Héctor García

Overview

Héctor is a physicist with Biomedical Optics and Near Infrared Spectroscopy as main backgrounds. He spent the last few years modeling photon migration in tissue, both analytically and with numerical simulations, specially focusing on how tissue heterogeneity affects light propagation. He’s also skilled in experimental techniques involving diffuse optical imaging and single photon counting. Now he is devoted to making use of all this to model and measure fluorescence, particularly by means of indocyanine green and Protoporphyrin IX, towards applications in fields such as Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging and Fluorescence-Guided Surgery.

Research Interests

Diffuse Optical Tomography, Diffuse Fluorescence Tomography; Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy; Fluorescence-Guided Surgery; Optical Mammography

Education

PhD, Physics, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (UNCPBA, Argentina), 2017
BSc, Physics, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (UNCPBA, Argentina), 2012

Awards

• 2022 IOP Outstanding Reviewer Award, 2022
• Finalist in the Bernard Couillaud Award, 2022
• Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt's Guest Researcher Programme (Berlin, Germany), 2018

Professional Activities

• Associate Professor at UNCPBA - Currently under a leave of absence
• Research Scientist at the National Council of Technical and Scientific Research (CONICET), Argentina - Currently under a leave of absence

Selected Publications

• HA García, DA Vera, NA Carbone, MV Waks-Serra, JA Pomarico, “Analytical sensitivity factors from distributions of time of flight of photons for near-infrared spectroscopy studies in multilayered turbid media,” J Biomed Opt, 2025, 30(1), 015002. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.30.1.015002
• MB Kulkarni, MS Reed, X Cao, HA García, MI Ochoa, S Jiang, T Hasan, MM Doyley, BW Pogue, “Combined dual-channel fluorescence depth sensing of indocyanine green and protoporphyrin IX kinetics in subcutaneous murine tumors,” J Biomed Opt, 2024, 30(S1), S13709. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.30.S1.S13709
• DA Vera, HA García, NA Carbone, MV Waks Serra, DI Iriarte, JA Pomarico, “Retrieval of chromophore concentration changes in a digital human head model using analytical mean partial pathlengths of photons,” J Biomed Opt, 2024, 29(2), 025004. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.29.2.025004
• NA Carbone, DA Vera, MV Waks Serra, HA García, DI Iriarte, JA Pomarico, PA Pardini, S Puca, N Fuentes, ME Renati, PH Capellino, R Osses, “MamoRef: an optical mammography device using whole-field CW diffuse reflectance. Presentation, validation and preliminary clinical results,” Phys Med Biol, 2024, 69, 015021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6560/ad1213
• DA Vera, HA García, MV Waks Serra, NA Carbone, DI Iriarte, JA Pomarico, “Determining light absorption changes in multilayered turbid media through analytically computed photon mean partial pathlengths,” Opt P Apl, 2023, 56(2), 51145. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7149/OPA.56.2.51145
• DA Vera, HA García, MV Waks Serra, GR Baez, DI Iriarte, JA Pomarico, “A Monte Carlo study of Near Infrared light propagation in the human head with lesions,” Biomed Phys Eng Expr, 2022, 8(3), 035005. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/2057-1976/ac59f3
• HA García, DA Vera, MV Waks Serra, GR Baez, DI Iriarte, JA Pomarico, “Theoretical investigation of photon partial pathlengths in multilayered turbid media,” Biomed Opt Expr, 2022, 13(4), 449514. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1364/BOE.449514
• DA Vera, GR Baez, HA García, DI Iriarte, JA Pomarico, “A comparison between plausible models in layered turbid media with geometrical variations applying a Bayesian selection criterion,” Biomed Phys Eng Expr, 2020, 6(5), 055020. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2057-1976/abae48
• GR Baez, HA García, D Grosenick, H Wabnitz, “Implementation of the extended Kalman filter for determining the optical and geometrical properties of turbid layered media by time-resolved single distance measurements,” Biomed Opt Expr, 2020, 11(1), 251–266. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/BOE.11.000251
• HA García, GR Baez, JA Pomarico, “Simultaneous retrieval of optical and geometrical parameters of multilayered turbid media via state-estimation algorithms,” Biomed Opt Expr, 2018, 9(8), 3953–3973. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/BOE.9.003953
• HA García, DI Iriarte, JA Pomarico, D Grosenick, R Macdonald, “Retrieval of the optical properties of a semiinfinite compartment in a layered scattering medium by single-distance, time-resolved diffuse reflectance measurements,” J Quant Spect Rad Trans, 2017, 189, 66–74. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jqsrt.2016.11.018