Dr Babak Shadgan

Dr. Babak Shadgan is a clinical photonics researcher who joined the Vancouver Prostate Centre as a Research Scientist in 2014.

Babak received his MD degree in 1994 and a Master degree in Sports & Exercise Medicine from the University of London in 2001. In September 2006, he joined the UBC Faculty of Medicine to conduct a PhD study on optical monitoring of muscle function and metabolism. To extend his knowledge in cutting edge clinical optics, he completed a fellowship on NIRS-Diffused Optical Tomography at Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging of Harvard University in 2009. Babak received his PhD in 2011 and completed a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR) / Rick Hansen Postdoctoral fellowship on optical monitoring of bladder dysfunction in people with spinal cord injury at the center for international collaboration on repair discoveries (ICORD).

Babak has been working with Dr. Lynn Stothers, Dr. Andrew Macnab and Dr. Mark Nigro on near infrared spectroscopy of the bladder function and pelvic floor muscle condition at the Bladder Care Center of the UBC hospital and Blusson Spinal Cord Center from 2008. As a muscle expert who has been focusing on noninvasive optical monitoring of muscle function, his collaboration on studying voiding dysfunctions in adult and children helped the group to find evidences of detrusor fatigue as a possible mechanism behind the bladder dysfunction. His current research interests focus on developing novel clinical applications of wireless near infrared spectroscopy for noninvasive monitoring of tissue viability, metabolism and function with a particular interest in diagnosis and monitoring of bladder dysfunctions and prostate conditions.

A senior member of the international society of optics & photonics (SPIE), Dr. Shadgan was recognized as the top graduate researcher of 2010 in the field of optics & photonics for developing several optical diagnostic methods in medicine. Babak is a recipient of several national and international research awards, including a 2006 BC Lung Association fellowship, a 2007 MSFHR Senior Graduate Trainee Award, a 2009 VCHRI Rising Star Award, a prestigious D.J. Lovell Award in 2010, the 2010 DHRN Research Award, a MSFHR / Rick Hansen Post Doctoral Award in 2011, the 2012 SPIE Biophotonics Award, a University of Calgary Eye’s High Post Doctoral Award, and a CIHR Post Doctoral Award in 2013. He was also recognized as a winner of the 2013 Technology Innovation World Cup in Munich, Germany.

Dr. Shadgan has served on a number of grant review panels including the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP), the American Institute of Biological Science and the USAMRMC. Babak is an editorial board member of the JSM Biotechnology & Biomedical Engineering and a member of the “perfusion & oxygenation imaging & monitoring” program committee of the SPIE.