Mercedes Cabrerizo received her Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering and her Master of Science degree in Computer Engineering both from Florida International University. She is a Ware Foundation Associate Professor in Neuroscience and Learning with the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Florida International University. Her research interests are in image and signal processing with applications to Neuroscience. She has been affiliated with the Brain Institute at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital doing signal and image processing of medical data, focusing on 3D source localization in patients with Epilepsy. She also works in collaboration with the Neurology department at Baptist Hospital on multimodal imaging to localize and validate the 3D source with the highest precision for surgical planning. More recently, she is involved in the design of IRB approved protocols for (1) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to provide therapeutic sessions to patients with Epilepsy at, (2) FDA approved rTMS for patients with depression in collaboration with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at FIU as well as with Baptist Hospital, (3) EEG-triggered fMRI (combining electroencephalography and magnetic resonance imaging) in collaboration with a joint Neuroengineering program between FIU, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and Baptist Hospital. She became a National Academy of Inventors’ Charter Fellow in 2014, and is accredited for the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation by Harvard Medical School; in 2015, and is certified by the Danish Research Center for Magnetic Resonance in 2015 and by the Experimental Psychology at University College London (UCL) in 2016.
research interests
Dr. Mercedes Cabrerizo research interests are: • Signal and image processing with applications to Neuroscience focusing on 3D source localization in patients with Epilepsy. • Multimodal imaging to localize and validate the 3D source with the highest precision for surgical planning in collaboration with the Neurology department at Baptist Hospital. • Analyzing EEG data (scalp and subdural) in order to conduct experiments with human subjects with the purpose of exploring patterns that will lead us into seizure prediction.
• Integrated neuroimaging platform that includes TMS, MRI, fMRI, CT, PET, FLAIR, DTI, EEG, and ECG recordings towards detection of electrodes leading to seizures. • Assessment of EEG time and frequency based features in a unified decisional space using nonlinear decision functions to classify types of Epilepsy and epileptic and control EEG records in pediatric/adult population.
• Involved in the design of IRB approved protocols for (1) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to provide therapeutic sessions to patients with Epilepsy at, (2) FDA approved rTMS for patients with depression in collaboration with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at FIU as well as with Baptist Hospital, (3) EEG-triggered fMRI (combining electroencephalography and magnetic resonance imaging) in collaboration with a joint Neuro-engineering program between FIU, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and Baptist Hospital, and (4) FDA approved Neuro-navigated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) for the non-invasive mapping of the motor and language areas of the brain.