Jalal Cherkaoui (J.)
Jalal Cherkaoui is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Researcher at the Department of Physiology and the Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), Maastricht University. As part of the Horizon Europe TrackAF Doctoral Network, his research focuses on developing three-dimensional mechanistic models of atrial fibrillation informed by histology data. His work aims to identify patient-specific arrhythmogenic substrates and advance computational approaches to personalized cardiovascular medicine.
He holds degrees in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from INSA Lyon (France) and the Illinois Institute of Technology (USA). Prior to joining Maastricht University, he worked as a Research Engineer at the Dassault Systèmes Center of Excellence in Life Sciences at Long Island University in New York, where he contributed to interdisciplinary research projects involving cardiovascular biomechanics, cardiac electrophysiology, pharmacogenomics, and computational modeling of human organ systems.
His previous research includes finite element modeling of pediatric aortic valve reconstruction, personalized simulation of drug-induced cardiac arrhythmias, esophageal biomechanics, and multiscale modeling of drug-induced liver injury. His work combines physics-based computational modeling, numerical simulation, and biomedical engineering to investigate complex physiological mechanisms and support the development of patient-specific digital twins.
He has authored and co-authored peer-reviewed research published in JTCVS Open, Frontiers in Physiology, and npj Digital Medicine.
Expertises
- Computational Cardiology: Cardiac electrophysiology, atrial fibrillation modeling, and simulation of cardiac arrhythmias.
- Computational Biomechanics: Finite element analysis (FEA), nonlinear material modeling, and cardiovascular tissue mechanics.
- Multiscale & Multiphysics Modeling: Physics-based modeling of biological systems across cellular, tissue, and organ scales.
- Cardiovascular Engineering: Computational modeling of heart valves, pediatric aortic valve reconstruction, and cardiac function.
- Pharmacogenomics & Computational Drug Safety: Modeling drug–ion channel interactions, genetic variability, and drug-induced proarrhythmia.
- Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD): Numerical simulations of fluid transport and physiological processes.
- Digital Twins & Personalized Medicine: Development of patient-specific computational models for disease characterization and therapeutic assessment.
- Scientific Computing & Data Analysis: Python, MATLAB, Abaqus/Simulia, ANSYS, openCARP, statistical analysis, and numerical simulation.
Career history
September 2026 – Present | Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Researcher
Maastricht University – Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), The Netherlands
Doctoral researcher within the Horizon Europe TrackAF Doctoral Network, focusing on computational cardiology and the development of mechanistic models of atrial fibrillation integrating genomic and multi-omics data.
June 2025 – August 2026 | Research Engineer
Dassault Systèmes Center of Excellence in Life Sciences – Long Island University, New York, USA
Conducted interdisciplinary research in cardiovascular biomechanics, cardiac electrophysiology, and computational modeling of human organ systems. Contributed to research projects involving pediatric aortic valve reconstruction, esophageal biomechanics, and personalized cardiac simulations.
September 2023 – August 2024 | Research Assistant
Dassault Systèmes Center of Excellence in Life Sciences – Long Island University, New York, USA
Developed computational models integrating cardiac electrophysiology and pharmacogenomics to investigate drug-induced arrhythmias. Conducted statistical analyses of simulation data related to drug-induced liver injury.
June 2023 – August 2023 | Research Intern
Dassault Systèmes Center of Excellence in Life Sciences – Long Island University, New York, USA
Contributed to the development and validation of a computational model of acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity, combining pharmacokinetics, computational fluid dynamics, and statistical analysis.