Kevin Haworth, Ph.D. - Curriculum Vitae (PDF)
Assistant Professor
Department of Internal Medicine,
Division of Cardiovascular Health and Disease
University of Cincinnati

Kevin Haworth received a B.S. degree in physics from Truman State University in 2003 and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in applied physics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, in 2006 and 2009, respectively.  Following his graduate studies he performed a postdoctoral fellowship under the tutelage of Christy K. Holland at the University of Cincinnati.  The work was supported by the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute via a Ruth L Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F32). He is now an Assistant Professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Health and Disease within the Department Internal Medicine, College of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati.  He also maintains a secondary faculty appointment within the Biomedical Engineering Program, College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Haworth teaches in both the undergraduate and graduate Biomedical Engineering program and is a member of the College of Medicine’s undergraduate Medical Science Program curriculum committee.  Dr. Haworth is a member of the IEEE, Acoustical Society of America (ASA), and American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM).  He serves on the Bioeffects Committee for the AIUM and on the Biomedical Acoustic Technical Committee and Public Relations Committee for the ASA. He is a former Goldwater Scholar and is involved with the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program at both the local and national level. 

Kevin Haworth’s research interests broadly include biomedical ultrasound imaging and therapy.  In particular, he is currently directing and conducting research in medical ultrasound including the use of bubbles for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. His work includes studies of cavitation imaging and acoustic droplet vaporization for gas scavenging and imaging. These studies have been funded through the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and institutional awards. Ongoing studies of passive cavitation imaging are being pursued to develop image-guidance for cavitation-based therapies such as drug delivery and thrombolysis.  Additional studies are being performed to modify the imaging algorithm for improved image quality. Dr. Haworth is the principal investigator of an NIH-NHLBI K25 grant entitled "Ultrasound-mediated oxygen scavenging for inhibition of reperfusion injury.” While new therapies to restore blood flow during myocardial infarction (i.e., a heart attack) can be life-saving, up to half of the volume of heart tissue at risk during a heart attack dies, paradoxically, due to the return of blood flow. The previously oxygen-started heart muscle responds to the influx of oxygen by creating free radicals that damage the patient’s heart cells, so-called reperfusion injury.  This project uses a novel, ultrasound-mediated technique to sequester oxygen from the blood to limit free radical formation and reduce reperfusion injury.