Sossena Wood
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Sossena Wood received her bachelor’s of science in electrical engineering and her doctorate in bioengineering from the University of Pittsburgh. Her postdoctoral training was in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University as an inaugural Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow in Jana Kainerstorfer’s lab.
Her research is focused on developing a multi-modal, noninvasive hemodynamic imaging technique and data analysis to visualize and quantify the management and the treatment of vascular diseases with neural effects and neural disorders, especially sickle cell disease. Her lab investigates and evaluates cerebral health biomarkers in cerebrovascular disease populations using multi-modal hemodynamic and neural imaging with MRI, NIRS and EEG, including the neural pathways of pain and cognition. The focus is to contribute to the scientific community’s understanding as to why and how cerebrovascular disease changes cerebral health under various functional states (i.e., sleep, rest, cognition).
Using Medical Technology to Understand how Vascular Diseases Impact the Brain
Education
2018 Ph.D., Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh
2011 B.S., Electrical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh
Media mentions
CMU Engineering
Exploring how melanin influences clinical oxygen measurements
CMU study explores the influence of melanin on near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), an optical tool that leverages light-tissue interaction to measure changes in hemoglobin concentration and oxygenation.
Pittsburgh Business Times
Wood featured in Pittsburgh Business Times
BME’s Sossena Wood was recently featured in Pittsburgh Business Times’ “20 People to Know in Engineering” series. Wood is focused on developing and designing medical devices that detect neurological damage and/or diseases.
BME/ECE faculty proposal selected for Facebook research grant
BME’s Jana Kainerstorfer and Sossena Wood and ECE’s Pulkit Grover have received a research ground from Facebook’s Engineering Approaches to Responsible Neural Interface Design program. Their research is focused on racially inclusive optical technology.