Principal Investigator
Nicholas S. Burris, M.D.
Dr. Burris is the Principal Investigator of our Group. Having trained and held leadership roles at top institutions such as UCSF and the U-Michigan, he now leads our efforts at UW–Madison. As PI, he supervises all projects, ensuring that the work produced by the group meets the highest academic and scientific standards. The group is designed to balance close mentorship and oversight with academic freedom and innovation, so that every researcher can grow, contribute, and take ownership of their work.
Research Staff & Postdoctoral Associates
Gregory W. Spahlinger, Ph.D.
Greg is a research analyst and Python developer supporting AAI-CTR’s analytics and software toolchain. He joined Dr. Burris’s team at the U-Michigan in 2021 and now contributes to recovery and statistical modeling of ascending-aorta measurements and to applications of vascular deformation mapping. He earned a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry from Michigan State University, where he combined computation and experiment to study lithium electrolyte reaction mechanisms.
Carlos A. Campello Jorge, M.D.
Dr. Campello is a physician–research fellow in Radiology. After earning his M.D. from the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT) and serving in the Brazilian Army, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the U-Michigan before joining AAI-CTR. His work applies advanced imaging biomarkers and statistical modeling to heritable aortopathies, including Marfan syndrome. He has co-authored publications in high-impact journals and received the RSNA Trainee Research Prize.
Yogesh Karnam, Ph.D.
Yogesh as a postdoctoral fellow develops clinically interpretable ML/DL tools for aortic disease, with emphasis on robust CT/MRI segmentation, statistical shape modeling, and surface-mapped biomarkers. He holds a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from George Mason University, where he integrated patient-specific CFD with intraoperative observations to study aneurysm growth and rupture. In industry at Abiomed (now J&J MedTech), he built physiology-informed monitoring algorithms and validation pipelines for circulatory support devices.
Priyal Agrawal, M.B.B.S., MPH
Dr. Agrawal is a research fellow. She advances NIH-funded work at the intersection of cardiovascular imaging, population health, and clinical decision support. She earned her M.B.B.S. in India and an M.P.H. (Epidemiology) from NYU. Previously at Mount Sinai, she coordinated multi-site NIH studies in pediatric genomics, rare disease diagnostics, and implementation science. Her current portfolio spans cross-institutional collaborations, centralized imaging coordination, and translational tools that bring quantitative evidence into clinical workflows.
Ivo Queiroz, M.D.
Dr. Queiroz is a physician-research fellow focused on integrating imaging biomarkers with computational modeling to improve patient-specific diagnosis and treatment planning for aortic disease. Trained at the Catholic University of Pernambuco, Brazil, he brings early and sustained experience in clinical research and evidence synthesis. He has contributed to international collaborations and peer-reviewed meta-analyses in cardiovascular medicine, anesthesiology, and perioperative care, and supports mentorship and capacity-building initiatives between Brazil and the United States.
Bruno Murad, M.D.
Dr. Murad as a physician-research fellow investigates how systemic inflammation, malignancy, and chemotherapy influence aortic disease. He completed medical training at the Barbacena School of Medicine (Brazil) and has coordinated international oncology trials while mentoring students in research writing and publication. At AAI-CTR, he integrates clinical data with advanced imaging to study vascular remodeling and identify biomarkers that can sharpen diagnosis, personalize surveillance, and inform treatment planning.
Collaborators
David Nordsletten, DPhil.
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Cardiac Surgery, University of Michigan
Drew J. Braet, M.D.
Dr. Braet is a Vascular Surgery resident at University of Michigan. Currently, Dr. Braet is working on the application of Vascular Deformation Mapping and computational modeling to better define and predict growth of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm.