Cardiovascular Health, Identity and Technology Conference

Conference Date and Location:

When: March 20, 2026, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm

Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) room 1010
University of California Irvine

Need more info? Contact us at (949) 824 7865, or cardio@uci.edu

About the Conferece:

The goal of this first annual conference is to share research and perspectives on the impact of identity on cardiovascular health (Theme 1), accessible cardiovascular technology design and innovation (Theme 2), and the social, behavioral, and economic influences on cardiovascular technologies (Theme 3). The program will include two invited keynote speakers and oral and poster presentations by faculty and trainees from the UCI Schools of Engineering, Medicine, Public Health, Social Ecology, and Biological Sciences. Please join us!

Keynote Speakers

Theme 1: Psycho-Physio-Biologial Root Causes of Cardiovascular Health

Dr. Gilda Barabino, Professor of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, Former President of Olin College of Engineering


Theme 2: Accurate, Unbiased, and Accessible Health Technology Design and Innovation

Dr. Gerard Cote, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University


Theme 3: Social, Behavioral, and Economic Influences on Technology for Cardiovascular Healthcare

Dr. John Ruiz, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Arizona


Agenda:

Time

Speaker

8:15-8:30am

Breakfast and Registration

8:30-8:35am

Dr. Naomi Chesler: Welcome Remarks

8:35-9:15am

Keynote: Dr. Gilda Barabino: Engineering Cardiovascular Health Equity: The Perspective of a Sickle Cell Researcher

9:15-9:35am

Dr. Gurneet Sangha: Impact of Social Isolation and Exercise Training on Cardiovascular Function

9:35-9:55am

Dr. Jessica Borelli: Mother-Child Synchrony as a Predictor of Relationship Quality and Maternal Health

9:55-10:15am

Dr. Frances Li: The Heart of Parenting: Cardiovascular Regulation and Maternal Caregiving

10:15-10:35am

Dr. Pim Oomen: Computational Models for Cardiovascular Health Equity Research

10:35-11:00am

Coffee and Networking Break

11:00-11:40am

Keynote: Dr. John Ruiz: Cardiovascular Health Policy Priorities: From Population Health Frameworks to National Prevention Recommendations

11:40-12:00pm

Dr. Dylan Roby: The Need for Simulation Modeling to Estimate Uptake of New Health-Related Technologies in the Context of Insurance Benefits and Coverage

12:00-12:20pm

Dr. Brandy Lipton: Impacts of Medicaid Routine Vision Benefits on Eye Care Use, Spending on Eyeglasses, and Diagnoses among Dual Eligibles

12:20-12:40pm

Dr. Claudine Joseph: Engineering the MedTech Workforce

12:40-2:00pm

Lunch and Poster Session

2:00-2:40pm

Keynote: Dr. Gerard Coté: Cardiovascular Health Monitoring at the Point-of-Care

2:40-3:00pm

Dr. Bernard Choi: Peripheral Blood-Flow Sensing with Laser Speckle Techniques

3:00-3:20pm

Dr. Amir Rahmani: Smart Wearables and Agentic Systems: Redefining Health Innovation

3:20-3:40pm

Dr. Rahim Esfandyar-Pour: Toward Continuous Cardiovascular Health Monitoring: Multimodal Wearable Bioelectronics for Quantifying Stress Physiology

3:40-4:00pm

Dr. Michelle Khine: Continuous Physiological Monitoring with Soft Electronics

4:00-4:15pm

Dr. Naomi Chesler: Poster Awards (People's Choice, Mentor) and Closing Remarks