Home Department: Computer Science
Supported by: Division of Pain Medicine VPUE grant and Bio-X
Mentor: Sean Mackey, Professor of Neurology and Anesthesia

Amy Sentis is a rising senior majoring in computer science, focusing on biocomputation. In her research in the Systems Neuroscience and Pain Lab, Amy is examining alternative approaches to train patients who suffer from chronic pain to better self-manage their pain. Using machine learning algorithms for multivariate classification, she is analyzing fMRI data from areas of the brain involved in pain perception and regulation to detect differences in brain activation from subjects who are attempting to increase or decrease the perceived pain resulting from a thermal stimulation. After graduation, Amy plans to pursue an MD/PhD program.

Poster presented at the Stanford Bio-X Interdisciplinary Initiatives Symposium on August 26, 2013:

Support Vector Machine Classification of Chronic Pain States Using Real-Time fMRI

Amy Sentis¹, Epifanio Bagarinao²,Sean Mackey²
[Departments of Computer Science¹ and Anesthesia², Stanford University]