With a promising approach to drive brain repair and recovery following a stroke, University of Washington neuroengineer Azadeh Yazdan has earned the American Heart Association (AHA) Career Development Award. Yazdan’s neural engineering technologies and new brain stimulation-based therapies have the potential to help restore function and movement in people who have had a stroke – something that happens every 40 seconds in the United States.
“We’re combining novel neural technologies with advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning to precisely stimulate neural activity to rewire the brain,” said Yazdan, the Washington Research Foundation Innovation Assistant Professor of Neuroengineering in the departments of bioengineering and of electrical and computer engineering.
“In the clinical setting, I envision a personalized stimulation protocol designed to help a patient regain lost function, based on the location and degree of the injury,” she said. “This can potentially have a great impact on the outcome of recovery, as each stroke is unique. It can also create paths for therapies for other movement and neural disorders.”
