Director, Kata Design Studio, Department of Neurology
Research Interests:
- Physics Driven Animation
- Neuro-motor Rehabilitation Using Interactive Experiences
- Virtual and Augmented Reality for Medicine
Omar Ahmad, Ph.D. is the Director of Innovative Engineering in the Department of Neurology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and also the Director and Chief Creative Engineer of the Kata design group in the Department of Neurology. He is responsible for Kata’s creative output and all Kata personnel. His strategic vision focuses on four fundamental aspects:
- Fostering the best entertainment content possible through artistic/emotional mastery, scientific research, and creative technological innovation
- Creating visceral user experiences based upon neuroscience and physics based animations for engendering movements beneficial for motor recovery and brain repair
- Overall vision for all Kata products, bridging the gap between academia and commercial-quality engineering
- Applying the creative output of Kata to medical therapeutics on the clinical floor and iterating through design with physicians and clinical staff
Dr. Ahmad is the inventor of a number of physics-based real-time technologies and algorithms to create visceral user experiences that engender specific movements for greater brain plasticity after brain injury. He is responsible for maintaining tangible product output for KATA, so that it exceeds, in quality and innovation, what would be expected from academic or commercial production in isolation.
He received his BS, MSE, and PhD degrees in Computer Science, from the Johns Hopkins University, GWC Whiting School of Engineering.