Alumni Advisor Consultations

Competing teams may book consultation sessions with the below advisors to aid their research. Our advisors are subject matter experts across various topics of the competition, and have volunteered their time to the Heart Hackathon.

To book a time:

  • Competing teams should refer to the booking links provided to them directly in the Alumni Advisor Calendly Links sheet, or contact hearthackathon@ismcs.org

  • Competing teams should plan their consultation session using our Agenda Template

Josh Taylor - QUT Heartbeats 2024, Prototyping Lead

I worked as an all‑round prototyping lead for QUT Heartbeats during its formation in 2025, where I led the mechanical development of the total artificial heart prototype and supported the creation of the mock circulatory loop. My work spanned CAD, 2D fluid modelling in ANSYS, electromechanical integration, and MATLAB‑based geometry optimisation, while also helping to coordinate Agile workflows for a 25+ person team and contributing to technical documentation and SXSW Sydney representation.

Before that, I worked with QUT’s Engineering Technical Services team, helping run HSE‑compliant labs and supervising engineering and architecture students in workshop environments.

I’m now a recent Mechatronics (Honours) graduate with minors in software and medical engineering. I work as a engineer within Aurizon, in their CFO & Strategy team division aiding in Asset Renewal Projects. My specialization is within Additive Manufacturing and project management.

Ben Iliev - CBU Cardiac Engineering, 2024 Mechanical Lead, 25” Design Lead

My first ISMCS conference was Vienna 2025, where I presented a mini-oral presentation on my team's usage of V-Patients by Virtonomy.io and how we integrated it within our design process.

My primary skillset involves the design/ideation process: CAD (SolidWorks), simulations, and prototyping.

Currently, I am working as a systems engineering intern at BiVACOR.

Abdelrahman Sultan - AUC Peribsen, Founder and Captain from 2023 to 25”

I am the founder of Peribsen and AUC Biomedical Innovators, where I established the team's organizational structure and bylaws, created an ISO 13485-compliant development workflow, led the team to win the Most Novel Idea Award in 2023, and spearheaded our participation in ISMCS 2024 with seven research posters and presentations.

I have been a research scientist at the Magdi Yacoub Foundation since 2019, contributing to image-based computational modeling and material characterization in cardiac research.

I hold a BSc and MSc in Mechanical Engineering from the American University in Cairo and am currently pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences through the Digital Twin for Health (DT4Health) Centre for Doctoral Training at King's College London. My research focuses on using computational methods to investigate the interplay between structure and function in cardiac disease, including fetal coarctation of the aorta and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.