Melvin’s quantum AI research could advance heart disease screening
A CQUniversity graduate who upgraded from a Master's degree to a PhD has completed his doctorate in less than three years, producing research that explores how artificial intelligence and quantum computing could support future cardiovascular disease screening.
Dr Melvin Yashnil Ramkhelawan's doctoral research investigated whether hybrid quantum machine learning algorithms could identify signs of cardiovascular disease using electrocardiogram (ECG) images and heart-sound recordings.
Motivated by the global impact of cardiovascular disease, Dr Ramkhelawan sought to explore whether emerging quantum technologies could complement traditional artificial intelligence approaches in healthcare.
"Cardiovascular disease remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and early detection can make a significant difference to treatment and patient outcomes," Dr Ramkhelawan said.
"At the same time, quantum machine learning is an emerging area with considerable potential, but its practical value in healthcare is still being investigated."
The research developed separate hybrid quantum algorithms to analyse heart activity and heart sounds before investigating how information from both could be combined. Results demonstrated that the algorithms remained effective even when image quality was reduced or noise was introduced into recordings.
"The results show that the algorithms were able to distinguish between normal and abnormal patterns with a very high level of reliability within the datasets used in the research," Dr Ramkhelawan said.
"However, high research accuracy does not mean that the algorithms are immediately ready for use in hospitals or clinics."
The ability of the models to perform effectively using lower-quality inputs could eventually support more affordable and accessible screening technologies, particularly in regional, rural and remote communities.
The research journey began as a Master's project before expanding into a broader investigation of heart-sound analysis, multimodal data fusion and quantum machine learning applications in healthcare.
"Upgrading to a PhD gave me the opportunity to explore these questions in greater depth and make a more substantial research contribution," Dr Ramkhelawan said.
Associate Professor Sriman Grandhi and Associate Professor Santoso Wibowo said Dr Ramkhelawan's progression from undergraduate study to doctoral graduate highlighted both his research capability and commitment.
"Melvin's achievement is exceptional, both in terms of the quality of the research and the pace at which it was completed.
"As a CQUniversity graduate who completed a Bachelor of Information Technology before progressing through postgraduate research, he exemplifies the opportunities available to students who are willing to embrace challenging research questions and pursue them with determination.
"His research explored an emerging area of quantum machine learning and demonstrated its potential application in cardiovascular disease detection, one of the most significant health challenges facing communities worldwide.
"Completing a PhD in less than three years requires not only technical ability, but also remarkable dedication, consistency and perseverance. Melvin demonstrated those qualities throughout his candidature, and we are proud of the contribution he has made through his research."
Dr Ramkhelawan credits consistency, structured work habits and strong supervisory support for helping him complete his doctorate in less than three years.
"Completing the PhD was not the result of one major breakthrough, but of sustained effort, good support and a clear sense of purpose," he said.
Dr Melvin Yashnil Ramkhelawan received his doctorate at CQUniversity’s Melbourne graduation ceremony on Wednesday, 12 August.
