Diana Escalona-Vargas, PhD

Dr. Escalona-Vargas earned her PhD in Computer Science from Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (Cinvestav) in Mexico. While completing her graduate degrees, she served as a Research Graduate Trainee in the Dynamic Neuroimaging Laboratory at McGill University in Canada and the fetal MEG Research Center at University of Arkansas for Medical Science (UAMS). Both universities have major research and core facilities for adult and fetal MEG brain imaging with prominent expertise in biomedical signal processing analysis.

UAMS hosts the first-of-its-kind fetal magnetoencephalographic (MEG) device called SARA (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device Array for Reproductive Assessment) system. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at UAMS and ACH, and scientific director of ACH’s MEG Laboratory.

Dr. Escalona-Vargas has been directly involved of multidisciplinary groups to develop expertise in the area of biomedical signal processing to apply new techniques for electrophysiological signals measured with fetal MEG, adult and pediatric MEG, and electroencephalography (EEG). Currently, she performs clinical MEG in pediatric epilepsy, brain tumor, and translational MEG pediatric research together with epileptologists, neurosurgeons, and other researchers.

Dr. Escalona-Vargas continues with her fetal research which focuses in the study the maternal-fetal physiology including the effects of various clinical drugs on fetal brain activity. Dr. Escalona-Vargas is actively involved in the adult EEG/MEG community through collaborative work, developing and applying signal processing techniques to intracranial and high density EEG data in epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.

Phone: 501-364-3703