PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Francisco Sahli Costabal

Also known as Francisco Sahli

Francisco Sahli Costabal is a mechanical engineer and researcher who uses physics-informed neural networks to model the heart. After earning engineering degrees at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in 2011, he completed a mechanical engineering doctorate at Stanford University in 2018 and joined Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile as an assistant professor in 2019. His research applies physics-informed neural networks to cardiac activation mapping, complex geometries with Δ-PINNs, cardiac fiber identification with FiberNet, and phase mapping during atrial fibrillation. In December 2025, he developed a computational model at iHEALTH that reconstructs the heart's electrical conduction system from a standard electrocardiogram, and as of October 2026 he is an associate professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Badges

Timeline

  1. 2011

    Engineering degrees at UC Chile

    He earns a civil mechanical engineering degree and a Master of Science in Engineering at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in 2011. Upon graduating, he receives the Mario Hiriart and Ismael Valdés Valdés awards and the mechanical engineering department's best-thesis prize.

  2. 2014–2018

    Stanford doctorate and Hyperion award

    A 2014 Fulbright-CONICYT scholarship supports his doctoral studies in the United States, and in 2017 he wins a Hyperion innovation excellence award for a computational model predicting drug-induced arrhythmias. In December 2018, he completes a mechanical engineering PhD in the Living Matter Laboratory at Stanford University.

  3. Since 2019

    Assistant professor at UC Chile

    After postdoctoral work at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, he joins its Department of Mechanical and Metallurgical Engineering as an assistant professor in 2019.

  4. 2020

    Cardiac activation mapping with PINNs

    His 2020 paper in Frontiers in Physics introduces physics-informed neural networks for cardiac activation mapping.

  5. 2022

    Δ-PINNs and FiberNet

    In 2022, he coauthors Δ-PINNs, which use eigenfunctions of the Laplace-Beltrami operator as positional encodings for physics-informed neural networks on complex geometries. He also coauthors FiberNet in 2022, a PINN-based method that identifies fibers in the heart from electroanatomical maps.

  6. March–April 2025

    Atrial fibrillation mapping at CENIA

    In March 2025, ANID names him one of five CENIA researchers to win Fondecyt Regular 2025 funding for a project using physics-informed neural networks for phase mapping during atrial fibrillation. As of April 2025, he serves as an associate researcher in CENIA's physics-based machine-learning line.

  7. December 2025

    An ECG heart conduction model

    Working as an iHEALTH researcher in December 2025, he develops a computational model that digitally reconstructs the heart's electrical conduction system from a standard electrocardiogram.

  8. As of October 2026

    Associate professor at UC Chile

    As of October 2026, he is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Metallurgical Engineering and the Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Career

  1. Since 2019Pontifical Catholic University of ChilePostdoctoral researcher
  2. From 2025National Center for Artificial IntelligenceAssociate researcher
  3. From 2025Millennium Institute for Intelligent Healthcare Engineering (iHEALTH)Researcher

Education

  1. 2018Stanford UniversityPhD
  2. 2011Pontifical Catholic University of ChileCivil mechanical engineering degree and Master of Science in Engineering

From the biography.

  1. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes Stanford University. We estimate that 539 of the 6,766 people with a known current organization (8%) hold both a university role and a company role, including 20% of people at companies and 13% of people at universities.
  4. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes Stanford University. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Francisco Sahli Costabal yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. ResearchING researching.investigacion.ing.uc.cl. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. CV - Francisco Sahli Costabal fsahli.github.io. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. [2209.03984] Δ-PINNs: physics-informed neural networks on complex geometries arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. Physics-informed neural networks to learn cardiac fiber orientation from multiple electroanatomical maps - Francisco Sahli Costabal fsahli.github.io. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Conoce los proyectos de investigación que desarrollarán los ganadores(as) del Fondecyt Regular 2025 - CENIA cenia.cl. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Innovative Heart ‘Digital Twin’ Could Transform Cardiac Disease Treatment uc.cl. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. FRANCISCO SAHLI COSTABAL | Ingeniería UC ing.uc.cl. Checked 22 October 2026.