[wpseo_breadcrumb]

As an aerospace graduate I have always been interested in computational modelling. However, after years of pursuing an industrial career I found an institution that utilises these techniques to help individuals directly, that is King’s College school of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences. I am currently focused on the optimisation of pre-surgical assessment of patients for transcatheter heart valve replacement therapy. The heart provides many opportunities the explore different modelling techniques while trying to capture physical phenomenon such as the varying layers of myocardial tissue or platelet dilation and thrombus formation of the blood. Building a transient fluid-structure interaction model of the heart with the spatial resolution to capture small scale unsteady blood flow would provide valve developers with a means of validating their designs, predict valve performance and even help doctors with pre-surgical non-invasive assessment of cardiac function. The potential and scope of research in this area is huge and I look forward to many more years investigating while making a positive impact on society. 

Sam Hill