Winok is a Research Fellow in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Their research aims to better understand the impact of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy on the brain.
Winok also works on making early diagnosis and continuous check-ups for (vascular) diseases accurate, affordable, and accessible for everyone across the world. They co-invented the Vascular Imaging Tool for the Auricle (VITA) in collaboration with Dr. Elliot Bentine at the Department of Physics. VITA is a medical imaging device that measures characteristics of small vessels and blood cells. The device is portable, non-invasive, and easy to use, which enables use in resource-poor settings and community care. Through entrepreneurship, Winok sets out to bring VITA to market so that it could be used to measure and monitor early signs of microvascular changes associated with cardio- and cerebrovascular disease, diagnosis of different types of anaemia, and monitoring inflammatory response to infections.
Winok uses their background in Neuroimaging to study the effect of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy on the brain across the lifespan using MRI and microvascular imaging. These disorders are associated with earlier occurrence of stroke and cognitive impairment. A better understanding of how hypertensive disorders of pregnancy affect brain health could help improve outcomes of women who have had hypertensive disorders of pregnancy through the right interventions at the right time.
