The T.E.C.I. Center Team

Carla M. Pugh, MD, PhD, FACS

Director

Dr. Carla Pugh is a Professor of Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. Her clinical area of expertise is Acute Care Surgery. Dr. Pugh obtained her undergraduate degree at U.C. Berkeley in Neurobiology and her medical degree at Howard University School of Medicine. Upon completion of her surgical training at Howard University Hospital, she went to Stanford University and obtained a PhD in Education. She is the first surgeon in the United States to obtain a PhD in Education. Her goal is to use technology to change the face of medical and surgical education.

Dr. Pugh holds three patents on the use of sensor and data acquisition technology to measure and characterize hands-on clinical skills. Currently, over two hundred medical and nursing schools are using one of her sensor enabled training tools for their students and trainees. Her work has received numerous awards from medical and engineering organizations. In 2011, Dr. Pugh received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Barak Obama at the White House. She is considered to be a leading, international expert on the use of sensors and motion tracking technologies for performance measurement. In 2014, she was invited to give a TEDMED talk on the potential uses of technology to transform how we measure clinical skills in medicine. Recently, Dr. Pugh was inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators.

Brett Wise

Researcher and Fabrication Expert

Brett Wise graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, receiving his BS in Neurobiology. After working with Dr. Pugh’s lab under a NIH funded R01 grant as an undergraduate, he was hired on as a full-time researcher. When Dr. Pugh made the transition from UW-Madison to Stanford, Brett jumped at the opportunity to follow her to California. His responsibilities in the TECI Center include developing and fabricating simulators such as a bleeding pelvic tumor model and pediatric clubfoot casting model, as well as assisting with data analysis and data collections. A few of the current projects occupying his time include the SBIR tourniquet training system, data analysis of the previous DoD grant plus active studies, development of wearable fabric sensors, and working to understand how Virtual Reality can impact the medical field. In his free time, Brett enjoys golfing, spending time outdoors and traveling with family or friends.

Su Yang

Research Data Analyst

Su Yang graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, receiving his BS in Electrical Engineering with a sub focus in Computer Science. Su’s technical background consists of designing and fabricating sensor hardware used in medical simulators and coding the software used to capture data.

Calvin Perumalla, PhD

Senior Research Engineer

Dr. Calvin Perumalla joined the TECI Center team as a postdoctoral researcher in February 2021. He received his Masters and Doctorate degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of South Florida. His graduate research work involved building a novel cardiac rhythm monitor with enhanced diagnostic capabilities. He was also involved in building machine learning models to detect cardiac abnormalities. Dr. Perumalla later spent two years working at a late-stage startup where he was involved in building AI models to detect anomalies in computer networks. He is passionate about using AI to improve the quality of human life and his current research interests include Computer Vision, Image Segmentation and Surgical Data Science.

Audrey Bowler

Executive Administrative Coordinator

Audrey joined the TECI Center team in August 2021, after working in the General Surgery Department at Stanford University School of Medicine supporting four Breast Oncology Surgeons. With several years of administrative experience in the academic realm and a track record of strong performance in high-volume, high-pressure environments, Audrey skillfully manages administrative matters for both Dr. Carla Pugh and the TECI Center research team.

Hongfei (Grace) Li

Research Data Analyst 

Hongfei Li joined the TECI Center team in March 2023. She received her Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Technology at Sun Yat-sen University. She is currently graduating from San José State University with a Masters in Statistics. She previously worked as a software engineer in HSBC Bank's IT department for three years. She was mainly responsible for providing technical support for application development. Her technical background includes program development, data wrangling, statistical analysis and machine learning. In her spare time she enjoys running, cooking, watching soccer and spending time with her family.

Jennifer Dao

Executive Administrator

Jennifer Dao joined in April 2023 as an administrative associate for Dr. Pugh and the TECI Center. She has a bachelor's degree in Cognitive Science from the University of California, Berkeley and brings over a decade of experience collaborating with executives on complex, high stakes projects. Jennifer has worked in various industries including healthcare, education, and environmental sciences. She has a number of successful projects under her belt, but her proudest achievements include securing several grants to fund career technical education facilities at West Contra Costa Unified School District, and administering a high-profile decommissioning, remediation, and utility relocation project at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. As a lifelong learner, Jennifer is inspired by the use of technology to improve education and health outcomes. In her spare time, she loves to try different Bay Area restaurants and take long walks with her dog.

Cameron Schultz

Research Data Analyst

Cameron joined the TECI Center team in April 2023. She received her Bachelor’s in Economics and Mathematics, and her Master’s in Applied Data Science from the University of Southern California. She previously worked as a software engineer under Hallmark’s Data Science team, where she specialized in front-end development and focused on converting time-series data and forecasting models into user-friendly, consumable information. Cameron is particularly interested in the intersection between data and design, and enjoys data visualization and interpretation post-analysis. She has experience in data mining, machine learning, and statistical analysis, and endeavors to use her technical background to improve human health and well-being.

Kenneth Perrone, MD

Colorectal Surgeon

Ken is a fellowship-trained colon and rectal surgeon. His clinical practice covers a wide range of problems related to the colon, rectum, and anus. Ken initally joined TECI as a research resident following his PGY2 year and returned in 2023 after his Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship at Creighton Unversity. In addition to his clinical practice, he conducts research at the TECI Center,  focusing on quantifying physician performance using sensors.