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Divers Alert Network Scholar

Contact Information:


Virginie Papadopoulou

9010A Mary Ellen Jones Building
116 Manning Drive
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7575

papadopoulou@unc.edu

Research Areas:
  • Biomedical Imaging
Education:
  • 2016 Ph.D. Bioengineering, Imperial College London, UK
  • 2011 MSci Physics with Theoretical Physics, Imperial College London, UK

Bio

Dr. Papadopoulou is an Associate Professor in the Department of Radiology and Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and heads the ENHANCE laboratory (Est. 2024). Her research revolves around ultrasound and microbubbles, their detection and gas physiology modulation in vivo, and their applications in addressing today’s needs in biomedical disease and human performance applications.
A physicist by background, “Virginia” received her PhD in Bioengineering in 2016 from Imperial College London in Prof. Mengxing Tang’s ultrasound laboratory, concurrently training in the pathophysiology of decompression under a European Union Marie Curie fellowship. She joined UNC Chapel Hill as a postdoc in Prof. Paul Dayton’s laboratory in 2016, where she stayed as Research Faculty and eventually Research Director until 2024, before joining Radiology and Biomedical Engineering as an Associate Professor in 2024. Her team’s work refining the ultrasonic assessment of decompression bubbles is internationally recognized, with distinctions including the 2017 DAN/Bill Hamilton Memorial Award from the Women Divers Hall of Fame, the 2020 Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Society (UHMS) Young Scientist Award, the title of Divers Alert Network Scholar since 2018, as well as the UHMS President’s Award for Best Presentation in 2023 and in 2024. Dr. Papadopoulou was also the recipient of the 2022 University of North Carolina Women’s Leadership Council “Faculty to Undergraduate Mentoring Award”. Most recently, she served on the National Academies 2024 Workshop Committee “Emerging Technology to Address Naval Undersea Medicine Needs”.
Learn more about opportunities to Join The Ec(h)osystem

Research Interests

Biomedical Imaging
Human performance
Extreme Environmental Physiology
Cardiovascular ultrasound imaging
Contrast-enhanced ultrasound
Ultrasound gas and drug delivery


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