Research

Presenting “Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Pain Relief Following Surgery for Trigeminal Neuralgia” at CAN-ACN 2026.

Current Project

Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Pain Recurrence Following Trigeminal Neuralgia Surgery Hodaie Lab, Toronto Western Hospital Krembil Brain Institute | Sept 2025 – Apr 2026 Principal Investigator: Mojgan Hodaie, MD, MSc, FRCSC | Supervisor: Jerry Li, PhD Candidate

Curated a multimodal dataset of 350+ trigeminal neuralgia patients from the TWH facial pain clinic, extracting clinical variables from EPIC EMR. Developed machine learning classification models (XGBoost, SHAP) for individualized pain-free survival estimation and recurrence prediction, using PyRadiomics for radiomic feature extraction from high-resolution MRI and SHAP-based interpretability analyses to identify key predictive biomarkers.

Past Projects

Pregnancy During the COVID-19 Pandemic (PdCP) Associated with Altered Infant Brain Connectivity Manning Lab, Hospital for Sick Children | January 2026

Led development of a multimodal neuroimaging pipeline linking DTI-based structural connectivity with resting-state functional connectivity to examine how prenatal COVID-19 exposure alters white-matter microstructure and functional coupling in the developing brain.

Investigating the Representational Transformations Underlying the Learning of Exceptions in Visual Categories Mack Lab, Center for Biological Timing & Cognition | Jan 2023 – Aug 2025

Managed end-to-end participant coordination across concurrent fMRI study cohorts and conducted quality control review of 70+ MRI scans at the Toronto Neuroimaging Facility (ToNI).

Utilizing Dragonfly ORS AI Tools for Improved Rabbit Lung Micro-CT Scan Image Segmentation in VILI/ARDS Analysis Zhang Lab, St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto | Sept 2023 – Apr 2024

Analyzed 100+ micro-CT scan files and implemented Dragonfly ORS and FreeSurfer software for automated lung segmentation, comparing manual and automated segmentation accuracy.

ANGLER-FISH: An In Situ Approach to Resolve Related mRNAs in Neuronal Wiring and Cell Transplantation Models Lefebvre Lab, Hospital for Sick Children | May – Sept 2023

Medicine by Design Program, SSuRE Program ($10,000 Studentship Award). Implemented the ANGLER-FISH pipeline for oligonucleotide probe design and FISH labeling to map related mRNA transcripts in CNS tissues.

Manuscript in Preparation

  • Mahmoud, J., Li, J., Garcia-Flores, E., Wolfensohn, A., Hodaie, M. Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Pain Recurrence Following Trigeminal Neuralgia Surgery.

Presentations & Posters

  • Mahmoud, J., Li, J., Garcia-Flores, E., Wolfensohn, A., Hodaie, M. Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Pain Recurrence Following Trigeminal Neuralgia Surgery. CRANIA Conference 2026. Upcoming July 2026. (Poster)
  • Mahmoud, J., Li, J., Garcia-Flores, E., Wolfensohn, A., Hodaie, M. Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Pain Recurrence Following Trigeminal Neuralgia Surgery. CAN-ACN 19th Canadian Neuroscience Meeting. May 2026. (Poster)
  • Mahmoud, J., Li, J. Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Pain Recurrence Following Trigeminal Neuralgia Surgery. Trinity College Undergraduate Research Conference (TCURC). March 2026. (Oral)
  • Mahmoud, J., Bhatt, N., Vazquez, E., Batajoo, M., James, K. PDCP Functional Structural Multimodal Pipeline. BrainHack Global Toronto 2026. January 2026. (Oral)
  • Mahmoud, J., Lu, C., Zhang, H. Bioimaging & Molecular Insights: Applications in Neuroscience Research. ASSU Research Conference. 2024. (Oral)
  • Mahmoud, J., Lu, C., Zhang, H. AI-Based Lung Segmentation in Preclinical Imaging. UofT ROP Poster Symposium. March 2024. (Poster)
  • Mahmoud, J. Computational Approaches to Neuroimaging Analysis. HMB Neuroscience Symposium. Fall 2024. (Poster)
  • Mahmoud, J., Ali, I., Chou, L., Lefebvre, J. ANGLER-FISH: Spatial Transcriptomic Approaches for mRNA Visualization. SickKids Summer Student Research Symposium. August 2023. (Oral)
  • Mahmoud, J., Ali, I., Chou, L., Lefebvre, J. Advances in Retinal Cell Transplantation Research. ASSU Research Conference (ASSU URC). 2023. (Poster)

Academic Lecturing Invitations

  • Mahmoud, J. Research in Neuroimaging and Computational Neuroscience. NANSA Research Seminar in Neuroscience. February 2026. (Speaker & Panelist)
  • Mahmoud, J. Graduate Panel in Science. Faculty of Arts & Science, First Year Learning Community, Innis College. March 2026. (Panelist)
  • Mahmoud, J. Human Biology Student Union (HBSU) Bi-annual Road to Research. 2025. (Speaker)

A full CV can be shared upon request or as part of a specific application. Feel free to reach out on the Contact & Collaborate page.