Student Profiles

Tarek Saleh

Second year master’s level student, Tarek Saleh, is one of the first thirteen students to enter ASU’s newly formed Department of Biomedical Informatics (BMI). Saleh entered the program after working in industry with MphasiS Healthcare Solutions, a health care software company. As an alumnus of ASU, Saleh obtained his bachelor’s in computer science in 2006. He will complete his master’s program in the spring 2009.  Being at ASU for six years has enabled him to take advantage of a great deal of opportunities in the Phoenix metro area.

One of the many opportunities that Saleh has pursued was working with University of Arizona (UA) College of Medicine Research Assistant Professor and Lecturer Dr. Kerr Whitfield and SCI professor Dr. Valentin Dinu. Saleh is able to work with professors at both UA and ASU because of the partnership between both schools that created a new campus of the UA College of Medicine-Phoenix in downtown Phoenix. Taking advantage of the UA and ASU partnership, Saleh began a research project with Dr. Whitfield where they created software that would allow easier selection of genetic DNA. The goal of the software was to allow professor Whitfield to conduct his research using genetic material in a more organized and structured fashion. Previously, identifying the DNA strains was a laborious and complicated task but Saleh’s software simplified the process.

Saleh’s work with Dr. Dinu combines both his interest in software and genetics. He is now working with SCI professor Dr. Douglas Fridsma to finalize his ideas for his master’s thesis. Bioinformatics possesses a wide range of research opportunities for Saleh to pursue. Saleh is interested in possibility developing software that will use web 2.0 technologies such as semantic wikis and ontologies to improve the quality of the medical field in collaboration areas and telemedicine. For this endeavor, he would like to develop collaborative tools that would allow experts in the field from anywhere in the world to work together through his web 2.0 tools to build ontologies that can be the base of a lot of clinical decision support systems, radiology, and a lot of other different fields.

In addition, Saleh is interested in developing imaging software that will permit individuals to manage their own health. The imaging software could potentially function by synchronizing the information that people insert about their health status into the software.  While utilizing the information that the person submitted, the software would then use a formula that Saleh develops to give the person feedback on his or her health. If he pursues this project, Saleh aspires for the software to be available on people’s personal computers, laptop or cellular phones.

His second year thesis work builds on a strong first year where he made the Dean’s List. While taking advantage of in-class room activity, he also attended visiting faculty lectures and mentoring sessions with his professors. Saleh describes his year as a one in which he had a lot of information to learn but a good start. Ultimately, he wants to acquire the skills and knowledge that will enable him to produce software or technology that makes a difference in the lives of as many people as possible. As a Palestinian refugee, his dream is to bring his experience and skills back to Palestine one day but he is also open to working in the United States or anywhere else in the world.