Our Team
BIOGRAPHY
After completing his doctoral studies in biomedical engineering, Dr. Kim joined the Surgical Planning Laboratory at the Houston Methodist Research Institute for a fulfilling postdoctoral fellowship. With a diverse background in engineering and medical sciences, he has gained valuable insights and positioned himself as a promising researcher in his field. Currently, Dr. Kim serves as an instructor in the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, where he shares his expertise and actively contributes to fostering advancements in the field of surgical planning.
DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH
Dr. Kim's research focuses on enhancing the postoperative outcomes and quality of life for patients undergoing orthognathic surgery. Notably, he has pioneered the development of a highly accurate biomechanical facial change prediction model for orthognathic surgery. Building upon this achievement, he is currently pushing the boundaries of clinical feasibility by integrating state-of-the-art deep learning techniques into facial change simulation. Through his expertise and dedication to unraveling intricate biomechanical mechanisms, he has published numerous impactful papers in esteemed scientific journals.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
Surgical simulation based on biomechanics and deep learning techniques
Medical image analysis
Image-guided surgical navigation
HAN DENG PhD, Instructor
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Deng is an instructor and research associate at Houston Methodist Academic Institution. After completing her doctoral degree in Computer Engineering, she joined the Surgical Planning Laboratory at Houston Methodist Hospital. Her research focuses on computer-aided surgical simulation (CASS) for oral and maxillofacial surgery. She has been working on multiple NIH grants and has published peer-reviewed articles in well-recognized journals including the International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Medical Image Analysis, Medical Physics, and top conferences including MICCAI and CARS.
DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH
Dr. Deng’s research involves utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology in medical image processing. She has developed an automatic dental articulation program which efficiently and accurately articulates the digital dental arch to the correct position. She has also developed and validated an automatic CBCT/CT segmentation and landmarks digitization method with deep learning technology. The developed programs are currently used in daily clinical practice.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
Artificial Intelligence
Medical image analysis
EDUCATION
Ph. D., Texas A&M University
M.S., Oakland University
B.S., Beijing Institute of Technology
Tianshu Kuang MS, Research Assistant
BIOGRAPHY
Tianshu has been conducting scientific research in orthognathic surgery since 2015. Currently at Houston Methodist, his responsibilities include working with clinicians to identify major surgical problems, proposing and fast-prototyping innovative solutions, and eventually publishing the findings and delivering solutions for clinical adoption. As an investigator on multiple NIH-funded projects, he has contributed to over 20 peer-reviewed articles on medical and scientific journals, receiving 200+ citations.
DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH
Tianshu is deeply familiar with mesh processing techniques, finite-element mesh generation and simulation, deep learning in medical image analysis, as well as various statistical methods. For implementation, he is a seasoned programmer in Python and C++, and he writes high-efficiency code and automation scripts for deployment.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
Finite element analysis
Artificial neural networks
Computer programming
EDUCATION
Master of Science, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University
Kevin Gu Research Coordinator
BIOGRAPHY
Kevin joined the Houston Methodist Oral and Maxillofacial Research Department as a research coordinator.
DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH
Kevin utilizes the AnatomicAligner software to assist the surgeon in planning orthognathic surgery cases. When the cases are finalized, Kevin 3D prints surgical splints lower jaws, midfaces, and any other STL object that is needed for surgery. In the research department, he prepares patient data for the E-Face Project to predict how a patient’s soft tissue changes after surgery.
EDUCATION
University of Houston
Alumni
Paul B. Anderson, DDS, MD (University of Texas - Houston Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Resident)
Jennifer Barker, BS, MS (Houston Methodist Summer Intern; Texas A&M University Graduate School MS Student)
Nathan E. Bodily, BS, MD (University of Texas – Houston Medical School Student)
Michaelanne E. Briggs, DDS, MD (University of Texas - Houston Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Resident)
Christopher M. Cassara, MD (University of Texas – Houston Medical School Student)
Nuhket Celebi, DDS, Ms.C. PhD (Houston Methodist Research Institute Visiting Scientist; Turkey Ondokuz Mayis University Attending Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon)
Yu-Bing Chang, PhD (Houston Methodist Graduate Student Fellow; Texas A&M University PhD Student)
Chien-Ming Chang, DDS (Houston Methodist Research Institute Visiting Scientist; Taiwan Taichung Veterans General Hospital Attending Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon)
Ken-Chung Chen, DDS, MS (Houston Methodist Graduate Student Fellow; Taiwan National Cheng Kung University Hospital Attending Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon; and Taiwan National Cheng Kung University PhD Student)
Dennis Chun-Yu Ho, DDS, MS
Drew M. Darsey, DDS, MS (Houston Methodist Graduate Student Fellow; University of Texas – Houston Orthodontics Resident)
Bradley S. Eisemann, MD (University of Texas – Houston Medical School Student)
Eric Engel, DDS, MD (University of Texas - Houston Oral Surgery Resident)
Michael Evens, MD (Houston Methodist Research Institute Summer Intern; University of Texas – Houston Medical School Student)
Flavio Wellington de Silva Ferraz, DDS (Houston Methodist Research Institute Visiting Scientist; Brazil University of Sao Paulo Attending Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon)
Yonghui Gao, MS, PhD (Houston Methodist Graduate Student Fellow; Shanghai Jiaotong University Institute for Image Processing and Pattern Recognition PhD Student)
Matthew Geiser, (Houston Methodist Research Institute Summer Intern; Purdue University)
Michael J. Gliddon, DDS (University of Texas - Houston Oral Surgery and Maxillofacial Resident)
Troy Gor, DDS, MS (Houston Methodist Graduate Student Fellow; University of Texas – Houston Orthodontics Resident)
David M. Hoffman, MD (University of Texas – Houston Medical School Student)
Laura Hollinger, MD (University of Texas – Houston Medical School Student)
Sam Sheng-Ping Hsu, DDS, MS (Houston Methodist Research Institute Visiting Scientist; Taiwan Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital Attending Orthodontist)
Tamara Jones, DDS, MS (Houston Methodist Graduate Student Fellow; University of Texas – Houston Orthodontics Resident)
David Kostohryz, DDS (University of Texas – Houston Dental School Student / Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Resident)
Karen (Yingying) Lai, (Houston Methodist Research Institute Summer Intern; University of Texas - Austin)
Jeremy J. Lemoine, PhD (Houston Methodist Graduate Student Fellow; Rice University Biomechanical Engineering PhD Student)
Jianfu Li, PhD
Nancy Xiaojing Liu, MD, PhD (Houston Methodist Research Institute Visiting Scientist)
Siting Liu, (Houston Methodist Research Institute Summer Intern; Washington University at St Louis)
Yi-Fang Lo, DDS (Houston Methodist Research Institute Visiting Fellow; Taiwan Taichung Veterans General Hospital Orthodontics Chief Resident)
Huaming Mai, DDS, MD
Didier-David Malis, DDS, MD (University of Texas - Houston Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Resident)
J. Kevin McGrory, DDS, MS (Houston Methodist Graduate Student Fellow; University of Texas – Houston Orthodontics Resident)
Kathleen J. McGrory, DDS, MS (Houston Methodist Graduate Student Fellow; University of Texas – Houston Orthodontics Resident)
Liana Medina, DMD, MS (Houston Methodist Graduate Student Fellow; University of Texas – Houston Orthodontics Resident)
Michael Moody, DDS (University of Texas - Houston Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Resident)
Grace Nam, DDS, MS (Houston Methodist Graduate Student Fellow; University of Texas – Houston Orthodontics Resident)
Raphael Olszewski, DDS, MD, PhD (Houston Methodist Research Institute Visiting Scientist; Belgium Universite Catholique de Louvain UCL Attending Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon)
Bingbing Pan, PhD (Houston Methodist Graduate Student Fellow; Sun Yat-Sen University, China PhD Student)
David Panthagani, BS (Houston Methodist Research Institute Summer Intern, University of Houston College Student)
Sandeep Pathak, DDS, MD (University of Texas - Houston Oral Surgery Resident)
Staci D. Perez, MD (University of Texas – Houston Medical School Student)
Roma Vivek Pradhan, (Houston Methodist Research Institute Summer Intern; MIT)
Scott M. Reis, MD (University of Texas – Houston Medical School Student)
Eric C. Schatz, DDS, MS (Houston Methodist Graduate Student Fellow; University of Texas – Houston Orthodontics Resident)
Kelly Seymour-Dempsey, MD (University of Texas – Houston General/Plastic Surgery Resident)
Shunyao Shen, DDS, MS (Houston Methodist Research Institute Visiting Scientist; China Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine Shanghai 9th Hospital Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Resident)
Liza Shevchenko, DDS, MS (Houston Methodist Graduate Student Fellow; University of Texas – Houston Orthodontics Resident)
Adam Spengler, MD (University of Texas – Houston Medical School Student)
Marshall Stanford, MD (University of Texas – Houston Medical School Student)
Zhen Tang, MD, MSc, PhD (Houston Methodist Research Institute Visiting Scientist; China Shanghai Changhai Hospital Attending Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon)
John F. Teichgraeber, MD
Justin Tong (Houston Methodist Research Institute Summer Intern)
Megan N. Weiskircher, DDS, MS (Houston Methodist Graduate Student Fellow; University of Texas – Houston Orthodontics Resident)
Kai Xie, PhD (Houston Methodist Research Institute Postdoctoral Fellow)
Kyoko Yamaji, DDS (University of Texas - Houston Oral Surgery Resident)
Eddy Yang, DDS, MD (University of Texas - Houston Oral Surgery Resident)
Peng Yuan, MS
Henry Zhan, BS (Houston Methodist Research Institute Summer Intern; University of Texas Austin College Student)
Xiaoyan Zhang, MS, PhD (Houston Methodist Research Institute Graduate Student Fellow / Postdoctoral Fellow)