Dean's Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Pediatrics
Education
- 1976, Bachelor's Degree, Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College
- Doctoral Degree, Biomedical Engineering, Harvard University
- Master's Degree, Other Engineering, Harvard University
Biography
Dr. Michael Khoo is the Dean’s Professor of Biomedical Engineering, with courtesy joint appointment in Pediatrics, at the University of Southern California. He received his undergraduate and doctoral training from Imperial College (University of London) and Harvard University, respectively. Following postdoctoral work at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, he joined the faculty at USC in 1983. He was Department Chair of Biomedical Engineering and Co-Director of Education and Outreach in the NSF Engineering Research Center on Biomimetic Microelectronic Systems from 2003 to 2010. He has served in the leadership of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society as a member of the Administrative Committee, Vice-President for Conferences (2014-2017), and Chair of the 2012 EMBS International Conference. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering. He has been the recipient of an NIH Research Career Development Award and an American Lung Association Career Development Award. He is currently the Director of “SleepHuB”, a USC collaboratory that seeks to address important medical and societally relevant problems in sleep health with research approaches that deploy local resources, novel ideas and cutting-edge technological tools.
Research Summary
Dr. Khoo’s research interests lie at the intersection of bioengineering, cardiorespiratory physiology and sleep medicine. He and his team develop computational models and employ novel experimental techniques to obtain a better understanding and improved quantitative characterization of the mechanisms responsible for the abnormal regulation of the autonomic and metabolic control and sleep-wake states in chronic diseases or clinical syndromes, such as sleep-related breathing disorders (including sleep apnea), hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and sickle cell disease. The complex dynamics of the closed-loop interactions that occur among the cardiovascular, respiratory and sleep regulatory systems give rise to spontaneous variability in the key physiological variables. In many cases, the patterns arising from these natural fluctuations can be utilized as “signatures” of the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms. To delineate cause from effect from these closed-loop interactions, a combination of physiology-based modeling and estimation techniques is applied to analyze and interpret physiological data obtained from noninvasive studies in humans. Dr. Khoo’s Cardio-Respiratory Sleep Lab collaborates closely with physician-scientists and physiologists from Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, USC Keck School of Medicine, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Harvard Medical School and UCLA. The most recent research studies are focusing on determining the relative importance of (“phenotyping”) the underlying mechanisms of sleep apnea using computational modeling and noninvasive sleep measurements in children with Down Syndrome. His laboratory is also working on the development of improved noninvasive methodologies for predicting vaso-occlusive crises in patients with sickle-cell disease.
Awards
- 2016 International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow
- 2015 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Vice President, Conferences 2016-2017
- 2012 IEEE Fellow, Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society
- 2010 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society AdCom Membership
- 2005 Fellow, Biomedical Engineering Society
