Abdullah Thabit

Izz Al-Din Tamimi St, No. 31, Amman 11941, Jordan

abdullah.thabitt@gmail.com
+962 7 8762 3725

Respected MAIA Selection Committee:

During my university years, I have always performed best in classes that brought the subject
alive; visualizing the topics exhilarated me. I was especially interested in digital image
processing: a laptop, the software MATLAB, and a few coded lines where all I needed to see
concepts in action. Without a doubt, image processing and computer vision with an emphasis on
medical applications will be my primary area of focus. It is my ultimate desire to work in the lab
of a major research university, where I can teach and conduct research on imaging technology.

It was two years back when I became acquainted with the field through a course in medical
imaging systems. Medical image acquisition and formation captivated me the most. I was
fascinated with how the human body interacts with different kinds of waves and radiation to form
eloquent images without the need for invasive surgery. This led me to an extra elective course in
digital image processing. Enthralled with the course’s concepts, I bought the MATLAB
implementation book and started playing around with filters for image correction and considering
applications of more advanced algorithms.

Before the completion of my bachelor’s degree, I was awarded a grant for a research internship at
Ghent University. This amazing opportunity made it possible for me to collaborate with a group
of PhD students to investigate the use of “Shear Wave (SW) Elastography” (a new ultrasonic
technique) as an innovative diagnostic tool for early detection of childhood cardiac diseases. I
was responsible for post-processing the acquired SW data from an ex-vivo experiment on four
porcine myocardial tissues. I started by applying post-processing algorithms to analyze the group
and phase velocity of the SWs in relation to myocardial properties. Interestingly, I found a
correlation between SW speeds and the orientation of myocardial fibers, which opened up the
possibility of determining fiber architecture based on SW characteristics. The validity of the
extracted fiber organization needed to be examined by an image analysis of the sliced
myocardium. Therefore, I had to design and implement an algorithm to extract fiber orientation
based on these images. This was not a straightforward task, but with perseverance I managed to
do it. The correspondence between both fiber analysis methods was satisfying, and this work has
now been published in an IEEE proceeding. It was an indescribable moment as I felt like entering
into the world of science as an active participant; not just a mere passive learner of the subject.
When my internship came to an end, I sought to continue remotely, as I could not accept the idea
of staying away from academic research.

Over the past year, I have been reading and taking online courses in image processing, machine
learning, computer vision, and even programming to deepen my knowledge in image analysis. A
particular course “Pyimagesearch Gurus” taught by Dr. Adrian Rosebrock blew my mind,
exposing me for the first time to advances in learned object detection, feature extraction, image
classification, and deep learning in image processing. The manner in which so much information
Abdullah Thabit | Letter of Motivation

can be extracted from images got me thinking about things in daily life. For example, when I
received my electricity bill, it struck me that I could use my mobile camera to read the meter.
Thus, I used Black-Hat thresholding and morphological operations to localize the reading area
and connected component analysis along with contour properties to extract the digits. Finally, I
made use of Support Vector Machine (SVM) for digits classification. The overall accuracy of my
system was 83 percent. For accuracy improvement, I am currently working on applying
Histogram of Gradient (HoG) and SVM for localizing the reading area.

When I took the course “Medical Imaging Systems,” my professor briefly discussed the topic of
image registration. I loved the idea of combining anatomical and functional imaging modalities to
provide superior diagnostic value. Since then, image registration kept on spinning in my head. I
have read a couple of articles on the subject, and although I have not fully understood the details
that entail transform functions, similarity measures and optimization, I find it to be an incredible
field of research. Cardiac image registration, in particular, has been a hot topic in recent years;
yet, it remains a challenging area due to heart motion and respiration. This is a field of research I
would like to study and advance.

There are two major reasons I am applying to your master’s program. First, it is the only degree
program I have found that provides an all-inclusive course dedicated to image registration and its
clinical practice – the core of my academic ambitions. Second, it offers a great research
opportunity by combining the efforts and experiences of professors who have made huge
contributions to the field. Two of these professors, in particular, captured my interest when I was
going through some of their articles: Professor Robert Martí with his impressive work in image
registration in mammography, and Professor Alain Lalande with his interesting work in cardiac
imaging and segmentation. I would greatly benefit from attending their lectures and working with
other professors, as well. It is my desire to complete my master’s thesis and hopefully my PhD
under the supervision of such experts.

Ultimately, I aspire to carry my passion for medical imaging and image analysis to the lab of a
research university. I would like to perform state-of-the-art advances in an associated hospital and
bring innovation to the medical world. A simple scratch on the surface of medical imaging has
been so wonderful and spellbinding until now. MAIA cannot help but make it even more
fascinating. I believe my major interest in medical imaging and specifically in image registration
will be successfully addressed within MAIA. I cannot wait to be surrounded with like-minded
researchers and students who share my passion. Thank you for considering my application, and I
look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely yours,

Abdullah Thabit

Page 2 of 2