Phillip Kogan

Professional Background

I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a B.S. in medical sciences and a B.A. in physics. Throughout college I worked as a research assistant in the Meller Bioinformatics Laboratory at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Division of Biomedical Informatics. Here I developed browser-based visualization and analysis tools, knowledge-graph databases, and machine learning applications for knowledge extraction of large proteomic, transcriptomic, and other “omic” cancer datasets. After my freshman year, I also contributed to several projects in the Balaji Laboratory for Regenerative Wound Healing at the Baylor Department of Surgery which focused on angiogenesis, reactive oxygens species, and fiber alignment in the context of wound healing. The Balaji lab investigated a dual-action biomaterial that utilizes thiolated lignin composites and calcium-peroxide-bearing particles to scavenge reactive oxygen and controllably oxygenate the tissue, respectively, to both reduce inflammation and improve neovascularization in diabetic wound healing. In my senior year, I completed a project under Dr. Haworth in the Biomedical Ultrasonics and Cavitation Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Health and Disease. This laboratory explores histotripsy, the use of focused ultrasound waves to mechanically ablate tissue via the resulting formation and collapse of cavitation bubbles, as a therapy for treating deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The goal of my project was to simulate the pressure field and cavitation for a novel ultrasound transducer designed specifically to treat DVT, and to explore time-reversal as a method of counteracting aberration caused by tissue heterogeneity. I am excited to continue my education at the KU Medical Center where I hope to learn more about radiation, immunotherapy, drug therapy, and other targeted approaches to cancer treatment.