Milan Toma

Milan Toma

Title
Assistant Professor
Department
Clinical Sciences
Campus
Long Island
Areas of Expertise
Image Processing, High-Performance Computing, Computational Mechanics/Biomechanics, Biomechanical/Biomedical Engineering
Education Credentials
Ph.D.
Joined New York Tech
2017

Milan Toma, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of clinical sciences at NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM). His areas of expertise include image processing, high-performance computing, computational mechanics/biomechanics, biomechanical/biomedical engineering, Trefftz elements, hydrated soft tissue, impact biomechanics, head and brain injuries, and cardiovascular fluid-structure interaction.

With the help of NYITCOM students, Toma researchers the interactions between fluid and structures within the human body. This work spans a variety of conditions, including fluids found in the brain, during pregnancy, in the heart and veins, and in the eyes.

Prior to joining NYITCOM, Toma served as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering for NYIT College of Engineering and Computing Sciences, where he conducted critical research to simulate fluid dynamics under various conditions. This includes simulation research on pediatric head trauma (shaken baby syndrome) that sparked an International Business Times op-ed, and demonstrated that the brain’s cerebrospinal fluid may not provide as much protection as previously believed, helping clinicians and caregivers better understand the impact of these injuries.

In addition to his notable pediatric head trauma research, Toma, along with students from the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences, tested the effectiveness of protective helmets and replicated high-risk head injuries from automobile accidents and contact sports, including lacrosse, baseball, football, and ice hockey. In 2018 and 2020, Toma received grants from the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association to perform similar research on the efficacy of jockey helmets in collaboration with other head injury researchers, which aims to test the protection of various helmet designs in order to help determine the best head protection in a variety of racing conditions.

After Toma received his Ph.D. in Engineering Science from the Technical University of Lisbon in Portugal, he worked as a project researcher in Altair Engineering France in Paris, with a focus on computational analysis of brain injuries. From Paris, he moved to Japan, where he worked as a research assistant professor at Tokyo University and at a research institute RIKEN, where he developed numerical algorithms for cardiovascular fluid-structure interaction simulations. After three years in Japan, he moved to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) where he worked in the field of computational combustion at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology as a visiting researcher. After one year in KSA, he moved to the U.S. where he worked at a cardiovascular fluid mechanics laboratory under the guidance of Dr. Ajit Yoganathan, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Milan Toma on head impact simulations and helmet design.

Recent Projects/Research

  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Fluid-Structure Interaction
  • Computational Cardiovascular Simulations
  • Brain Damage Simulations
  • Head Impact Simulations

Publications

  • M. Toma, D. R. Einstein, K. Kohli, S. L. Caroll, C. H. Bloodworth, R. P. Cochran, K. S. Kunzelman, A. P. Yoganathan, "Effect of Edge-to-Edge Mitral Valve Repair on Chordal Strain: Fluid-Structure Interaction Simulations", Biology, 2020, Volume 9, Issue 7, doi: 10.3390/biology9070173.
  • Toma, R. Chan-Akeley, "Biofluid-Biostructure Interaction Analyses Using Comprehensive Patient-Specific Geometries", Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 2020, [Accepted].
  • Toma, Y. Lu, H. Zhou, J. D. Garcia, "Thresholding Segmentation Errors and Uncertainty with Patient-Specific Geometries", Biomedical Physics and Engineering, 2020 [Accepted].
  • Toma, Y.-H. Pandya, D. Dongre, M. Nizich, "Assessing Forces Exerted on Horses using Varying Riding Crops", Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 2020 [Accepted]
  • Toma, D. R. Einstein, C. H. Bloodworth, K. Kohli, R. P. Cochran, K. S. Kunzelman, A. P. Yoganathan, "Fluid-Structure Interaction Analysis of Subject-Specific Mitral Valve Regurgitation Treatment with an Intra-valvular Spacer", Prosthesis, 2020, Volume 2, Issue 2, doi: 10.3390/prosthesis2020007.
  • Toma, R. Chan-Akeley, C. Lipari, S.-H. Kuo, "Mechanism of Coup and Contrecoup Injuries Induced by a Knock-Out Punch", Journal of Mathematical and Computational Applications, 2020, Volume 25, Issue 2, doi: 10.3390/mca25020022.
  • Toma, A. Dehesa-Baeza, R. Chan-Akeley, P. D. H. Nguyen, H. Zwibel, "Cerebrospinal Fluid Interaction with Cerebral Cortex during Pediatric Abusive Head Trauma", Journal of Pediatric Neurology, 2020, [Online ahead of print], doi: 10.1055/s-0040-1708495.25, Issue 2, doi: 10.3390/mca25020022.
  • Toma, S.-H. Kuo, "Computational Assessment of Risk of Subdural Hematoma Associated with Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt Placement", Lecture Notes in Computational Vision and Biomechanics, 2020, Volume 36, pp 36-47, doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-43195-2_4.
  • Toma, P. D. H. Nguyen, "Coup-contrecoup brain injury: fluid-structure interaction simulations", International Journal of Crashworthiness, 2020, Volume 25, Issue 2, pp 175-182, doi: 10.1080/13588265.2018.1550910.

Contact Info