Farhad Pashakhanloo, PhD ’16, a postdoctoral fellow in the Institute for Computational Medicine, won the Young Investigator Award at the 44th International Congress on Electrocardiology in Portland, Oregon.

From a pool of submitted abstracts, six applicants were selected as finalists to give presentations on their projects and answer questions from the judges. Pashakhanloo was awarded first place and a prize of $500 for his project titled “Influence of myofiber architecture on the anisotropic wave propagation and electrogram waveforms using image based computer models of human atria.”

Pashakhanloo studied the electrical activation patterns of the heart’s atrial chambers using detailed computer models of atria constructed from high-resolution MRI scans. Knowledge of electrical activation sequence and its link to the underlying heart myofiber structure is important in obtaining a better understanding of heart rhythm disorders such as atrial fibrillation.

Pashakhanloo is a postdoc in the lab of Natalia Trayanova, Murray B. Sachs Professor of Biomedical Engineering.