I'm Hadi Afsharan, an early-career research associate at the University of Western Australia (UWA). I completed my PhD in June 2023, focusing on polarisation sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) for medical diagnosis. Before my PhD, I worked for three years at various research centers at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, studying cancer biomarker detection and photodynamic therapy.

My PhD thesis, "Development of Polarisation-Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography for Application in Medical Diagnosis," made significant contributions to the field. I developed a non-invasive imaging method to diagnose hypertension and diabetes by assessing retinal blood vessel walls, achieving 100% sensitivity and specificity. This work led to a Provisional Patent (PCT/KR2023/006169).

I've received several prestigious scholarships, including the Australian Government International Research Training Program Scholarship and the University Postgraduate Award from UWA. I was also offered scholarships from Monash University and the Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore.

My research has been recognized through various awards, including being a Student Finalist at the Biophotonics Congress and Runner-Up for the best short talk at the Australian Institute of Physics annual student conference. I also won the "People's Choice" award for a poster presentation at the Engineering and Mathematical Sciences HDR conference in 2019.

My experience has equipped me with skills in ethics applications, project management, biomedical engineering, multidisciplinary research, data analysis, and manuscript preparation. I also have experience mentoring honours and masters' students.