Qifa Zhou

Qifa Zhou, PhD, is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Ophthalmology at the University of Southern California (USC), holding the Zohrab A. Kaprielian Fellow in Engineering. He is affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine and the NIH Resource Center on Medical Transducer Technology. His research focuses on high-frequency ultrasonic transducers and photoacoustic imaging technologies for applications in ophthalmology, cancer imaging, and neural stimulation. Key contributions include developing piezoelectric single-crystal transducers and integrating ultrasonic systems with optical technologies.

Education: PhD in Electronic Materials Engineering from Xi'an Jiaotong University (1993). Postdoctoral work at Penn State University's Materials Research Institute.

Research Interests: Design of ultrasonic transducers, photoacoustic imaging, intravascular imaging, retinal stimulation via ultrasound, and therapeutic applications of ultrasound (e.g., sonodynamic therapy, drug delivery). His lab explores biomimetic visual prostheses and wearable ultrasound devices.

Awards: Includes the 2023 IAAM Fellowship, 2022 Viterbi Senior Research Award, and multiple best paper awards from SPIE and IEEE. He is a Fellow of SPIE and AIMBE, and serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control.

Labs/Teams: Director of Translational Research at the Ginsburg Institute for Biomedical Therapeutics, leading projects on translational medical technologies. Collaborates on hybrid imaging systems (ultrasound + optical coherence tomography) and ultrasonic neuromodulation.