Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States. In South Florida, where our population is aging and risk factors like diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure are rising among younger adults, that reality hits close to home.
At our college, we are rising to the challenge with engineering and computing solutions.
This month, I'm proud to share how our faculty and students are advancing cardiovascular research on multiple fronts — from AI-powered diagnostics that can hear what the human ear cannot, to wearable devices designed to work equitably across all skin tones, to regenerative technology that could help damaged hearts heal. These efforts are accelerating through a landmark new center backed by nearly $12 million in foundation support.
A Department Aligned Around Health Needs
Professor Jorge Riera was named chair of our Department of Biomedical Engineering earlier this year. He has organized the department around three research pillars: cardiovascular disease linked to metabolic disorders, neurodegenerative diseases driven by neuroinflammation, and innovative optical and electronic technologies for health care.
A New Center for Cardiovascular Innovation
In January, we launched the FIU–Florida Heart Research Foundation Center for Innovation in Cardiovascular Health, backed by an $11.7 million investment. The center brings together experts across biomedical engineering, medicine, artificial intelligence, computer science, public health, nursing and biological sciences to uncover the fundamental drivers of cardiovascular disease and translate discoveries into improved patient outcomes.
Joshua Hutcheson, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and American Heart Association Fellow, serves as the center's inaugural director. His partnership with the foundation has already yielded significant results — including the discovery of a small molecule shown to reduce and, in some cases, reverse late-stage vascular calcification.
Beyond research, the center invests in the next generation through high school internships, undergraduate and graduate fellowships, faculty start-up packages, and interdisciplinary pilot grants.
Teaching AI to Hear What Humans Can't
Hutcheson and research assistant professor Valentina Dargam are developing AI algorithms that pair with digital stethoscopes to detect heart disease earlier and more accurately than traditional listening allows.
Their AI analyzes digitally recorded heart sounds to identify differences too faint for the human ear. The algorithm correctly classifies healthy heart sounds more than 95 percent of the time and can detect early stages of heart disease with nearly 85 percent accuracy.
Making Wearable Health Technology Work for Everyone
Professor Jessica C. Ramella-Roman, who directs the Medical Photonics Laboratory, has uncovered a troubling reality: wearable health devices perform significantly worse for people with higher body mass indices and darker skin tones — populations already at elevated cardiovascular risk.
However, her team is working on a solution. They achieved a major breakthrough: a dynamic pulsatile wrist phantom — a silicone-based model that replicates the radial artery pulse across diverse body types — enabling manufacturers to test and calibrate devices equitably.
Ramella-Roman conducts her research as part of the U.S. National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for PATHS-UP, a multi-institutional initiative to change the paradigm for the health of under-resourced populations.
Learning from Pregnancy's Natural Heart Repair
Postdoctoral associate Meghan Martin is investigating how heart valves remodel during pregnancy — and what that process can teach us about treating heart valve disease.
During pregnancy, blood volume increases. The heart valves undergo natural regeneration, growing larger and shifting their properties. By late pregnancy, they've recovered function — a regenerative capacity not seen in heart disease.
Martin has been awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the American Heart Association to continue her research at FIU.
Engineering Solutions for South Florida and Beyond
As cardiovascular disease continues to affect communities across South Florida at alarming rates, our researchers are responding with engineering solutions that span early detection, reliable monitoring, and regenerative treatments.
We are addressing urgent local health challenges with solutions that will benefit patients here and everywhere.