Position:  Board Advisor

 

Dr. Priya N. Werahera, Assistant Research Professor, Department of Pathology, University of Colorado Denver and Health Sciences Center, received Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1994. While working on his dissertation, in 1992 he started to collaborate with the late Dr. Gary Miller and Dr. E David Crawford for 3D computer modeling of the prostate. In 1994, he was recruited to the Medical School, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and since has been working on early detection and prevention of prostate cancer. Majority of Dr. Werahera’s work involved clinical translation of Biomedical Engineering methods and techniques. He has developed a method to classify benign versus malignant prostatic tissue utilizing optical spectroscopic techniques (patent pending). Based on computer simulations, he has demonstrated that a Modified Fan-Shaped Biopsy method improve detection rate of clinically significant carcinoma by 20% over the standard method. A phase-I clinical trial is being conducted to validate this biopsy method. Other research work include DNA ploidy, nuclear grading, morphometry and chromatin texture evaluation using Image Analysis, tumor doubling time estimation using bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) infused radical prostatectomy specimens, and etiology and progression of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Dr. Werahera has 30 peer reviewed journal and conference publications. He is a Member of the University of Colorado Cancer Center and a Member of IEEE.