Dr. Raiyan Zaman

Raiyan Zaman, Ph.D., MSEE

Dr. Raiyan Zaman’s research focuses on design and development of new medical imaging technology to overcome the limitation in current clinical systems. Her area of expertise is multimode hybrid imaging of coronary artery disease (CAD). Her research has been well-recognized by the scientific communities as evidence of 59 prestigious accolades including Rising Star Award from WMIC in 2020, Anne Klibanski Visiting Scholar Award from Massachusetts General Hospital in 2020, Science Council Best Paper Award from AAPM in 2019, Women in Molecular Imaging Network Scholar Award from WMIC in 2018, and Henry Wagner Jr. MD Best Abstract Award from SNMMI in 2017. She holds 4 US patents (one commercialized and one underway). Dr. Zaman published 59 first author peer-reviewed manuscripts and conference papers, 2 application-notes, and 1 book chapter. She has been well-funded for her research including two NIH sponsored T32 training grants from Cardiovascular Imaging and Radiation Biology at Stanford University School of Medicine (2011-2013), American Heart Association Fellowship (2013-2015), and highly competitive NHLBI sponsored K99 (2015-2018). These grants were awarded after 1st submission by scoring top 1% among all applicants. She was also awarded R56 (2020-2021) by NIH for high-priority and high-impact project based on her highly meritorious application. Her current research is sponsored by NIH R00 (2019-2023). Dr. Zaman’s vision for future is to predict heart attack or stroke years before it actually happens. This can ultimately change the future of how CAD is diagnosed and managed in the clinic. Preventing heart attack or stroke will reduce the financial burden on individuals as well as society.

In her spare time, Dr. Zaman likes to walk, drawing/painting with oil/water base colors, and singing songs from Bangladesh. She enjoys watching movies with her 10-year-old son and husband.

You can reach Dr. Zaman via email: Email

View UT Southwestern Faculty Profile

    Dr. Zaman received her bachelor’s in electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin before joining as an Applications Engineer in the Computer Platform Division at Motorola Inc. During undergraduate she was awarded as a College Scholar from the University of Texas at Austin. She was nominated for the National Dean’s List multiple times. She was a recipient of the President Scholarship and ECE Academic competitive Scholarship and became the life member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholar, the Golden Key National Honor’s Society, and the National Society of Professional Engineers. Dr. Zaman worked throughout her undergraduate study as an undergraduate research assistant in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Physics.

    After working more than 5 years at Motorola/Freescale as a Senior Engineer and Product Manager, she came back to UT at Austin to complete her master’s and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering (focus Biomedical Instrumentation) and Biomedical Engineering (focus Imaging), respectively. While working at Motorola, Dr. Zaman received a BRAVO award for above and beyond performance from the Management.  At UT at Austin, Dr. Zaman received Travel Grant Awards in four consecutive years from the United State Air Force Academy for outstanding research paper in ASLMS conference, Research Excellence Award for best original research paper from Newport/Spectra Physics, Professional Development Award from the University of Texas at Austin, Travel Grant Award from Graduate Council for accepted paper in Laser and Electro-optics conference. She was nominated twice for Chancellor’s List for her academic excellence and became a member of Magna Cum Laude Honor society.

    After her PhD, Dr. Zaman was selected for NIBIB sponsored T32 fellowship in the Multi-Disciplinary Training Program for Cardiovascular Imaging at the Stanford (CVIS) University School of Medicine. Her research work scored as one of the top abstracts presented at the Highlight Lecture during the Closing Ceremony of the World Molecular Imaging Congress, Savannah, GA.  Dr. Zaman was awarded a highly competitive Western State Affiliate Winter 2013 Postdoctoral Fellowship, from the American Heart Association (AHA) at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Zaman’s AHA funded research on “Fiber-Optic Catheter System for Dual Optical

    Imaging of Glucose Probes (18F-FDG and 6-NBDG) in Atherosclerotic Plaques,” was the winner of the Melvin Judkins Young Investigator Award by the AHA Cardiovascular Radiology and Intervention Council, Dallas, TX. Her research study on “A Novel Catheter-Based Radionuclide Imaging System to Characterize Atherosclerotic Plaque” had selected as a “Best-in-Physics” for scoring highest in the abstract review process and judged by the Scientific Program Directors of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine to reflect the highest level of scientific quality and innovation. Dr. Zaman was awarded a highly competitive and prestigious NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award ~$1.0 million for scoring between outstanding-excellent. The results from this K99 sponsored studies won three Young Investigator Awards from the SNMMI in 2017 including (1) Cardiovascular Young Investigator Award, (2) Correlative Imaging Council Walter Wolf Young Investigator Award, (3) Henry Wagner Jr., MD Best Abstract Award for scoring highest among 8000 abstract submissions.

    Dr. Zaman was an Instructor at the Department of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine followed by an Assistant Professor in Radiology at the Harvard Medical School and Assistant Investigator at the Massachusetts General Brigham Hospital. Her research has been well-recognized by the scientific communities as evidence of 59 prestigious accolades including Dean’s Award for Emerging Leader in Women’s Careers (nominated) from Harvard Medical School in 2021, Rising Star Award from WMIC in 2020, Anne Klibanski Visiting Scholar Award from Massachusetts General Brigham Hospital in 2020, Science Council Best Paper Award from AAPM in 2019, and Women in Molecular Imaging Network Scholar Award from WMIC in 2018. She holds several US patents (one commercialized and one underway). Dr. Zaman published 59 first author peer-reviewed manuscripts and conference papers, 2 application-notes, and 1 book chapter.

    Bachelor's: Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Texas at Austin

    Master's: Electrical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin

    Doctorate: Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin

    Postdoctoral Training:

    • Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NIH T-32): Stanford University School of Medicine 
    • American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship: Standford University School of Medicine
    • Women in Nuclear Medicine
      Rising Star Award (2023)
    • Dean's Award for Emerging Leader in Women's Careers (Nominated)
    • Joint Committee on the Status of Women at Harvard Medical School and HSDM (2021)
    • Anne Klibanski Visiting Scholars Award
      Center for Faculty Development (CFD) Massachusetts General Hospital for showing exceptional promises as leaders (2020-2021)
    • Bridge Award
      NIH-NHLBI for high-priority and high-impact project based on highly meritorious application (2020-2021)
    • Rising Star Award
      Women in Molecular Imaging Network interest group at WMIC Annual Conference for demonstrating outstanding potential for contributions to the field of molecular imaging (2020)
    • Top Poster Award Finalist (Senior author)
      Cardiovascular Track, Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (2020)
    • Faculty Development Travel Award
      Massachusetts General Hospital (2019)
    • Image of the Year (IOTY) Award Finalist
      Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (2019)
    • Top Abstract Award
      Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging for scoring highest in the abstract review process (2019)
    • Winner of 2019-2021 SNMMI Councils/Centers Internship Program
      Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (2019)
    • The 2018 Science Council Best Paper Award
      American Association of Physicists in Medicine (2018)
    • Women in Molecular Imaging Network Scholar Award
      World Molecular Imaging Congress (2018)
    • Cardiovascular Young Investigator Award
      Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging recognizes scientists for their best scientific abstracts on basic and clinical cardiovascular nuclear medicine (2017)
    • Correlative Imaging Council Walter Wolf Young Investigator Award
      Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging recognizes scientists for significant contributions to the promotion of nuclear medicine and advancement of molecular imaging and therapy (2017)
    • Henry Wagner Jr., MD Best Abstract Award
      Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging recognizes outstanding science and identifies the longstanding criteria of whether it is true, new, well-designed, and meaningful (2017)
    • Alavi-Mandell Award
      Journal of Nuclear Medicine (2016)
    • Biographical publication
      Who's Who in America (2016)
    • Top Abstract Award
      World Molecular Imaging Congress for ground-breaking advanced research in the field of molecular imaging (2016)
    • AAPM Leadership Reception
      American Association of Physicists in Medicine (2015)
    • Associate of AAPM Science Council Associates Mentorship Program
      American Association of Physicists in Medicine for commitment and promise shown in research field of medical physics (2015-2017)
    • Biographical publication
      Who's Who in America (2015)
    • Guest Researcher
      American Heart Association's Annual Research Roundtable (2015)
    • Travel Grant Award
      World Molecular Imaging Congress (2015)
    • Young Investigator Award (Finalist)
      American Association of Physicists in Medicine of San Francisco Chapter (2015)
    • "Best-in-Physics" Research Award
      American Association of Physicists in Medicine for scoring highest in the abstract review process and judged by the Scientific Program Directors to reflect the highest level of scientific quality and innovation (2014)
    • Biographical publication
      Who's Who in America (2014)
    • Guest Researcher
      American Heart Association's Annual Research Roundtable (2014)
    • Postdoctoral Fellow Travel Award
      Stanford Cardiovascular Institute (CVI) (2014)
    • Biographical publication
      Who's Who in America (2013)
    • Melvin Judkins Young Investigator Award
      American Heart Association Cardiovascular Radiology and Stroke Intervention Council (2013)
    • Postdoctoral Fellow Travel Award
      Stanford Cardiovascular Institute (CVI) (2013)
    • Top Abstract Award
      World Molecular Imaging Congress for scoring highest in the abstract review process (2013)
    • Travel Grant Award
      World Molecular Imaging Congress (2013)
    • Travel Grant Award
      Engineering Conferences International Conference: Advances in Optics for Biotechnology (2013)
    • Biographical publication
      Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare (2012)
    • Top Abstract Award
      Society of Nuclear Medicine Annual Meeting for scoring highest in the abstract review process (2012)
    • Biographical publication
      Who's Who in America (2011)
    • Outstanding Graduate Student Award
      University of Texas, Austin, TX (2011)
    • Travel Grant Award
      American Society for Lasers, Medicine, and Surgery for current involvement in Biomedical Laser Research (2011)
    • Travel Grant Award
      United State Air Force for an outstanding research paper in the American Society of Laser in Medicine and Surgery Conference (2010)
    • Newport/Spectra Physics Research Excellent Award
      BIOS Photonic West SPIE conference for original research paper (2009)
    • Professional Development Award
      University of Texas at Austin for presenting an original paper in the BIOS SPIE Photonic West conference (2009)
    • Travel Grant Award
      American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery for current involvement in Biomedical Laser Research (2009)
    • Professional Development Award
      University of Texas, Austin for presenting an original paper in the BIOS SPIE Photonic West conference (2008)
    • Travel Grant Award
      United State Air Force for an outstanding research paper in the American Society of Laser in Medicine and Surgery conference (2008)
    • Travel Grant Award from the Graduate Council
      University of Texas, Austin for presenting an outstanding paper in the conference in Lasers and Electro-Optics (2007)
    • The Chancellor's List Awards (2 times)
      University of Texas, Austin, TX (2005-2006)
    • Kudos award for "Above and Beyond Performance"
      Motorola Inc. management (2003)
    • College Scholar
      University of Texas, Austin, TX (1999)
    • Electrical and Computer Engineering Academic Competitive Scholarship
      University of Texas, Austin, TX (1996-1997)
    • Dean's Honor List
      St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX (1995-1996)
    • President Scholarship
      St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX (1995-1996)
    • Richter scholarship
      St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX (1995-1996)
    • The National Dean's List Awards (6 times)
      University of Texas, Austin, TX (1995-2006)