Biomedical engineer Dhani Dharmaprani SA Woman of the Year finalist for Innovation

When Dhani Dharmaprani was younger, she lost her little brother to a heart condition. That tragedy sparked a dream of hers to fix hearts.

Researcher Dhani Dharmaprani is a finalist in the 2024 Woman of the Year Awards in the Innovation category. Picture: Ben Clark

Biomedical engineer Dr Dhani Dharmaprani has a very personal inspiration in her research into how to help Australians with a cardiac fibrillation.

“I was specifically drawn to cardiology, because when I was younger I had a little brother who passed away from a heart condition,’’ she said.

“In some ways, getting into cardiology research feels serendipitous because on a small scale it lets me fulfil my dream of fixing hearts.”

Dr Dharmaprani, a Future Making Fellow at the Australian Institute of Machine Learning, is researching how to unravel the mechanisms responsible for dangerous arrhythmias in the heart by applying novel computational and mathematical approaches.

She is a finalist in The Advertiser Sunday Mail Woman of the Year Awards for 2024, presented by SkyCity, in the Innovation category.

In the past year she has won a Flinders University Early Career Alumni Award and been named among Science and Technology’s Superstars of STEM. She completed a research visit to the UK, with stints at Imperial College and Queen Mary University to further her knowledge of advanced computational cardiac modelling.

Dr Dharmaprani said she is harnessing the power of mathematics and physics to dive deep into “mysterious spiral waves” that occur in the heart.

These graceful spirals occur throughout nature, from gargantuan levels in galaxies, down to more comprehendible levels such as whirlpools.

While they can be mesmerising, they also can be killers.

“The heart’s electrical spirals can trigger conditions such as atrial and ventricular

fibrillation, affecting one in four Australians and representing the leading cause of sudden death, so understanding them could save lives,” Dr Dharmaprani said.

“You may not have known that our heart’s rhythm echoes the cosmic spiral patterns found in galaxies and whirlpools.

“But, while galaxies gracefully rotate and whirlpools form mesmerising patterns, the heart’s electrical spirals can kill.

“By understanding these common patterns in nature, I hope to reshape our understanding of and interventions for heart disorders.”

Dr Dharmaprani has her own website, dhanidharmaprani.com where she says: “I am continuously seeking to broaden my technical and scientific skills to diversify my research.”