Dr Ana Namburete completed a BASc Honours degree in Biomedical Engineering (2011) in the Department of Engineering Science at Simon Fraser University (Canada), where she worked on automatically quantifying the mechanics of muscle contraction during live cycling trials.
In October 2011, she moved to Oxford to pursue a doctorate degree supported by a Commonwealth Scholarship. Following completion of her DPhil, Dr Namburete joined St Hilda's College as an Associate Research Fellow.
In 2016, she was awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) Research Fellowship under the Engineering for Development Research scheme, at which point she was admitted into Faculty at the Department of Engineering Science.
Dr Namburete's research is guided by the fact that ultrasound imaging is amongst the first steps in a continuum of pregnancy care. Although ultrasound machines are increasingly available in low-income settings, the lack of suitably trained sonographers presents a significant roadblock for delivery of safe and reliable prenatal care.
Her research focuses on creating computational algorithms (using machine learning) to enhance the diagnostic value of sonographic images. Through this work, Dr Namburete's group aims to establish ultrasound as a cost-effective tool for early assessment of brain maturation during pregnancy.