Biomedical Engineering Faculty Hai-Chao Han, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering Educational Background: Ph.D., Xian Jiaotong University, China Jointly Trained at University of California at San Diego Postdoctoral, Georgia Institute of Technology Areas of Research Interest: Prediction of cardiac function Ventricular remodeling Arterial wall remodeling Vascular grafts and tissue engineering Cellular responses to mechanical stress Research Summary: Dr. Han specializes in the field of cardiovascular biomechanics. His research focuses on cardiac function and ventricular modeling, arterial wall remodeling under mechanical stress, vascular grafts, and tissue engineering. The overall goal of Dr. Han's research is to understand the role of mechanical stress in tissue remodeling and in cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Han's current projects investigate intimal hyperplasia in arteries and arterial remodeling under longitudinal stress, as well as the wall stress and shape of saccular aneurysms. Both experimental ex vivo organ culture techniques and computational finite element analysis are employed in these studies. Dr. Han's research has been funded by the American Heart Association and the National Institute of Health. Dr. Han is the Graduate Advisor of Record for the Biomedical Engineering Program, who is the academic advisor for students in the program and perspective students. Dr. Han is also a reviewer for many journals in the biomedical engineering area. Selected Publications: Han HC, Marita S, Ku DN. (2006). Changes of opening angle in hypertensive and hypotensive arteries in 3-day organ culture. J Biomech. 39(13):2410-8. Han HC, Martin RP, Lerakis G, Lerakis S. (2005). Prediction of the left ventricular ejection fraction improvement using echocardiography and mechanical modeling. J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 18(7):718-21. Han HC. (2004). An echocardiogram-based 16-segment model for predicting left ventricular ejection fraction improvement. J Theor Biol. 228(1):7-15. Davis NP, Han HC, Wayman B, Vito RP (2005). Sustained axial loading lengthens arteries in organ culture. Ann Biomed Eng. 33(7): 869-879. Han HC, Lerakis S (2004). The relation between viable segments and the left ventricular ejection fraction improvement. J Med Eng Technol 28(6): 242-253. Ku DN, Han HC (2003), Assessment of function in tissue engineered vascular grafts. In Functional Tissue Engineering, Springer-Verlag. New York, NY. Chapter 19, 258-267. Han HC, Ku DN, Vito RP (2003). Arterial wall adaptation under elevated axial stretch in organ culture. Ann Biomed Eng. 31(4): 403-411. Han HC, Oshinski JN, Ku DN, Pettigrew RI (2002). A left ventricle model to predict post-revascularization ejection fraction based on cine magnetic resonance images. ASME J Biomech Eng. 124(1): 52-55. Oshinski JN, Han HC, Ku DN, Pettigrew RI (2001). Quantitative prediction of improvement in cardiac function after revascularization using magnetic resonance imaging and modeling—initial results. Radiology. 221(2): 515-522. Han HC, Ku DN (2001). Contractile responses in arteries subjected to hypertensive pressure in seven-day organ culture. Ann Biomed Eng. 29(6): 467-475. Han HC, Zhao L, Huang M, Hou LS, Huang YT, Kuang ZB (1998). Postsurgical change of the opening angle of canine autogenous vein graft. ASME J Biomech Eng 120(2): 211-216. Han HC, Fung YC (1996). Direct measurement of transv]erse residual strains in aorta. Am J Physiol. 270: H750-H759. Han HC, Fung YC (1995). Longitudinal strain in canine and porcine aortas. J Biomech. 28(5): 637-642. Contact Information: College of Engineering, Room EB 3.04.18 Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering University of Texas at San Antonio Phone: 210-458-4952 Fax: 210-458-6504 Haichao.Han@utsa.edu Website: http://engineering.utsa.edu/~hhan Return to faculty page   Return to top of page