About me

I passed through a continuous development process that involved studying at two Romanian universities, simultaneously, continued by a transfer with full scholarship in The United Kingdom. There I studied, and worked for seven and a half years. The experience of working around people from France, Germany, Netherlands, and Spain made me realise that I have a lot more to learn in the work environment in The Netherlands.

My engineering path started with the university studies in my hometown, in Bucharest, Romania. With the honourable mention obtained at the national Physics olympiad in the last year of high-school I was accepted for undergraduate studies, without contest, at The Physics Faculty, The University of Bucharest. I applied with contest at The University Politehnica of Bucharest and got accepted in my first choice department: automatic control and computers. For three years I studied at the two universities in the same time and every year I was eligible for prize based on my marks at both places.

Jobs available abroad in a multi-disciplinary field is a dream for a person living in Romania. This is the reason why I chose to continue my studies by transfer at The University of Sheffield in 2005. In the period 2005-2008 I pursued my undergraduate studies in The United Kingdom. Due to the scholarship contract obligations of having extra-curricular activities I started The Romanian society at The Students' Union. I was the president of the society for two years. I organised events with and for Romanians, advertised them, managed people and funds. Through me there was a strong link between this national society and The Romanian embassy and joint events were organised. For these extra-curricular activities I was nominated “woman of the year”, in 2007, by The Students' Union in Sheffield, The United Kingdom.

The final year project for the degree of Masters of Engineering investigated the material properties for a BioMagMEMS sensor. The sensor had FeCo alloy deposited by magnetron sputtering onto the 5x5 mm silicon substrate and a plasma polymer as outside detecting layer. Contact angle goniometry was used to show that the polymer coating was successfully deposited onto the metallic layer. It was shown using the magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) technique that the polymer coating did not influence the magnetic properties of the device. The degree of fragmentation for the plasma polymer was analysed using the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) technique. Work was done towards developing a model using ellipsometry to match the complex refractive index of the samples. The concentration range for Fibrinogen that was detectable by this type of sensor was analysed using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. My work for this project received a first class mark.

With the diploma of Masters of Engineering in biomaterial science and tissue engineering I decided to deepen my knowledge of engineering in the cardiovascular science. In the period 2008 - 2013 I worked for the European project euHeart. The research aim was to investigate the optimal choices for each step of a clinical processing workflow for the aortic coarctation. The hypothesis for this work is that the computational fluid dynamic simulations may add valuable information to the clinical data in order to deliver a diagnostic without further invasive clinical tests.

The oral presentation at Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge, UK, that includes parts of my first year work in euHeart.

Training courses

  • 2019 Health informatics: the cutting edge from edX;
  • 2019 Managing international projects from LinkedIn;
  • 2018 Make the most of the EU resources for your region or city from European Committee of The Regions;
  • 2018 Introduction in business systematisation from Lorand Soares Szasz , at Soares Consulting;
  • 2017 Starting a business in The Netherlands from The Chamber of Commerce , in Eindhoven, The Netherlands;
  • 2017 Deal maker - step into the world of venture capital from TU/e Innovation Lab , in Eindhoven, The Netherlands;
  • 2017 Your first business in The Netherlands from Romanian Business Community , in Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
  • 2017 Public speaking from Romanian Business Community , in Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
  • 2017 Efficient networking from Romanian Business Community , in Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
  • 2016 Get maximum return on innovation at DTW , Eindhoven, The Netherlands;
  • 2016 Innovation network for active and healthy ageing at DTW , Eindhoven, The Netherlands;
  • 2014 Data science at Philips High Tech Campus , Eindhoven, The Netherlands;
  • 2014 International introduction - new employees at TU/e , Eindhoven, The Netherlands;
  • 2009 Heart imaging at SCMR , Mexico;
  • 2007 Diplomatic seminar at AEGEE , Turkey;
  • 2004 Radioactivity in our Life at BEST , Ekaterinburg, Russia.

Honours and awards

  • 2020 Certificate of Attendance in team Telefection at EuvsVirus Hackathon in Vlaardingen, The Netherlands;
  • 2017 Certificate of Attendance at TEDxEindhoven in Eindhoven, The Netherlands;
  • 2017 LinkedIn badge for The Best Presentation at HTXL Market Research Hackathon from HighTech XL in Eindhoven, The Netherlands;
  • 2017 Certificate of Attendance at PhD Day in Groningen, The Netherlands;
  • 2012 The British Heart Foundation award for The Volunteer of The Year in Sheffield, UK;
  • 2011 Skills for Work Certificate from The Careers Service at The University of Sheffield, UK;
  • 2007 Woman of The Year Award from Sheffield Students' Union at The University of Sheffield, UK;
  • 2006 Team Building Certificate from UNDP in Romania;
  • 2005 60 000 euros scholarship for three years of undergraduate study in UK, from The Romanian Government and UNDP through “The Romanian Government” special scholarship program in Romania;
  • 2003 Honorable Mention with the paper on Crystallography at The Session of Scientific Communications from The University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania.

Scientific publications

  • Weese, J., Groth, A., Nickisch, H., Barschdorf, H., Weber, F.M., Velut, J., Castro, M., Toumoulin, C., Coatrieux, J.L., De Craene, M., Piella, G., Tobon-Gomez, C., Frangi, A.F., Barber, D.C., Valverde, I., Shi, Y., Staicu, C., Brown, A., Beerbaum, P., Hose, D.R. (2013) “Generating anatomical models of the heart and the aorta from medical images for personalized physiological simulations”, Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, 51(11), 1209-1219.
  • Shi, Y., Brown, A.G., Staicu, C. , Lawford, P.V., Hose, D.R (2012) “One-dimensional simulation of haemodynamics in aortic coarctation”, Journal of Biomechanics, 45(1), S38.
  • Brown, A.G., Shi, Y., Marzo, A., Staicu, C. , Valverde, I., Beerbaum, P., Lawford, P.V., Hose, D.R. (2012) “Accuracy vs. computational time: Translating aortic simulations to the clinic”, Journal of Biomechanics, 45(3), 516-523.
  • Smith, N., De Vecchi, A., McCormick, M., Nordsletten, D., Camara, O., Frangi, A.F., Delingette, H., Sermesant, M., Relan, J., Ayache, N., Krueger, M.W., Schulze, H.W., Hose, D.R., Valverde, I., Beerbaum, P., Staicu, C. , Siebes, M., Spaan, J., Hunter, P., Weese, J., Lehmann, H., Chapelle, D., Rezavi, R. (2011) “euHeart: personalized and integrated cardiac care using patient-specific cardiovascular modelling”, Interface Focus, 1, 349-364.
  • Valverde, I., Staicu, C., Grotenhuis, H., Marzo, A., Rhode, K., Shi, Y., Brown, A.G., Tzifa, A., Hussain, T., Greil, G., Lawford, P.V., Razavi, R., Hose, D.R., Beerbaum, P. (2011) “Predicting hemodynamics in native and residual coarctation: preliminary results of a Rigid-Wall Computational-Fluid-Dynamics model (RW-CFD) validated against clinically invasive pressure measures at rest and during pharmacological stress”, Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, 13(Suppl 1), 49-52.
  • Singh, P.K., Marzo, A., Staicu, C. , William, M.G., Wilkinson, I., Lawford, P.V., Rufenacht, D.A., Bijlenga, P., Frangi, A.F., Hose, D.R., Patel, U.J., Coley, S.C. (2010) “The effects of aortic coarctation on cerebral hemodynamics and its importance in the etiopathogenesis of intracranial aneurysms”, Journal of Vascular and Interventional Neurology, 3(1), 17-30.

Conference papers

  • Staicu, C. , Valverde, I., Lycett, R., Shi, Y., Barber, D.C., Beerbaum, P., Hose, D.R. (2011) “Image based modelling of blood flow for aortic coarctation studies”, Physiological Fluid Mechanics: The Cardiovascular System, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK.
  • Valverde, I., Staicu, C., Marzo, A., Grotenhuis, H., Rhode, K., Tzifa, A., Razavi, R., Lawford, P.V., Hose, D.R., Beerbaum, P. (2011) “Prediction of pressure gradient in aortic coarctation by computational fluid-dynamic simulations”, Cardiology in the Young - 45th Annual Meeting of the Association for the European Paediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, S117-S118, Granada, Spain.
  • Valverde, I., Staicu, C. , Grotenhuis, H., Marzo, A., Rhode, K., Shi, Y., Brown, A.G., Tzifa, A., Hussain, T., Greil, G., Lawford, P.V., Razavi, R., Hose, D.R., Beerbaum, P. (2011) “Predicting hemodynamics in native and residual coarctation: preliminary results of a rigid-wall computational-fluid-dynamics model (RW-CFD) validated against clinically invasive pressure measures at rest and during pharmacological stress”, Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR)/European Society of Cardiology (EuroCMR) - Joint Scientific Sessions, Nice, France.
  • Staicu, C. , Valverde, I., Beerbaum, P., Hose, D.R. (2010) “The designing of a 3D modeling framework to quantify pathological changes associated with aortic coarctation”, European Society of Biomechanics (ESB), 17th Annual Congress, Edinburgh, UK.
  • Barber, D.C., Staicu, C. , Shi, Y., Valverde, I., Beerbaum, P., Lawford, P.V., Hose, D.R. (2010) “Computation of aortic pulse wave velocity by registration of time series images”, European Society of Biomechanics (ESB), 17th Annual Congress, Edinburgh, UK.
  • Staicu, C. , Barber, D.C., Lawford, P.V., Hose, D.R. (2010) “Workflow for detection of aortic coarctation”, Medical School Research Meeting, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
  • Staicu, C. , Barber, D.C., Lawford, P.V., Hose, D.R. (2009) “Detection of aortic coarctation”, Medical School Research Meeting, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.

Oral presentations

  • Shi, Y., Brown, A.G., Staicu, C. , Lawford, P.V., Hose, D.R. (2012) ‘One-Dimensional Simulation of Hemodynamics in Aortic Coarctation’ – abstract accepted for oral presentation for European Society of Biomechanics (ESB) 18th Congress, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal.
  • Staicu, C., Lawford, P.V., Barber, D.C. and Hose, D.R. (2011) ‘Diagnostic Tool for Aortic Coarctation’, First World Cardiovascular, Diabetes, and Obesity Online Conference - TargetMeeting.
  • Hose, D.R., Barber, D.C., Staicu, C., and Lawford, P.V. (2011) ‘The Computation of Pulse Wave Velocity in the Human Aorta by Registration of Time-Series Medical Images’, Physiological Fluid Mechanics: The Cardiovascular System, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK.
  • Staicu, C., Lawford, P.V., Barber, D.C. and Hose, D.R. (2011) ‘Aortic Coarctation Disease – Characterization Workflow’, The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
  • Hose, D.R., Barber, D.C., Staicu, C., Shi, Y., Brown, A.G., and Lawford, P.V. (2009) ‘Fluid Solid Interaction for Vascular Applications’, Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge, UK.
  • Staicu, C., Lawford, P.V., Barber, D.C. and Hose, D.R. (2009) ‘Evaluation of Aortic Coarctation with 4D Magnetic Resonance Imaging’, The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
  • Staicu, C., Lawford, P.V., Barber, D.C. and Hose, D.R. (2008) ‘Noninvasive Modalities of Detection for Aortic Coarctation’. The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
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