Shinjini Kundu, M.D., Ph.D. (born 1990) is an
Indian American
Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...
physician and computer scientist at
The Johns Hopkins Hospital in
Baltimore, Maryland. Her research focuses on designing artificial intelligence systems to detect diseases that may be imperceptible to humans. She was named one of
Forbes 30 under 30
''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists of people under 30 years old issued annually by ''Forbes'' magazine and some of its regional editions. The American lists recognize 600 business and industry figures, with 30 selected in twenty industries ...
,
MIT Technology Review
''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and editorially independent of the university. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "The" in ...
's 35 innovators under 35,
a
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...
Global Shaper, and a winner of the Carnegie Science Award.
Early life and education
Before completing high school at 16,
Kundu would help her father, a computer engineer, take apart computers. This influenced her studies at
Stanford University, where she graduated with a bachelor's and master's degree in
electrical engineering,
and served as editor in chief of the university's
undergraduate research journal
An undergraduate research journal is an academic journal dedicated to publishing the work of undergraduate research students. Such journals have been described as important for the professionalization of students into their academic discipline and ...
. During this time, a class on
medical imaging led Kundu into the medical field, where she believed she could use her expertise to diagnose patients faster.
Kundu enrolled in the
Medical Scientist Training Program
The Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTPs) are dual-degree training programs that streamline the education towards both clinical (typically MD) and research doctoral degrees. MSTPs are offered by some United States medical schools, who are aw ...
conducted by
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
and the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...
.
Prior to her doctoral program, Kundu also trained as an Indian classical dancer and performed at
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsyl ...
.
Research
Kundu's research focuses on "transport-based
morphometry
Morphometrics (from Ancient Greek, Greek μορϕή ''morphe'', "shape, form", and -μετρία ''metria'', "measurement") or morphometry refers to the quantitative analysis of ''form'', a concept that encompasses size and shape. Morphometric ...
," or TBM, which applies
machine learning
Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence.
Machine ...
techniques to identify latent disease not readily observable by humans reviewing traditional
magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs).
Kundu has authored or co-authored eighteen peer-reviewed articles, including in the journals
Nature Medicine
''Nature Medicine'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by Nature Portfolio covering all aspects of medicine. It was established in 1995. The journal seeks to publish research papers that "demonstrate novel insight into disease pro ...
and
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Sc ...
and has presented at the
.
In 2018, Kundu was a speaker at the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...
A.I. for Good global summit in
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...
, where her input on transparent A.I. in medicine was adopted as a priority area under
Sustainable Development Goal 3
Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3 or Global Goal 3), regarding " Good Health and Well-being", is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015. The official wording is: "To ensure healthy lives and pro ...
.
Accolades
In 2018, Dr. Kundu was listed to
Forbes 30 under 30
''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists of people under 30 years old issued annually by ''Forbes'' magazine and some of its regional editions. The American lists recognize 600 business and industry figures, with 30 selected in twenty industries ...
's 2019 list, recognizing her contributions in healthcare. She was also named one of
MIT Technology Review
''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and editorially independent of the university. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "The" in ...
's 35 innovators under 35 for her creation of "an artificial-intelligence system that can analyze them
edical imagesto find patterns undetectable to the naked eye. Her innovation could have a fundamental impact on the way we detect and treat diseases."
[ Dr. Kundu was also the winner of the 2018 Carnegie Science Award.
In 2017, Dr. Kundu was one of four academics recognized at NRI of the Year,] Times Now
Times Now is an English news channel in India owned and operated by The Times Group. The channel launched on 23 January 2006 in partnership with Reuters. It is a pay television throughout India. Until 2016, it was India's most popular and the ...
's annually televised Indian awards show recognizing achievement by those of Indian descent. In 2017, an Elle magazine
''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the ...
article remarked, “Not only is she one of the world’s youngest MD-PhD scientists, she has developed technology that could possibly diagnose diseases as early as three years before the symptoms manifest in the patient and she actively works towards the inclusion of more women in STEM
Stem or STEM may refer to:
Plant structures
* Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang
* Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure
* Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushr ...
(Science Technology Engineering and Math).”
In 2016, Dr. Kundu was recognized in Pittsburgh Magazine
Pittsburgh Magazine is a lifestyle magazine covering the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. It hosts an annual "40 Under 40" featuring prominent young Pittsburghers. It's known for listicles including Pittsburgh's 25 Best Restaurants, Best of the 'Bur ...
's "40 Under 40," which wrote "The lightning speed of Shinjini Kundu’s academic progress could test the laws of physics, much less those of probability."
Selected publications
* S. Kundu, ''AI in medicine must be explainable'' (2021) in Nature Medicine 27(8): 1328-1328.
* S. Kundu, L. Alhilali, L. Nguyen and S. Fakhran, ''Angioglioma Misdiagnosed as Encephalomalacia on Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Over a Decade'' (2014) in Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography 28(3): 485-87.
* S. Kundu, J. Bryk and A. Alam, ''Resolution of Suicidal Ideation With Corticosteroids in a Patient With Concurrent Addison’s Disease and Depression'' (2014) in Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders 16(6).
* S. Kundu et al., Enabling early detection of osteoarthritis from presymptomatic cartilage texture maps via transport-based learning (2020) in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117(40) 24709-24719.
* S.R. Park, S. Kolouri, S. Kundu, and G. Rodhe, ''The cumulative distribution transform and linear pattern classification'' (2017) in Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis (forthcoming)
References
External links
Kundu's MIT Technology Review Talk
Kundu's TEDx Talk on Medical Imaging
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kundu, Shinjini
American people of Indian descent
21st-century American scientists
21st-century Indian women scientists
21st-century Indian scientists
Living people
Stanford University alumni
1990 births