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Dr. Pramod Bonde

Assistant Professor of Surgery (Section of Cardiac Surgery); Surgical Director of Mechanical Circulatory Support; Associate Program Director Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency Program; Affiliate Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at University of Washington

Lab Members

Chris Bouwmeester | Postdoctoral Associate

Chris is interested in the interaction between mechanical assist devices and the cardiovascular system. His research involves testing and creating novel methods, strategies, and devices that pump synergistically with the native heart. He is responsible for recording in-vivo hemodynamic signals and his current projects involve measuring the response of LVAD devices to physiological control and testing of the FREE-D LVAD system. Chris obtained his PhD in biomedical engineering and BSc in mechanical engineering from the University of Calgary, Canada.

Brian Letzen | Medical Student Research Assistant

Brian is a fourth-year Yale medical student in the Bonde Lab. His current research focus is on developing a wirelessly-powered untethered intra-aortic pump that can be delivered via catheter. He graduated from University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 2008 and from Johns Hopkins University with a master's degree in biomedical engineering in 2010. In the past, he has worked in engineering at GE Healthcare and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He is originally from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Oliver Jawitz | Medical Student Research Assistant

Oliver is a fourth-year Yale medical student and has been working in the Bonde Lab since 2012. Oliver has been involved in a number of different research projects including development of the FREE-D LVAD system, outcomes based research in heart transplantation, as well as novel VAD pump design and implementation. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2010, where he majored in Chinese and minored in Biology. Oliver is from Great Neck, New York but grew up in Hong Kong.

Jin Woo Yoo (Gene) | Medical Student Research Assistant

Gene is a second-year Yale medical student in the Bonde lab, where he has focused on outcomes research investigating the evolving role of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in the care of cardiogenic shock patients. He graduated from Harvard with a bachelor's degree in human developmental and regenerative biology in 2012. Gene is from Fort Lee, New Jersey.

Kristi Oki| Engineering Student Researcher

Kristi is a Yale undergraduate majoring in mechanical engineering. She enjoys sharing her love of Yale and engineering with prospective students as an Engineering Tour Guide for the Yale Admissions Office. She is also involved with Splash at Yale, a program which brings middle and high school students to Yale to take classes taught by undergraduates. Kristi has spent the past two summers abroad in Japan, and she loves studying the Japanese language and culture. Her other interests include pottery, letterpress printing, and scientific glassblowing.

Daniel Giebisch| Research Intern

Daniel is a junior at Amity Regional High School. He participates in the school's Science Research Program, which allows high school students to delve into undergraduate and graduate-level research. Previously, he studied renewable energies and mechanical engineering. He currently focuses on electrical engineering, assisting in circuit design in the Bonde Lab. Daniel is also an avid cellist. He has spent the last two summers attending music competitions and festivals in France and Switzerland.

Alumni

Akshay Raghu | Undergraduate 4

Akshay is a summer intern working on the Free-D Wireless Energy Transfer project by programming the MSP430 microcontrollers to be used in the system. He is a rising senior undergraduate Biomedical Engineering student at Case Western Reserve University and lives in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

Robert Stretch| Medical Student Research Assistant

While in the Bonde lab, Robert's research focus was on acute mechanical circulatory support, including both percutaneous and surgically-implanted ventricular assist devices. He graduated from Yale School of Medicine in 2014 and is currently a resident in Internal Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He is originally from Australia and graduated with a B.Sc (Adv) from the University of Sydney in 2009.

Eric Lee | Medical Student Research Assistant

Eric is a Yale medical student who worked in the Bonde lab following his first year of medical school. During this time, he focused on LVAD outcomes based research using national databases. He graduated from Brown University in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in biology. Eric is from Gilbert, Arizona.

Jake Wang | Medical Student Research Assistant

Jake is a Yale medical student who worked in the Bonde lab following his first year of medical school. During this time, he conducted research on the outcomes and cost-effectiveness of left ventricular assist devices. He graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor's degree in molecular biology in 2012. Jake grew up in Wayland, Massachusetts

Qingwei Chen | Assistant Professor

Dr. Chen is a Cardiovascular Surgeon from Jinan, China. He graduated from Shandong Medical University. He works with Dr. Bonde on animal experiments and the LVAD patient outcome analysis. His interest lies on LVADs, and innovative cardiac procedures.

Aditi Balakrishna | Medical Student Research Assistant

Aditi worked in the Bonde Lab as a second year Yale medical student and focused on outcomes research involving heart transplantation. She graduated from Harvard with a bachelor's degree in neurobiology in 2010 and will be graduating from Yale in 2015. She is from Memphis, Tennessee.

Elsa Cuprak | Pre-medical Research Assistant

Elsa was a statistician for the Cardiology/Heart Failure and Transplant Departments at Yale School of Medicine. She is an expert in statistics as well as SAS and Excel. Elsa has a masters degree in Actuary Science from the University of Iowa and bachelors in statistics from the University of California Berkley. She worked for several years as an actuary at both Met Life and the West Coast Life Insurance Company.

Christopher Sauer | Medical Student Research Assistant

Chris graduated from Yale School of Medicine with a MD/MBA joint degree. While in the Bonde lab, his research focus was on ECMO, specifically the national trends in outcomes and costs. Chris is currently a resident in OB/GYN at UCLA. He graduated from Columbia University in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in Biology. He is originally from Saddle River, NJ.

Usman Anwer | Engineering Student Researcher

Usman is a mechanical designer and software developer interested in how overlap of mobile and automation technologies can disrupt education, logistics, healthcare, and lifestyle. At Yale, Usman contributed to several projects at the Yale Grasping, Manipulation, Rehabilitation Robotics and Biorobotics Lab and served on the Committees on the Yale College Course of Study, Science, and Quantitative Reasoning. He enjoys improvised travel plans, walking around campus, and random philosophical debates.

Martin Shapiro| Engineering Student Researcher

Martin is a pre-med mechanical engineering major at Yale with aspirations to explore the intersection of global health and social entrepreneurship. At Yale, He leads the Yale Men’s Volleyball team as captain, directs the Club Sports Advisory Board, plays flute in the Davenport Pops Orchestra, organizes concerts at health care venues in the greater New Haven area, and programs for a Infor-Med Medical Information Systems. Having been infected with a serious strain from the travel bug at a young age with symptoms of 20+ country passport stamps, Martin enjoys exploring new cultures and has spread this passion by creating opportunities for Yalies and international students to intern abroad through his tenure at AIESEC, the world’s largest student-run organization.

Katie Katilius| Intern

Katie is a rising junior at Allegheny College with a Global Health major and a Biology minor. She is Pre-Health focused and is a certified Health Coach as well as a Research Associate at St. Vincent Medical Center. Katie enjoys volunteering for various organizations including The Meadville Medical Center as well as multiple human rights agencies focusing on women’s services and intellectual & developmental disabilities. She is originally from Pittsburgh, PA.