Chulhong Kim

Trans-energy imaging modalities have been significantly explored to overcome existing problems in conventional imaging modalities with respect to spatial/temporal resolutions, penetration depth, signal-to-noise ratio, contrast, and so on. Among them, photoacoustic imaging, an emerging hybrid modality that can provide strong endogenous and exogenous optical absorption contrasts with high ultrasonic spatial resolution, has overcome the fundamental depth limitation while keeping the spatial resolution. The image resolution, as well as the maximum imaging depth, is scalable with ultrasonic frequency within the reach of diffuse photons. In this presentation, the following topics will be discussed; (1) multiscale and multiparametric trans-energy imaging systems, (2) novel deep-learning powered image processing, (3) recent clinical study results, and (4) efforts to commercialization.

Biography:

Dr. Chulhong Kim studied for his Ph.D. degree and postdoctoral training under Prof. Lihong Wang at Washington University in St. Louis. He currently holds Mueunjae Chair Professorship of Electrical Engineering, Convergence IT Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology in the Republic of Korea. He is the Director of the Medical Device Innovation Center at POSTEH supported by the Ministry of Education. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of Opticho Inc., a spinoff company to commercialize the preclinical and clinical photoacoustic imaging systems. He was the recipient of the 2020-2021 IEEE EMBS Distinguished Lecturer, the 2017 IEEE EMBS Early Career Achievement Award, the 2017 KAST Young Scientist Award, the 2016 Nightingale Award from IFMBE, etc. He has published 152 peer-reviewed journal articles (Nat. Nanotech., Nat. Mat., Light Science & Applications, Cancer Research, Radiology, IEEE T. Medical Imaging, etc). His Google Scholar h-index and citations have reached 53 and over 10,600, respectively. His group’s works have been selected for 2016, 2017, and 2019 Seno Medical Best Paper Award Finalists in Photons Plus Ultrasound Conference (Photonics West, SPIE), the 2020 Hitachi High-tech Best Presentation Award in High-Speed Imaging and Spectroscopy Conference (Photonics West, SPIE), and the 2020 Microscopy Today Innovation Award. He has currently served as a Section Editor of Photoacoustics Journal (premier journal in the field, IF 5.87), an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, a Topical Editor of IEEE Access, and an Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports, Applied Science, Sensors, etc. He is also elected as a member of the Young Korean Academy of Science and Technology (Y-KAST).