Our Team

Dr. M Ali Saghiri serves as the Principal Investigator (PI) and Founder of the Sugar Voice project.

Dr. Saghiri is the Director of the AFSAR Biomaterials Lab at the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine and Assistant Professor in the Department of Restorative Dentistry.

He also serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Endodontics at the University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco and as a Health Scientist at the East Orange Veterans Affairs Medical Center in New Jersey.

Dr. Saghiri's role within the team encompasses various critical responsibilities, including spearheading the collection of a robust dataset and the creation of a deep learning model. He supervises project tasks, maintains regular communication with team members, and oversees all reporting objectives at RSDM. Dr. Saghiri's extensive experience includes securing various grants, working with influential industrial players such as Philips Oral Health Care, filing patents for innovative medical technologies, and successfully transitioning projects into tangible products. His expertise in the field of medical innovations is underscored by a portfolio of more than 130 publications and 5 patents.

Dr. Michael Conte received his DMD from Rutgers School of Dental Medicine and completed his MPH at Rutgers. He is the Senior Associate Dean for the office of Clinical Affairs and is a Full Professor in the Department of Restorative Dentistry. Dr Conte serves as Medical Director of Rutgers School of Dental Medicine as well as the Director of Infection Control and Environmental Safety. Dr. Conte also oversees the dental school's Office of Facilities and the school Extramural Programs.  Dr. Conte is a highly respected dentist and educator.

Dr. Steven M. Morgano is a fellow of the American College of Prosthodontists, a past president of the Massachusetts section, and has been a member of the College since 1979. He has taught at eight different dental schools, including Boston University and Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and at universities in Kuwait and Dubai. He is currently a professor and chairman of the Department of Restorative Dentistry at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine. Dr. Morgano received his DMD degree from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, completed his General Practice Residency at Philadelphia General Hospital, and received his specialty certificate in prosthodontics from the Hines Veterans Affairs Medical Center in 1979. Dr. Morgano is also a Diplomate of the American Board of Prosthodontics and has authored and co-authored over 90 articles in numerous dental journals.

Dr. Kasra Karamifar is a dentist with more than 6 years of experience in dental research and more than 60 publications. Dr. Karamifar is an Affiliate Member of the Sector of Innovation in Medicine and Dentistry within the Dr. H Afsar Lajevardi Research Cluster (DHAL) in Hackensack, NJ. 

Dr. Karamifar played a pivotal role in gathering preliminary research data and will continue to contribute by helping build a robust dataset and understanding regarding the complications of diabetes on the oral cavity and saliva in particular. 

Dr. Ali M Saghiri is an Assistant Professor of Computer Engineering at William Paterson University in New Jersey. Dr. Saghiri has more than 60 published articles. 

Dr. Saghiri secured several federal grants which were crucuial in preparing datasets, training, and fine tuning the deep learning model. His expertise is invaluable to the project. 

Dr. Roozbeh Behroozmand is an Associate Professor and Director of the Speech Neuroscience Lab at the University of South Carolina. 

Dr. Behroozmand possesses extensive experience in speech neuroscience and communication disorders coupled with a background in biomedical engineering. 

His expertise aids the team in gathering the most accurate dataset, proposing the most efficient model, and working closely with the PI to analyze and eliminate confounding factors. He has more than 60 peer review publications and has secured several federal grants.

Dr. Chris Poellabauer is a Professor at the Knight Foundation School of Computing & Information Sciences at Florida International University. 

Dr. Poellabauer contributes through preparing suitable and robust datasets and optimizing the training of the deep learning model. 

Dr. Poellabauer works closely with the PI in regard to using innovative technologies to extract voice features for healthcare applications. 

Some of the most common features include: 

Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs): MFCCs are a type of feature that is used in speech recognition. 

Prosodic Features: Prosodic features are features that relate to the rhythm, intonation, and stress of the voice. These features can be used to identify changes in the speaker's emotional state or to detect signs of neurological disorders.

Acoustic Features: Acoustic features are features that relate to the physical properties of the speech signal, such as the pitch, loudness, and formant frequencies. These features can be used to identify changes in the speaker's vocal tract or to detect signs of respiratory problems. 

Dr. Poellabauer has more than 160 Publications and an extensive history of successfully securing federal funding.

Dr. Celia Stewart is a speech pathologist and tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders at NYU. 

Dr. Stewart is vital in preparing tests to gather the best voice samples and creating more accurate datasets. She also assists the team in testing the performance of the proposed model. 

Dr. Stewart will help the PI standardize the protocol of voice collections, store the voice data, and communicate with patients. 

Dr. Stewart has been a practicing Speech Pathologist for more than 20 years and has more than 25 published peer reviewed articles.

Dr. Maziar Farhadi is a dentist with interests in the complications of diabetes on vocal cord and lung activities. 

Dr. Farhadi joined the Sector of Innovation in Medicine and Dentistry within the Dr. H Afsar Lajevardi Research Cluster (DHAL) in Hackensack, NJ as a Visiting Researcher.

Dr. Farhadi was responsible for preparing landscape and preliminary studies. With computer literacy and experience in programming and working with various AI models, Dr. Farhadi will be integral in gathering and analyzing voice samples, preparing the dataset, and aiding in training and testing the deep learning model. 

Dr. Farhadi brings prior experience in gathering voice samples and analyzing them using Praat software. His role is crucial in both collecting and analyzing voice samples and testing the performance of the proposed model.

Julia Vakhnovetsky holds a BS from Rutgers University and currently is a dental student at the University of Michigan. She has more than 10 publications with the PI.

Julia helped the PI write IRBs and facilitated consent, communications, and scheduling with the patients. 

She played a crucial role in gathering preliminary data and will continue to assist the team by gathering and analyzing voice samples.

Matthew Nekoui holds a BA in Biological Sciences from Rutgers University and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Biomedical Sciences from Rutgers University.

Possessing a natural knack for seamless connection and effective communication, Matthew will play a crucial role in patient communication and coordination. Matthew is also responsible for all digital web activity in regards to the project as a whole.