“It’s an exciting time to be a part of Kardium,” says UWaterloo graduate, Naghmeh Ghafari, of the medical tech company where she leads safety and risk analysis. The Vancouver-based company is developing a groundbreaking medical device for the diagnosis and treatment of atrial fibrillation that can lead to stroke and heart failure.
Kardium is pioneering the development of an electro-mechanical medical device that is deployed in the left atrium by a catheter to provide mapping, stimulation, and ablation of the cardiac tissue. The procedure assists in the diagnosis and speedy treatment of atrial fibrillation. It’s precise work and Naghmeh takes her role ensuring patient safety very seriously.
“While it may not look day-to-day like I am using my graduate training, conceptually what I do is still just logical analysis of a highly complex system,” says Naghmeh. “It’s a different type of analysis because I am not looking at only software or hardware, I am looking at systems and manufacturing techniques and trying to analyze safety to ensure that it is safe to put this device into someone’s heart.”
Naghmeh states that she chose the University of Waterloo for her graduate studies because UWaterloo’s reputation made it stand out as the best university for software and computer science. She received her PhD under the supervision of Dr. Richard Trefler, and reflects fondly on the countless hours spent discussing her passion, and the focus of her thesis, software formal verification.
She encourages other graduate students to, “get in touch with industry while at UWaterloo because at the end of your program you need to understand the link between the research that you do and how it can solve real world problems.”
She also added, “enjoy your time at Waterloo! It’s a unique experience.”