Vishal M. Patel

Vishal M. Patel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, with research focusing on signal processing, computer vision, and biomedical applications. His work bridges machine learning with medical imaging and biometrics.

• Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park (2010)

Dr. Patel's research centers on medical image analysis, surgical video processing, and bias mitigation in generative models. He develops diffusion-based frameworks for ophthalmic applications like cataract surgery analysis and nystagmus video generation, while advancing face recognition systems and image restoration techniques under unconstrained conditions. His recent work integrates vision-language models for zero-shot classification in satellite imagery and maritime surveillance.

His 2025 publications reveal a strong emphasis on medical AI, particularly in surgical video understanding and neurological disease phenotyping using eye movement data. Key trends include physics-aware video generation guided by large language models, identity-preserving face restoration, and robust bias mitigation in diffusion-based synthesis. The work consistently addresses real-world challenges in medical imaging, remote sensing, and biometric security.

Major recognitions include:

• 2016 ONR Young Investigator Award
• 2016 Jimmy Lin Award for Invention
• A. Walter Tyson Assistant Professorship Award
• Best Paper Awards at IEEE AVSS 2017 and IEEE BTAS 2015
• Two Best Student Paper Awards at IAPR ICPR 2018
• Best Poster Awards at BTAS 2015 and 2016

As an Associate Editor for IEEE Signal Processing Magazine and IEEE Biometrics Compendium, Dr. Patel shapes scholarly discourse in his field. His ONR Young Investigator Award supports high-impact research in active learning for surgical videos, while editorial roles and technical committee memberships demonstrate leadership. Though student names aren't specified, his lab trains graduate researchers in medical computer vision.

Dr. Patel leads a research laboratory focused on computer vision for biomedical applications, developing frameworks like GenVOG for nystagmus video generation and StepAL for surgical step detection. The lab pioneers diffusion models for medical image synthesis, surgical skill assessment, and robust biometric systems, with strong ties to ophthalmology and neurology applications.