“My research focuses on the development and application of new methods of biomedical imaging for diagnosis and treatment.”
- Department of Speech and Hearing Science
- Medical Imaging Research Lab
- 709 W. University Ave.
- Urbana, IL 61801
- Phone:(217) 326-2512
- Fax:(217) 326-2510
- Email:
- Contact Kenneth Watkin
Kenneth Watkin, Ph.D.
Education
- Degree
- Ph.D., Speech Physiology, University of Washington, 1971.
- Area of Professional Interest
- Professor Watkin teaches coursework in the areas of speech acoustics, instrumentation, and diagnostic imaging in speech-language pathology. Professor Watkin is the Director of the Medical Imaging Research Laboratory and also holds an appointment in the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign. In addition, Dr Watkin is on the faculty of the Bio-imaging Science and Technology Group, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, where he directs the Targeted Imaging Laboratory.
- Research Interests
- Professor Watkin’s research program includes high resolution 3-D multimodal brain imaging, development of imaging contrast agents for image guided therapy, and ultrasonic image analysis and tissue characterization of oro-pharyngeal cancer. His principal research area is biomedical imaging that includes:
- imaging various aspects of head and neck cancer including tissue characterization
, ultrasound , and cancer
- use of contrast agents for diagnostic purposes—microspheres and multimodal contrast agents
- development of nanoparticles for image-guided delivery of therapeutics using ultrasound gene delivery: with and without images
- development of 3D medical multimodal imaging applications
- evaluation of alternative medicines based on cell dynamics for the treatment of head and neck cancer
- Awards, Academic and Professional Honors
- Third Place, National Business Plan Competition, The Challenge, Carrot Capital, LLC, New York City, NY, 2002
- Research Investigator, Neutron Capture Facility, Fermi National Laboratory, Batavia, IL, 2002
- Multi-Modal Contrast Agents: First Steps, Contrast Media Research 2001, Invited Presentation, Capri, Italy, 2001
