Lionel Tarassenko, (born 17 April 1957) is a British engineer and academic, who is a leading expert in the application of signal processing and machine learning to healthcare. He was previously Head of Department of Engineering Science (Dean of Engineering) at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, succeeded by
Ronald A. Roy.
Towards the end of his time as Dean, the Department rose to number 1 in the
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' (often referred to as the THE Rankings) is an annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' (THE) magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli ...
.
Tarassenko was elected Professor of Electrical Engineering at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
in 1997 and was a Professorial Fellow of St John's College, Oxford, from 1997 to 2019. In 2019 he was invited by the
Vice-Chancellor
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...
Louise Richardson
Dame Louise Mary Richardson (born 8 June 1958 ) is an Irish political scientist whose specialist field is the study of terrorism. In January 2016 she became the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, having formerly served as the Principa ...
to oversee the development of
Reuben College, the University's 39th college, as founding President.
He is also a Pro-Vice Chancellor and the Chair of the Management Committee of the
Maison Française d’Oxford.
Tarassenko is the author of over 280 journal papers, 200 conference papers, 3 books and over 30 granted patents. He has supervised 65 doctoral students. He has been a founder director of four University spin-out companies, the latest being Oxehealth in September 2012. He was the R&D Director and Chair of the Strategic Advisory Board of Sensyne Health, an AIM-listed company from 2018 to 2022. He is a director of the University’s wholly owned Technology Transfer company,
Oxford University Innovation. He was the editor-in-chief of the 2018 Topol Review of NHS Technology and its impact on the workforce.
Tarassenko was the driving force behind the creation of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME) at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, which he directed from its opening in April, 2008 to October, 2012. He established an £8m Centre of Excellence in Medical Engineering within the IBME, and led the Technology & Digital Health theme in the
National Institute for Health and Care Research
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the British government’s major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research. With a budget of over £1.2 billion in 2020–21, its mission is to "impr ...
(NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre from its inception in 2007 until 2022. Under his leadership, the IBME grew from 110 to 220 academic researchers and it was awarded a
Queen’s Anniversary Prize
The Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education are a biennially awarded series of prizes awarded to universities and colleges in the further and higher education sectors within the United Kingdom. Uniquely it forms part of the Bri ...
for Higher Education in 2015 for “new collaborations between engineering and medicine delivering benefit to patients”.
Education
Tarassenko completed his BA in Engineering Science in 1978 at
Keble College
Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to th ...
,
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
. Later he obtained his DPhil in 1985, also at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
for his work on the early identification of brain haemorrhages in pre-term infants.
Career and Research
Together with Professor Alan Murray of
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
, Tarassenko is the inventor of the pulse-stream technique for analogue implementation of massively parallel
neural networks
A neural network is a network or circuit of biological neurons, or, in a modern sense, an artificial neural network, composed of artificial neurons or nodes. Thus, a neural network is either a biological neural network, made up of biological ...
. He gradually moved away from designing neural network hardware to developing new machine learning algorithms and applying them to problems as diverse as the automated re-heating of food and drinks in a microwave oven (implemented in the Sharp LogiCook oven) and the analysis of sleep disorders. This body of work was recognised in 1996 by the award of the IEE Mather Premium for innovation using
neural networks
A neural network is a network or circuit of biological neurons, or, in a modern sense, an artificial neural network, composed of artificial neurons or nodes. Thus, a neural network is either a biological neural network, made up of biological ...
.
Tarassenko then went on to develop methods for learning how to characterise normality in safety-critical systems. With his research team, he designed the QUICK system, which was at the core of Rolls-Royce’s engine health monitoring strategy in the 1990s and the early 2000s. As a result, he and his Rolls-Royce collaborators were awarded the Chairman’s Team Award for Technical Innovation in 2001 and the Sir Henry Royce High Value Patent Award in 2008.
When he became the first Director of the Oxford Institute of Biomedical Engineering in 2008, Tarassenko focused his research on patient monitoring, both in and out of hospital. His work has had a major impact on the identification of deterioration in acute care and on the management of long-term conditions. He has been a pioneer in developing early warning systems for acutely ill patients. The machine-learning system (Visensia) which he designed for patient monitoring in critical care was the first such system to gain FDA approval (in 2008).
In the last decade Tarassenko has led the engineering development of several digital health products including: (a) GDm-Health, a digital therapeutic for the management of gestational diabetes; (b) SEND, a system for monitoring in-hospital patient vital signs and identifying deterioration early; (c) EDGE-COPD, a digital therapeutic for the self-monitoring and self-management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and (d) Support-HF, a system for heart failure management in the community.
Tarassenko has been a founder director of four University spin-out companies, the latest being Oxehealth in September 2012.
Awards and honours
Tarassenko was elected to a Fellowship of the
Institute of Electrical Engineers
The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and Information Technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of Tel ...
in 1996, when he was also awarded the IEE Mather Premium for his work on neural networks, to a Fellowship of the
Royal Academy of Engineering
The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering.
The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...
in 2000,
and to a Fellowship of the
Academy of Medical Sciences
The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society.
Its mission is to adv ...
in 2013. He received a British Computer Society Medal in 1996 for his work on neural network analysis of sleep disorders. His research on jet engine health monitoring was awarded the Rolls-Royce Chairman's Award for Technical Innovation in 2001 and the Sir Henry Royce High Value Patent Award in 2008. His work on mobile phones for healthcare was awarded the E-health 2005 Innovation Award for “best device to empower patients”. He received the 2006 Silver Medal of the
Royal Academy of Engineering
The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering.
The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...
for his contribution to British engineering leading to market exploitation and he won the Institute of Engineering & Technology IT Award, also in 2006. In 2010, he gave the prestigious Vodafone lecture on mobile health at the
Royal Academy of Engineering
The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering.
The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...
and the Centenary Lecture on Biomedical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. He received the 2015 Martin Black Prize from the
Institute of Physics
The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application.
It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physica ...
for the best paper in Physiological Measurement
He was appointed a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(CBE) in the
2012 New Year Honours
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
for services to engineering and a 'Chevalier dans l'Ordre national du Mérite' by the French state in 2021.
Personal life
Tarassenko is married to Dr Anne Tarassenko. He has 3 children and 3 step-children. He is a Lay Canon of
Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
Christ Church Cathedral is the cathedral of the Anglican diocese of Oxford, which consists of the counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. It is also the chapel of Christ Church, a college of the University of Oxford. This dual r ...
.
References
External links
Oxford BioSignals Ltd(founding director)
An Engineering Biography - Lionel Tarassenko FREng''Ingenia'', Issue 30, Mar 2007
IdeasLab 2014 - Lionel Tarassenko - Self Monitoring Digital HealthWorld Economic Forum, Davos, 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarassenko, Lionel
1957 births
Living people
British electrical engineers
Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Fellows of the Institution of Engineering and Technology
Alumni of Keble College, Oxford
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Fellows of St John's College, Oxford
Presidents of Reuben College, Oxford