Joel Disu is a Biomedical Engineering doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University. He has been a research assistant and lab member in the Wood Neuro Research Group since August 2022. He obtained his bachelor’s degree from University of Ghana and pursued his master’s degree at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China where he focused on imaging and medical robotics research in Biomedical Engineering. He is originally from Accra, Ghana. His research interests broadly include neuroimaging hardware instrumentation, inclusive neurotechnology, and data acquisition using noninvasive neuroimaging devices. Joel loves listening to gospel and jazz music, reading, and playing soccer.

Research interests: sickle cell disease, functional MRI, pain, quantitative sensory testing, cerebral autoregulation

 Email: jdisu@andrew.cmu.edu

Lara Abdelmohsen is a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University and has been in the Wood Neuro Research Group since August 2022. She is co-advised by Dr. Noelia Grande Gutiérrez and a member of the BioSiMM Lab.  She graduated from The College of New Jersey with her Bachelor's in Biomedical Engineering, and interned at Siemens Healthineers where she gained valuable experience in neuroimaging and MRI inspiring her to pursue a PhD in the field. She is broadly interested in studying the cerebral vasculature and stroke. Her goal is to use computational fluid dynamics models to understand how changes in cerebral vasculature could contribute to increased stroke risk in patients with sickle cell disease. Outside the lab, Lara enjoys hiking and Muay Thai.

Research interests: cerebral vasculature, stroke, cerebral hemodynamics, CFD, image-based simulation, sickle cell disease

Email: labdelmo@andrew.cmu.edu

Co-Advisor: Noelia Grande Gutiérrez

Julen is a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University, where he has been part of the Wood Neuro Research Group and the BioSIMM Lab since January 2026. Originally from Spain, he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Mondragon Unibertsitatea and a Master’s in Computational Engineering from the University of the Basque Country. His research interests include cardiovascular CFD, Deep Learning and Wearable devices. Outside research Julen enjoys trail running, kickboxing and attending concerts.

Rujuta Thombre is a Biomedical Engineering master's student at Carnegie Mellon University and has been a research assistant in the Wood Neuro Research Group since Spring 2026. She completed her Bachelor's in Bioengineering from MIT ADT University, India, where she gained experience through internships in computational biology and machine learning. She brings a strong background in applied machine learning and biomedical signal processing to her graduate work.

In the lab, she independently manages an fMRI machine learning pipeline using tools including FSL, nilearn, scikit-learn, and PyTorch, with the goal of developing classification models for sickle cell disease and other rare neurological conditions. Her research interests lie at the intersection of neuroimaging, machine learning, and brain-computer interfaces, with a focus on developing computational approaches to understand brain function. Outside the lab, Rujuta enjoys reading, making art, and listening to music.

Research interests: functional MRI, neuroimaging ML, sickle cell disease, rare disease classification, brain-computer interfaces

Email: rthombre@andrew.cmu.edu

Anay Soni is an undergraduate student at Carnegie Mellon University majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He has been in the Wood Neuro Research Group since summer of 2025. Anay is passionate about utilizing hardware in new ways to improve the quality of life for underrepresented individuals. He is currently working on a wearable-XR prototype for pain-cognition assessment, seeking to synchronize autonomic and thermal sensors with VR technologies using low power Bluetooth. Outside of research, Anay enjoys playing video games, eating, and spending time with family and friends.