Welcome to my personal website. A
little island in a vast digital ocean. Here you can find information about my professional journey and my worldview.
My Ethos as an Engineer
I have always been curious about the right and the left brain, the balance between creativity and structure. Two simple but powerful ideas.
Creativity for me is to see and understand the world in a very personal and unique way; while structure provides tools to communicate, understand each other, and work together. Both creativity and structure can be found beyond the realm of Engineering. For example, in classical music: all the voices, all the echos, every part coming in and out just at the right time, all and every part always contributing, supporting, and enhancing the final result.
My Studies
My undergraduate degree in Engineering gave me the basic tools to understand more complex ideas and concepts that would come later on during my Master’s and PhD degrees. All along, I was fascinated with the beauty and simplicity of mathematics, and how basic elements could form building blocks to solve practical human problems. I had a very similar experience with software: some of my favourite topics during my Master’s degree were software design and architecture, components, and software engineering. Later on in life, I was able to put these ideas to work in real, large-scale projects.
Admiration for Architecture
One of the ideas that stuck with me during all these years of schooling is that good software is beautiful, in the same way that the Sydney Opera House and the National Congress of Brazil are beautiful. Such human endeavours require discipline and to not be afraid of breaking paradigms. I draw inspiration from stunning architecture in my work.
At Work
I have held many positions during my career. These experiences have taught me how important it is to communicate well and to develop good interpersonal skills. Good working relationships are just as important as the work product. People need to know that we all are contributing to an ideal and that our contribution is meaningful. According to Myers Briggs there are different personality types: some people are highly analytical, other are doers and like to take action, and others look for consensus. As a leader it is extremely important to acknowledge these types to be able to listen and be open to new ideas. To lead a team is to facilitate group and individual work, cultivating workplace values and high technical standards.
Academic Life
After spending some time in the industry, I went back to school. My academic path led me to medical imaging. I got into this domain looking for a new challenge after developing business software for banking, government and education institutions. During this time I furthered my knowledge in computer vision, augmented reality, and image processing among other interesting topics.
During my PhD where I was researching epilepsy in magnetic resonance images, I wrote the book “WebGL beginners guide“, a textbook for JavaScript programmers who are interested in learning about computer graphics. This book was the first of its kind and I am very proud of this achievement. Later on, I participated in a second book project entitled “WebGL insights” that showcased novel ideas in the world of web-based computer graphics.
During my post-doctoral fellowship I implemented two projects on the application of deep learning in medical imaging. The first project dealt wit the automatic recognition of anatomy in ultrasound (more info here). The second one, with the prediction of tissue features (histopathology) from magnetic resonance imaging.
Awake Labs
In November 2016, I joined Awake Labs. I worked almost a year in a very exciting project to create technology for people with Autism. This project was very close to my heart, as it is something that was part of my life growing up. I am very grateful for the personal and professional lessons learned during this time.
Detecting cancer for everybody in the world!
In July 2018 I co-founded EZRA with Emi Gal. Our mission is simple: help everybody in the world to find cancer early. We have a fantastic team and I am convinced that we can make our mark in society for the better. Very exciting times!