👋 Hello there, I’m Khalid!

I am currently a Research Fellow in the SPiN Lab at the J. Philip Kistler Stroke Research Center, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. I work with Valentina Perosa, MD, PhD and Steven Greenberg, MD, PhD.

My doctoral research in Biomedical Engineering (concentration in Medical Imaging) at Illinois Institute of Technology was conducted under the supervision of Prof. Konstantinos Arfanakis in the MRIIT Lab, part of the Medical Imaging & Artificial Intelligence Research Center, in collaboration with the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center. Previously, I completed my BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Islamic University of Technology, Bangladesh, where I conducted my undergraduate thesis under the supervision of Prof. Golam Sarowar.

My research integrates in vivo and ex vivo MRI, PET, electronic health records, and blood-based biomarkers with autopsy-confirmed neuropathology to characterize:

• Alzheimer’s disease neuropathologic change (ADNC)
• Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy neuropathologic change (LATE-NC)
• Cerebrovascular diseases, including arteriolosclerosis, atherosclerosis, and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA)

What I do

Broadly, I develop machine learning models and computational pipelines that link in vivo and ex vivo MRI with neuropathology and cognition, with the goal of building deployable biomarkers that generalize across scanners, sites, and cohorts. Check out our Tangles Marker! For related work from our lab, see ARTS [Paper] [Software] (in vivo MRI marker for arteriolosclerosis) and MARBLE [Paper] (in vivo MRI marker for LATE).

This includes work on:

• MRI‑based markers of neurofibrillary tangles, translating autopsy‑grounded signatures into tools that can be used in living cohorts.
• Quantifying brain structure and atrophy patterns to separate and combine the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, LATE, and cerebrovascular diseases.
• Tracking vascular and neurodegenerative diseases over time, integrating imaging and blood biomarkers to understand progression and its impact on cognition.

I’m excited about places where these tools can be used to

• Clean up heterogeneity in Alzheimer’s and mixed-pathology trials
• Design efficient MRI- and blood-based screening and staging strategies
• Translate pathology-grounded imaging markers into robust, containerized software that collaborators can run on their own infrastructure

How I work

I’m a visual problem-solver — I think in sketches. Before I code, I draw the pipeline: figures, logic, and failure points. Clarity first. Keyboard second.

Beyond the lab

I believe in Slow Science - good questions take time to mature.

I trust a Matador pen and an A4 paper checklist more than any productivity app.

Currently, I’m re-reading Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work! - a personal favorite.

I’m also constantly searching for the best chai or qahwa spots in the city; if you know a great Yemeni café, please send the recommendation my way.

Building BIBHA

Outside my formal research role, I’m building BIBHA Institute—a small but ambitious effort to connect research talent in Bangladesh with mentors and collaborators around brain health and aging. If the idea resonates with you, I’d love for you to explore it, help shape it, or join the founding network.

Read the founder’s note · Explore or join BIBHA Institute

Connect

I welcome opportunities to connect and collaborate on multimodal neuroimaging, neuropathology, and biomarker development.