Data Analytics Research and Technology in Healthcare
(DARTH group)
Athanasios Tsanas ('Thanasis')
Chair (Full Professor) in Digital Health and Data Science
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Thanasis studied Engineering for his undergraduate and MSc degrees and completed a PhD in Applied Mathematics at the University of Oxford (2012). He continued working at Oxford as a Research Fellow in Biomedical Engineering and Applied Mathematics (2012-2016), Stipendiary Lecturer in Engineering Science (2014-2016), and Lecturer in Statistical Research Methods (2016-2019). He currently holds the Chair (Full Professor, tenured) in Digital Health and Data Science at the Usher Institute, Edinburgh Medical School, University of Edinburgh, where he is Director of Knowledge Exchange and Research Impact. He is a Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute, Bayes Innovation Fellow, and has current Visiting Professor appointments at Imperial College London (UK) and Zhejiang University (China).
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He received the Andrew Goudie award (top PhD student across all disciplines, St. Cross College, University of Oxford, 2011), the EPSRC Doctoral Prize award (2012) as one of only 8 Oxford PhD students across 11 departments, the young scientist award (MAVEBA, 2013), the EPSRC Statistics and Machine Learning award (2015), and the BIOSTEC/Biosignals Best paper award (2021). He is Co-founder of the NHS Digital Academy, the first national digital health informatics leadership programme, where he led the development and delivery of the 'Clinical Decision Support and Actionable Data Analytics' theme (2018-2022). He sits on the Editorial Boards of JMIR Mental Health, JMIR mHealth and uHealth, and Frontiers in Neurology, and has served as Guest Editor in five other journals. His work has been featured in the media, including Reuters, and has been taken up by various industrial partners, including Intel Corporation, LSVT Global, GSK, and Abbott. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Employment
10/2022 - present
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8/2020 - 9/2022
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1/12/2019
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1/2017 - 12/2021
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10/2017 - 5/2019
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10/2016 - 12/2016
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10/2014 - 9/2016
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10/2012 - 12/2016
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3/2005 - 9/2005
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7/2004 - 9/2004
Chair (Full Professor) in Digital Health and Data Science, Medical School, University of Edinburgh
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Associate Professor in Data Science (tenured), Medical School, University of Edinburgh
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Early tenure confirmation (in less than 3 years), Medical School, University of Edinburgh
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Chancellor's Fellow in Data Science (5-year tenure-track), Medical School, University of Edinburgh
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Lecturer in Statistical Research Methods, Said Business School, University of Oxford (external)
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Lecturer in Statistical Research Methods, Said Business School, University of Oxford
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Stipendiary Lecturer in Engineering Science, St. Peter's College, University of Oxford
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Research Fellow, Mathematical Institute and Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford
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Student internship (Biomedical engineering), Onassis Cardiac Surgery Centre, Athens, Greece
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Student internship (Electrical engineering), Public Power Corporation, Athens, Greece
Other current positions
since 10/2021
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since 9/2021
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since 9/2020
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since 7/2020
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since 1/2020
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since 9/2017
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since 6/2021
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since 6/2019
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since 5/2017
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Faculty Fellow, Alan Turing Institute (ATI Fellow, class of 2021)
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Director of Knowledge Exchange and Research Impact, Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh
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Affiliate Researcher, School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh
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Scientific advisor in Telemedicine, Ministry of Health, Greek government (5-people committee)
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Co-Director of Telescot, academic research programme in Scotland focusing on telemedicine
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Co-founder and Theme Leader in Data Analytics and Clinical Decision Support, NHS Digital Academy
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Editorial Board Member, Frontiers in Neurology (section Neurological Biomarkers)
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Editorial Board Member, JMIR mHealth and uHealth (top technical journal in JMIR)
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Editorial Board Member, JMIR Mental Health (top medical informatics journal in mental health)
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Academic qualifications
10/2008 - 9/2012
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10/2007 - 9/2008
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9/2005 - 7/2007
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9/2001 - 9/2005
D.Phil. in Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, UK
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M.Sc. in Communications and Signal Processing, Engineering Dept., Newcastle University, UK
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B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering and Electronics, University of Liverpool, UK
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B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Greece
Academic awards
Scottish Healthcare award for 'Developments in Female Health' (EXPPECT team, November 2022)
I am the Lead for Digital Health in EXPPECT, an energetic interdisciplinary team focusing on endometriosis.
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Biosignals/BIOSTEC (February 2021)
Best paper award for the study: "Assessing Parkinson’s disease speech signal generalization of clustering results across three countries: findings in the Parkinson’s voice initiative"
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HDRUK publication of the month (September 2019)
Our work published in Circulation was highlighted and selected as publication of the month by HDRUK
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EPSRC Computational Statistics and Machine Learning award (NCSML, June 2015)
Only five research projects with a machine learning focus were selected in a UK-wide competition
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Best reviewer award for the journal IEEE Journal of Biomedical Health Informatics (2015)
One of only six researchers selected globally for this award
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Outstanding reviewer for the journal Computers in Biology and Medicine (2015)
Recognition for thoughtful and constructive feedback in a peer-review setting
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Biomedical Signal Processing and Control & MAVEBA International Workshop (December 2013)
Young scientist paper award for the study: “Acoustic analysis toolkit for biomedical speech signal processing: concepts and algorithms”
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Junior Research Fellow of Kellogg College, University of Oxford (May 2013)
Elected to a prestigious 3-year junior research fellowship at Kellogg College, starting on 1 October 2013
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Research paper highlighted as a “key scientific article” in Renewable Energy and global innovations
Highlighted paper: A. Tsanas, A. Xifara: "Accurate quantitative estimation of energy performance of residential buildings using statistical machine learning tools", Energy and Buildings, Vol. 49, pp. 560-567, 2012. According to Renewable Energy and global innovations “Papers are selected from over 5,000 peer reviewed journals.”
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The Physionet/Computing in Cardiology 2012 challenge: predicting mortality of ICU patients. Winning entry
Key member of the Oxford biomedical engineering team that won the competition. We designed novel algorithms to extract characteristic patterns from the data, and developed a new Bayesian classification algorithm. The results were presented in the Computing in Cardiology 2012 conference paper
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EPSRC Doctoral Prize Award (2012)
Only 8 awards were given across 11 departments in the Mathematical, Physical, and Life Sciences division at the University of Oxford, making this a highly competitive scheme. The award included a generous 6-month salary and funds for equipment (total value of award £27,342)
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Hellenic Medical Society, UK (2011)
Shortlisted in the final six candidates for the Papanikolaou prize. Typically medical doctors and biologists are selected, but I had successfully made a case to be considered for the award
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St. Cross college, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK (2011)
​Andrew Goudie student recognition award in the field of Academics. The award is given "in recognition of outstanding achievement", and was the equivalent of top student across all disciplines
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International Symposium on Nonlinear Theory and its Applications (NOLTA) 2010 Conference
Student paper award for my work on "New Nonlinear Markers and Insights Into Speech Signal Degradation for Effective Tracking of Parkinson's Disease Symptom Severity". The award is given on the basis of "the quality, originality, and clarity of the paper and the presentation."
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University of Oxford, Oxford UK (2008-2012)
EPSRC scholarship (doctoral training award) with additional industrial funding from Intel Corporation for the D.Phil. (duration: 4 years. The scholarship covers University and College fees, £16,000 living expenses per annum, and additional funding towards expenses for equipment, books, and attending conferences)
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Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK (2007-2008)
CTA Scholarship (covered tuition fees, and £7,000 living expenses) for the M.Sc. in Communications and Signal Processing (2007-2008)
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University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK (2007)
BNFL prize for final year project excellence
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Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Athens, Greece (2005)
Graduated as the best student of the class 2001-2005
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National Scholarship Foundation (IKY), Athens, Greece (2004)
Scholarship for being the best student of the 3rd year in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
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National Scholarship Foundation (IKY), Athens, Greece (2003)
Scholarship for being the best student of the 2nd year in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Professional memberships
8/2019 - present
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8/2019 - present
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2/2016 - present
Fellow, Royal Society of Medicine
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Senior Member, IEEE
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Fellow, Higher Education Academy
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Academic community services
Editorial service
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Editorial Board Member, Journal of Medical Internet Research Mental Health
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Editorial Board Member, JMIR mHealth and uHealth
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Editorial Board Member, Frontiers in Neurology (section Neurological Biomarkers)
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Lead Guest Editor, IEEE Journal of Biomedical Health Informatics: "Pervasive Computing for Healthcare"
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Lead Guest Editor, Sensors: "Smart Sensing Technologies for Human-Centered Healthcare: Research and Applications"
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Organising/technical program committee
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General Chair, 16th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, 2022
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Program Chair, 15th BIOSTEC-BioSignals 2022
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contributed to 10 international conferences/workshops, including the flagship IEEE International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics, and serving as session chair in ICPRS, BIOSTEC, MAVEBA etc.
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Reviewer
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research articles for many top discipline-leading journals and conferences. I have reviewed for 50 journals and 9 conferences, including Lancet, Circulation, PLOS Medicine, various IEEE Transactions and ACM Transactions, JMIR, JASA
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grant proposals for national and international funding bodies, including the Israel Science Foundation, the Icelandic Research Fund, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Action Medical Trust, and the Cure Parkinson's Trust
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Teaching
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I have lectured at the University of Oxford and the University of Edinburgh across 4 departments: Engineering Science department (Oxford), Department of Mathematics (Oxford and Edinburgh), Medical School (Oxford and Edinburgh), and the Business School (Oxford)
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Examiner
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Internal (University of Edinburgh) for 7 PhD reviews and an MSc thesis
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Internal (University of Oxford) for 4 PhD reviews and an MSc thesis
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External for 7 PhD theses and 1 MSc thesis, including examining a PhD thesis at the University of Oxford
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Invited talks (external to my institution)
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Academic: Harvard, MIT, Oxford, University of Pennsylvania, University of Melbourne, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Universidad Polytecnica de Madrid, UCL, University of Southampton, University of Bristol, Newcastle University, University of Leeds, Cardiff University, University of Dundee, University of Athens, Athens University of Economics and Business, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki etc.
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Industrial: Cogito (US), Numerical Algorithms Group (UK), Roche (Switzerland), Codiax (Romania), UCB Pharma (UK), Royal Academy of Engineering (UK), Mirador Analytics (UK)
Bio IEEE-style
Prof. Athanasios Tsanas ('Thanasis'), BSc, BEng, MSc, DPhil (Oxon), SMIEEE, FHEA, FRSM
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Thanasis studied Engineering and completed a PhD in Applied Mathematics at the University of Oxford (2012). He continued working at Oxford as a Research Fellow in Biomedical Engineering and Applied Mathematics (2012-2016), Stipendiary Lecturer in Engineering Science (2014-2016), and Lecturer in Statistical Research Methods (2016-2019). He currently holds the Chair (Full Professor) in Digital Health and Data Science at the Usher Institute, Edinburgh Medical School, University of Edinburgh. Thanasis founded and leads the inter-disciplinary Data Analytics, Research and Technology in Healthcare (DARTH) group, is Director of Knowledge Exchange and Research Impact at the Usher Institute, and Co-Director of Telescot, an inter-disciplinary academic programme focusing on telemedicine. He is Co-founder of the NHS Digital Academy, the world’s first national digital health leadership programme, leading on ‘Actionable Data Analytics and Clinical Decision Support’ (2018-2022).
Prof. Tsanas received the Andrew Goudie award (top PhD student across all disciplines, St. Cross College, University of Oxford, 2011), the EPSRC Doctoral Prize award (2012) as one of only 8 Oxford PhD students across 11 departments, the young scientist award (MAVEBA, 2013), the EPSRC Statistics and Machine Learning award (2015), and the BIOSTEC/Biosignals award (2021). He received a ‘Best reviewer award’ from the IEEE Journal of Biomedical Health Informatics (2015) and an 'Outstanding reviewer' award from the journal Computers in Biology and Medicine (2015). He was a key member of the Oxford Biomedical Engineering team that won the annual 2012 Physionet competition on ‘Predicting mortality of ICU patients’. His research work has been highlighted in Renewable Energy and Global Innovations, by HDRUK and the Alan Turing Institute, and in the media including Reuters. He sits on the Editorial Boards of JMIR Mental Health, JMIR mHealth and uHealth, and Frontiers in Neurology, and has served as Guest Editor for several special issues in other journals. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Bio (200-words)
Prof. Athanasios Tsanas ('Thanasis'), BSc, BEng, MSc, DPhil (Oxon), SMIEEE, FHEA, FRSM
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Thanasis studied Engineering and completed a DPhil (PhD) in Applied Mathematics at the University of Oxford (2012). He worked at the University of Oxford as a Research Fellow in Biomedical Engineering and Applied Mathematics (2012-2016), Stipendiary Lecturer in Engineering Science (2014-2016), and Lecturer in Statistical Research Methods (2016-2019). He is currently the Chair (Full Professor) in Digital Health and Data Science at the Usher Institute, Edinburgh Medical School, University of Edinburgh. He is Co-founder of the NHS Digital Academy leadership programme, where he led the development and delivery of 'Clinical Decision Support and Actionable Data Analytics'. He received the Andrew Goudie award (top PhD student across all disciplines, St. Cross College, University of Oxford, 2011), the EPSRC Doctoral Prize award (2012), the young scientist award (MAVEBA, 2013), the EPSRC Statistics and Machine Learning award (2015), the BIOSTEC/Biosignals best paper award (2021), and won a ‘Best reviewer award’ from the IEEE Journal of Biomedical Health Informatics (2015). He sits on the Editorial Boards of JMIR Mental Health, JMIR mHealth and uHealth, and Frontiers in Neurology. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.