Adjunct faculty typically have an academic or research appointment at another institution and contribute or collaborate with one or more School of Medicine faculty members or programs.
Adjunct rank detailsMichael Choma, MD, PhD
Associate Professor AdjunctAbout
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Titles
Associate Professor Adjunct
Biography
Dr. Choma is a physician-engineer with expertise in AI safety and evaluation, digital health, medical imaging, and biomedical optics. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Yale, where he co-developed and teaches Data and Clinical Decision-Making (ENAS 523), a course on how data, AI/ML, and computation are transforming clinical decision-making. His writing on the evolution of medicine in the era of data and computation can be found on Substack and LinkedIn.
He is currently a Medical AI Informaticist at Infinitus Systems, where he focuses on AI safety and fairness for patient-facing voice agents, including evaluation frameworks and multimodal methods across development and deployment. He contributes to AI governance through the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI) agentic AI working group and serves on NIH study sections.
Previously, Dr. Choma co-founded LookDeep Health, a Bay-Area startup developing AI/computer vision for inpatient telemedicine and patient monitoring, where he served as VP Clinical and led IRB-approved research collaborations with UCSF, Duke, University of Maryland, and OHSU. Before that he was full-time faculty at Yale as an Associate Professor, running an NIH-funded biophotonics laboratory that developed optical coherence tomography (OCT) technologies to study pulmonary and cardiovascular physiology, and an attending physician in the Yale-New Haven Primary Care Clinic. He also worked on the brain-computer interface project at Meta.
Dr. Choma received his MD and PhD from Duke University. He trained in general pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital, and did his postdoc at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School.
Appointments
Radiology & Biomedical Imaging
Associate Professor AdjunctPrimary
Other Departments & Organizations
Education & Training
- MD
- Duke University (2006)
- PhD
- Duke University (2004)
Research
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Overview
- Optical imaging of microfluidic-scale biological fluid flow
- Quantitative imaging of embryo heart physiology and pathophysiology
- Diagnostic imaging of pathologic cilia-driven fluid flow
- Developing novel light sources for biological imaging
Medical Research Interests
Public Health Interests
Research at a Glance
Publications Timeline
Research Interests
Tomography, Optical Coherence
Cilia
Publications
2015
Quantifying hyperoxia-mediated damage to mammalian respiratory cilia-driven fluid flow using particle tracking velocimetry optical coherence tomography
Gamm UA, Huang BK, Syed M, Zhang X, Bhandari V, Choma MA. Quantifying hyperoxia-mediated damage to mammalian respiratory cilia-driven fluid flow using particle tracking velocimetry optical coherence tomography. Journal Of Biomedical Optics 2015, 20: 080505-080505. PMID: 26308164, PMCID: PMC4874052, DOI: 10.1117/1.jbo.20.8.080505.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsOptical coherence tomographyMouse tracheaCoherence tomographyDrug-mediated modulationIntensive care unitRisk-benefit profileRespiratory failureCare unitOxygen supplementationRespiratory mucosaRespiratory epitheliumIndispensable treatmentImpaired capacityClinical useHyperoxiaTracheaFlow quantificationTomographyTreatmentDamagePatientsMucosaSupplementationEpitheliumThree-dimensional, three-vector-component velocimetry of cilia-driven fluid flow using correlation-based approaches in optical coherence tomography
Huang BK, Gamm UA, Bhandari V, Khokha MK, Choma MA. Three-dimensional, three-vector-component velocimetry of cilia-driven fluid flow using correlation-based approaches in optical coherence tomography. Biomedical Optics Express 2015, 6: 3515-3538. PMID: 26417520, PMCID: PMC4574676, DOI: 10.1364/boe.6.003515.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsConceptsDigital particle image velocimetryFluid flowVelocimetry measurementsParticle image velocimetryImage velocimetryFlow performanceFlow velocity measurementsVelocimetryVelocity measurementsLow-dimensional measurementsDimensional measurementsS regimeFlowNoise ratioCilia-driven fluid flowMeasurementsFlow imagingCorrelation-based approachSmartphone-based diagnostic for preeclampsia: an mHealth solution for administering the Congo Red Dot (CRD) test in settings with limited resources
Jonas SM, Deserno TM, Buhimschi CS, Makin J, Choma MA, Buhimschi IA. Smartphone-based diagnostic for preeclampsia: an mHealth solution for administering the Congo Red Dot (CRD) test in settings with limited resources. Journal Of The American Medical Informatics Association 2015, 23: 166-173. PMID: 26026158, PMCID: PMC7814923, DOI: 10.1093/jamia/ocv015.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricQuantitative optical coherence tomography imaging of intermediate flow defect phenotypes in ciliary physiology and pathophysiology
Huang BK, Gamm UA, Jonas S, Khokha MK, Choma MA. Quantitative optical coherence tomography imaging of intermediate flow defect phenotypes in ciliary physiology and pathophysiology. Journal Of Biomedical Optics 2015, 20: 030502-030502. PMID: 25751026, PMCID: PMC4352652, DOI: 10.1117/1.jbo.20.3.030502.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetric
2013
A novel approach to quantifying ciliary physiology: microfluidic mixing driven by a ciliated biological surface
Jonas S, Zhou E, Deniz E, Huang B, Chandrasekera K, Bhattacharya D, Wu Y, Fan R, Deserno TM, Khokha MK, Choma MA. A novel approach to quantifying ciliary physiology: microfluidic mixing driven by a ciliated biological surface. Lab On A Chip 2013, 13: 4160-4163. PMID: 23970350, PMCID: PMC3856250, DOI: 10.1039/c3lc50571e.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetric
2012
Endogenous contrast blood flow imaging in embryonic hearts using hemoglobin contrast subtraction angiography.
Deniz E, Jonas S, Khokha M, Choma MA. Endogenous contrast blood flow imaging in embryonic hearts using hemoglobin contrast subtraction angiography. Optics Letters 2012, 37: 2979-81. PMID: 22825198, PMCID: PMC3881542, DOI: 10.1364/ol.37.002979.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsCongenital heart diseaseBiomechanical phenotypingSmall animal modelsMicroangiography techniqueCardiac dysfunctionEmbryonic heartHeart diseaseCardiac performanceEndogenous hemoglobin contrastContrast angiographyBlood flowCardioactive drugsAnimal modelsSubtraction angiographyVivo assessmentFunctional optical imagingHemoglobin contrastMalformed heartsAngiographyFlow imagingHeartPhysiological responsesImagingDysfunctionPhenotypingSpeckle-free laser imaging using random laser illumination
Redding B, Choma MA, Cao H. Speckle-free laser imaging using random laser illumination. Nature Photonics 2012, 6: 355-359. PMID: 24570762, PMCID: PMC3932313, DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2012.90.Commentaries, Editorials and LettersCitationsAltmetricConceptsRandom lasersSuperluminescent diodeCoherent artifactsLaser illuminationImaging applicationsSpatial coherenceThermal light sourceIntense laser illuminationHigh spatial coherenceLow spatial coherenceBright light-emitting diodesLight-emitting diodesOptical scatteringCoherent illuminationLight sourceLaserIllumination sourceLaser imagingDiodesIlluminationCoherenceScatteringBrightnessSpeckleSource
2011
Microfluidic characterization of cilia-driven fluid flow using optical coherence tomography-based particle tracking velocimetry
Jonas S, Bhattacharya D, Khokha MK, Choma MA. Microfluidic characterization of cilia-driven fluid flow using optical coherence tomography-based particle tracking velocimetry. Biomedical Optics Express 2011, 2: 2022-2034. PMID: 21750777, PMCID: PMC3130586, DOI: 10.1364/boe.2.002022.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetric
2010
Physiological homology between Drosophila melanogaster and vertebrate cardiovascular systems
Choma MA, Suter MJ, Vakoc BJ, Bouma BE, Tearney GJ. Physiological homology between Drosophila melanogaster and vertebrate cardiovascular systems. Disease Models & Mechanisms 2010, 4: 411-420. PMID: 21183476, PMCID: PMC3097462, DOI: 10.1242/dmm.005231.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and Concepts
2005
Spectral-domain phase microscopy.
Choma MA, Ellerbee AK, Yang C, Creazzo TL, Izatt JA. Spectral-domain phase microscopy. Optics Letters 2005, 30: 1162-4. PMID: 15945141, DOI: 10.1364/ol.30.001162.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsSpectral domain phase microscopyShot-noise limitPhase-sensitive techniqueNanometer-scale motionCoherence gatingBroadband interferometryDisplacement sensitivityPhase microscopyPhase informationOptical coherence tomographyCoherence tomographyFunctional extensionAttractive techniqueInterferometryLiving cellsCellular motionMotionCellular dynamicsMicroscopyMeasurementsTechniqueGating
Academic Achievements & Community Involvement
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Honors
honor Numenta Startup Prize
07/15/2015National AwardDetailsUnited Stateshonor Theodore von Kármán Fellowship, RWTH Aachen University (Germany)
01/15/2014International AwardDetailsGermany
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