Ana G. Hernandez Reynoso

Assistant Professor
Biomedical Engineering

Growing up, Ana. G. Hernandez Reynoso wanted to be a medical doctor, but after spending some time with one of her cousins, who is an engineer, she realized that it was the convergence between medicine and engineering that she really enjoyed.

That realization pushed her to pursue biomedical engineering, earning a bachelor’s degree and a PhD in the subject, as well as a master’s in computer science, focused on artificial intelligence for the medical field. Now, Hernandez Reynoso is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering and her focus is specifically on neural engineering—an interest area she uncovered after participating in an exchange program at Georgia Institute of Technology, where she took a course on the subject that inspired her. She dove even deeper into the field during her PhD and postdoc.

“With the incredible support of my mentors, I decided to pursue a career around neural recording and stimulation for the development of new approaches to treat neurological injury or disease,” she shared.

Her research and teaching topics will hone in on neural engineering, particularly, delivering electrical pulses to the nervous system in an attempt to restore function after neurological injuries such as spinal cord injury.

What are you most looking forward to at Case Western Reserve University?

Being part of a large and strong team of individuals who are passionate about advancing the neural engineering field, and a school with many years of excellence. 

In addition, I look forward to working with Case [Western Reserve] undergraduate and graduate students, and am also excited to be able to participate in their academic training. I am also interested in the wonderful outreach opportunities that Case [Western Reserve] has created, especially those serving the Hispanic and female communities as a role model.

Do you have any personal goals, hobbies, family, interests that you would like to share?

I enjoy swimming, and at some point in my life, I was part of the university's swimming club; however I was never very fast—just enjoyed the sport. I like to travel and have a severe case of FOMO (fear of missing out) so our trips are usually packed with activities and I sometimes feel like I need a vacation from the vacation.

What’s one piece of advice you have for students? Or what’s a great piece of advice you’ve received?

Be consistent with effort invested and open to new projects and ideas.

Try to establish long-term goals early in your career, and be strategic about your moves. Most career steps that you make should contribute to your professional growth and bring you closer to that long-term goal. However, be flexible about adapting career goals - the more you experience, you may find out that there are other career paths that bring you more joy.