work as a researcher.  Katie has a background as a dancer, cheerleader, soccer and basketball player. Outside of academics, she enjoys photography (good for sonography!), baking, and she is currently learning to play the piano! We feel very lucky to add Katie to our team for evaluating our COVID kids.

This year, Robert McIntyre, a senior in Biology and the pre-med curriculum, is taking a very active role in the lab.  Rob is working over the summer of 2024, as a research technician and will be instrumental in completing a systematic review with Huriah.  This literature review will likely be a scoping review of the information that is available on young adults coping with “long COVID” symptoms.   Rob is originally from New Jersey. He currently a member the OSU Financial Literacy for  Youth Club and Kappa Delta Rho fraternity.  Rob was chosen by his fraternity to  serve as the Academic Chair. During his free time, he enjoys golfing, relaxing at the beach, and hanging out with his friends and family. Rob is working on the COVID-19 scoping review.

Menglin Xu, PhD  will be continuing to provide our lab with biostatistical support. Dr. Xu is an OSU graduate of the statistics department and has an appointment within the OSU Wexner Medical Center.  Dr. Xu is providing key statistical analysis for our cardiovascular screening research on adults and also our simulation assessment data collection. Recently Dr. Xu was invited to join the Editorial Board of the Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography as a volunteer statistical consultant.   Dr. Xu’s readiness to provide consultation on specific original research manuscripts is part of the growth of the journal.  We are thrilled to have Dr. Xu as part of our team!!

Jenia Patel is a returning sophomore at Ohio State, where she is majoring in Mechanical Engineering.  Jen has been actively involved in working with participants who are consented to our lab and provides them with information and incentives, as appropriate.  This fall, Jen was actively involved in the piloting of our prospective COVID survivor study and she handled all the participant’s incentives and paperwork.  Jen has also show an amazing talent for scanning vascular anatomy, so she can also critic images,we create as part of our studies.  We feel extremely fortunate to have Jenia, as part of our research team!! Jen will be supporting the next phase of testing the articulated arm for cardiac sonographers.

We are indeed happy to stay in contact with Jayen Patel, who as a senior will be complete a series of internships, as part of completing his  bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.  Jay had this to say about working in the LII, “My employers and coworkers have considered me to be team-oriented, a considerate communicator, and driven at a high level. Working with Dr. Evans on projects in an opportunity that I am extremely grateful for and I hope that my background experience and studies can provide value and a unique perspective to the team.”   Jay is Jenia’s brother and worked most of the last academic year in our lab.  Jay has an amazing ability to scan participants and was also involved in the OBWC funded project on the cardiac arm assistant project.  We look forward to Jay returning to the lab in January 2025.  Looks like he might have to assist his sister at work!!!

Volunteers

We are so excited to welcome Andra Leary, as a volunteer in the LII.  Andra is a second-year student at Ohio State, majoring in biology and planning to attend medical school after graduation. Andra’s goal for volunteering in our lab is to gain relevant research experience while also expanding her knowledge of the human body.  She is a native West Virginian, but Ohio has been her home for many years now.  Andra is a member of the Ohio State boxing club and Youth for STEM Equity club. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking for her family and watching movies.  Andra is poised for greatness, as she follows in the footsteps of our amazing past pre-med students!!

 

Admininstrative Support

Adam C. Clouser, BA is our building and administrative manager for Atwell Hall.  Adam has been working with Dr. Evans for many years and is well aquainted with the work of the LII.  He  is a major support in taking care of overhead costs and support. Adam is a OSU karate instructor in his spare time and has competed internationally.

Join our exciting team of researchers: Contact Dr. Evans at Evans.36@osu.edu