People
Professor Ian Craddock
University of Bristol
Hub Director, Principal Investigator and Research Programme Director
Ian is Head of the School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering and Professor in the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Technology at the University of Bristol.
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He is the Principal Investigator for Transforming the Objective Real-world measUrement of Symptoms (TORUS) and previously, he was the Director of the EPSRC funded SPHERE IRC (£12M, ~30 postdocs and 10 PhD students).
Ian’s interests are pervasive healthcare, technology for self-management of long term health conditions, data fusion and clinical decision support.
Dr Hanna Isotalus
University of Bristol
Deputy Director, Co-Investigator and Skills and Knowledge Programme Director
Hanna is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Technology and leads MSc and doctoral training programmes in Digital Health at the University of Bristol.
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Her research focusses on sleep, memory and learning, ageing, and neurodegenerative diseases such as dementias and Parkinson’s disease.
Rachel Prior
University of Bristol
Hub Manager
Rachel is the Manager of the LEAP Digital Health Hub and a member of the Faculty of Science and Engineering’s Industrial Liaison Office.
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She oversees day-to-day operations, coordinating across each of the Hub’s programmes, managing resources and fostering strategic partnerships across the Hub.
Rachel has worked in various research management and administration roles at the University of Bristol for 6 years. Her previous roles include managing complex industrial partnership projects in Engineering, and coordinating collaborative events and hackathons with the Jean Golding Institute and the Alan Turing Institute.
Dr Karen Dawe
University of Bristol
Skills and Knowledge Programme Deputy Director
Karen is a Lecturer in the School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology at the University of Bristol.
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Having originally come to Bristol to do a PhD in neuroscience, Karen spent ten years in various post-doc roles in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children and Population Health.
She has spent the last 6 years working in industry as a health technologist, helping companies use research to develop health and wellbeing products.
Professor Andrew Dowsey
University of Bristol
Co-Investigator and Fellowships Programme Director
Andrew is Chair of Population Health Data Science at the University of Bristol.
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His research group focuses on the acceleration of health sciences research and new clinical diagnostics through novel artificial intelligence and statistical data science methodology, as well as data collection and management platforms. His team works in highly multidisciplinary environments to both lead and support investigations across three strands of research:
- Profiling the protein and metabolite content of biological fluids and tissues using mass spectrometry for understanding disease mechanisms, and to discover biomarkers
- Developing predictive models from health records and environmental data to develop interventions for One Health challenges such as antimicrobial resistance
- Intensive longitudinal health, activity and behavioural monitoring at the level of individual animals and groups of animals for welfare and environmental sustainability
He has a joint position in the Department of Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, and Bristol Veterinary School. He is Director of Enterprise & Impact for the Faculty of Health Sciences and a Turing Fellow.
Professor Raul Santos-Rodriguez
University of Bristol
Co-Investigator and Capability Programme Director
Raul is a Turing AI Fellow and Professor in Data Science and AI at the University of Bristol.
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His research interests lie around the study of the foundations of machine learning and the way machine learning systems and humans interact and collaborate in different healthcare domains.
Professor Christos Vasilakis
University of Bath
Co-Investigator and Fellowships Programme Co-Director
Christos is Chair in Management Science and Director of the Centre for Healthcare Innovation and Improvement (CHI2) at the University of Bath School of Management.
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In 2020 he was Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, Department of Management Science and Engineering. He has an academic background in management, decision sciences and computer science and has held positions at UCL, Westminster and St. George’s Universities in London, and the University of British Columbia in Canada. Before embarking on his academic career, he spent several years in industry as a software engineer and systems analyst.
His research focuses on developing and putting in place modelling methods and analytical tools for assisting those delivering and managing health services. He is also interested in the evaluation of the likely impact of healthcare interventions and policy initiatives using empirical and systems modelling methods. He has set up several collaborative research projects with regional health and care organisations through different funding mechanisms and models of collaboration.
Professor David A. Ellis
University of Bath
Co-Investigator and Lead for University of Bath
David is Professor of Behavioural Science at the University of Bath, School of Management and a Visiting Fellow in Psychology at the University of Lincoln.
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Working at the intersection of psychology and data science, his primary focus has been on the value of new and emerging forms of data for understanding the dynamics of behaviour in the digital age. He has explored the impacts of technology as it relates to privacy, security, health, and well-being.
David’s research has been supported by research councils, government agencies, and industry partners. He has collaborated with civil servants, government analysts, NHS staff, patients, artists, technology entrepreneurs, and members of the public and has provided advice and reports to industry and government.
Professor Daniel Gartner
Cardiff University
Co-Investigator and Lead for Cardiff University
Daniel is Chair of Operational Research at Cardiff University, School of Mathematics.
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His research interests are in mathematical modelling applied to healthcare improvement.
An author of 30+ peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings, his research was awarded with several prizes at international conferences such as INFORMS healthcare. He received the Cardiff University’s Celebrating Excellence 2019 Rising Star Award and the OR Society’s Lyn Thomas Impact Medal in 2021.
Daniel is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Co-Editor-in Chief for Health Systems.
The impactful mathematical modelling work that he carries out in his NHS role with colleagues in MATHS lead to significant cost savings and carbon footprint reductions. Daniel also co-designed a programme with the NHS to support clinicians and managers in healthcare analytics and mathematical modelling, creating a network and community of modelling fellows.
Professor Richard Luxton
University of the West of England (UWE Bristol)
Co-Investigator and Lead for UWE Bristol
Richard is Director of the Institute of Bio-Sensing Technology.
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He is a Clinical Biochemist by background with 20 years’ experience in the NHS. He launched the Institute of Bio-Sensing Technology in 2008, with Prof Janice Kiely. The institute seeks to develop new collaborations between industry and academia through inter-disciplinary research.
He has led many large projects including the development of several new biosensor platforms and new technology for the rapid, point of test use. He holds a number of patents for magnetic detection technology.
Richard is the founder and Conference Chair of the successful International Conference for Bio-sensing Technology and Editor in Chief for the Journal Sensor and Biosensor Research. He has published over 100 peer review publications and written 2 books and many book chapters.
In 2012 he was instrumental in launching Medilink South West, a networking organisation for the Health and Life Science sector in the South West of England and is currently the company chairman.
Professor Martin Pitt
University of Exeter
Co-Investigator and Lead for University of Exeter
Martin is Director of PenCHORD (Peninsula Collaboration for Health Operational Research & Data Science) and Professor of Applied Healthcare Modelling and Data Science at the University of Exeter.
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PenCHORD is a research team within the National Institute of Health Research funded South-West Applied Research Collaboration (NIHR SW ARC) based at University of Exeter: Medical School.
PenCHORD works in close collaboration with health and care organisations both in the south-west of the UK, nationally and internationally to improve health and care delivery using Operational Research and Data Science approaches.
Martin has wide ranging experience in healthcare modelling ranging from economic modelling in health technology assessment to discrete event simulation and operational models for service re-design. His research interests are the application of modelling techniques and data science to improve health and care with a particular interest in the implementation of these approaches to policy and decision making process.
He leads the Health and Care Operational Research Network (HaCORN) and is a founding director of the Modelling and Simulation Network (MASHnet). He was appointed as first President of the Association of Professional Healthcare Analysts (AphA) the organisation which represents health service analysts across the NHS and other care service organisations.
Professor Christopher Yau
Health Data Research UK (HDR UK)
Co-Investigator and Lead for HDR UK
Christopher is Deputy Programme Director for Capacity Building at Health Data Research UK (HDR UK).
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He provides oversight over academic training activities including the Wellcome PhD Programme in Health Data Science.
He is also Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Oxford where he holds a UKRI Turing AI Fellowship. He is interested in the development of AI methodologies for biomedical science applications.
Professor Kirsten Cater
University of Bristol
Co-Investigator
Kirsten is the Education Director for PGT and Associate Dean in the School of Computer Science at the University of Bristol.
Dr Andy Gibson
University of the West of England (UWE Bristol)
Co-Investigator
Andy is Associate Professor in Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol).
Professor Paul Harper
Cardiff University
Co-Investigator
Paul is Professor of Operational Research in the School of Mathematics at Cardiff University and Director of the Wales Data Nation Accelerator (WDNA).
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His research interests are in stochastic modelling, including queueing theory, simulation methods, optimisation and game theory, and applications to healthcare.
Author of more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, Paul has been a named investigator on over £18million of funded research grants, recipient of a Times Higher Education award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Innovation and Technology’ and the UK OR Society’s Lyn Thomas Impact Medal.
He is a founding editor-in-chief of the international journal Health Systems (Taylor & Francis), an elected Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (FLSW), recipient of the 2018 ‘Companion of OR’ Award (The OR Society) and was a panel member of the UK Government’s Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) for Mathematical Sciences.
Professor Janice Kiely
University of the West of England (UWE Bristol)
Co-Investigator
Janice is Co-Director of the Health Technology Hub at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol).
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She has over 20 years’ experience in biosensing technology research and development. Key areas of her collaborative research relate to the creation of new magnetic, electrochemical and impedance biosensor modalities and their use to develop new health technologies for point of care settings. In 2018, together with Professor Luxton, she established the EU and UK Growth Fund funded Health Technology Hub supporting business and healthcare professional collaboration to accelerate technology development.
In 2014, she was awarded a RAEng Enterprise Fellowship and, since then has won over £16M for translational research in health and sensing technology, including for the creation of a Business Technology Centre for In-vitro Monitoring and for delivering a Health Tech Accelerator assisting small businesses from the sector.
Professor Maneesh Kumar
Cardiff University
Co-Investigator
Maneesh is Professor in Service Operations at Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University.
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He conducts interdisciplinary research in Operational Excellence, Industry 4.0/5.0, Business model innovation, and circular economy. With over 180 publications, he explores topics like Healthcare Process Innovation and Industry 4.0/5.0 integration.
He has received more than £6 million research funding from EPSRC, ESRC, Welsh Government, Innovate UK, and Highway England. Recognized with the ‘Business Innovation’ Award at Cardiff University, he received the ‘Distinguished Professor Award’ from the IEOM Society.
He is regularly invited as a keynote speaker at international events and provides Lean Six Sigma training, impacting industries worldwide including Admiral and NHS. Acknowledged for teaching excellence, he contributes significantly to academia and industry alike.
Professor Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova
University of Exeter
Co-Investigator
Krasimira is Vice-President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Impact and Professor of Mathematics for Healthcare at the University of Exeter.
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Her research addresses open questions in Health and Life Sciences by means of mathematical modelling and analysis including advanced data analytics. The ultimate goal is to be able to propose novel applications of mathematics to enable the development of quantitative methods for healthcare and healthcare technologies.
She earned her undergraduate and MSc degrees in mathematics at the University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria and her PhD in applied mathematics at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She held postdoctoral fellow positions in the USA and France before moving to the University of Bristol as a Lecturer.
She joined the University of Exeter in 2013 and has held a number of leadership roles being the Associate Dean for Global in the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences and the Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Impact in the Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy. As Vice-President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Impact), Professor Tsaneva-Atanasova oversees a total research portfolio of over £500 million and leads the research and impact strategy for the University.
Emma Brown
University of Bristol
Hub Administrator
Emma is a Senior Research Administrator in the Industrial Liaison Office at the University of Bristol.
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She is part of the Hub’s core team and is responsible for marketing, social media and events as well as day-to-day administration duties. Emma’s joined the University of Bristol in 2023. She previously worked as Student Project Coordinator for the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) and Engagement Officer for Bristol Museums.
Dr Antonia Dingle
Health Data Research UK (HDR UK)
Skills and Knowledge Programme Representative
Antonia is the Digital Health Programmes Manager at Health Data Research UK (HDR UK).
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Part of the Capacity Building Team, she manages HDR UK’s contribution to two regional Digital Health Hubs – NortHFutures in the North East of England, and LEAP in the South West. Both aim to drive innovation in digital health by promoting knowledge and skills sharing across healthcare, academia and business sectors.
Antonia has a background in public health research, with a specialism in health financing of reproductive and maternal health services in low- and middle-income countries. She trained, and later held a Fellowship in Health Finance, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and has also worked extensively implementing global health programmes with consultancy firms and public sector organisations such as Marie Stopes International, where she was Senior Health Financing Advisor.
Antonia recently ran her own business as a mindfulness teacher for three years, through which she experienced the wealth of digital health innovation taking place in the UK and globally today. The exciting overlap between digital health and business has led her into the health data science sector. She is particularly interested in mental health tech and health equity.
Rosie Wakeham
Health Data Research UK (HDR UK)
Skills and Knowledge Programme Representative
Rosie is the Head of Training at Health Data Research UK (HDR UK).
Laura Yiqing Wang
University of Bristol
Online Coordinator
Laura is the Online Programmes Manager for the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Bristol.
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She is responsible for managing all professional services support related to teaching and learning for online programmes. She is actively looking for opportunities to expand the range of courses that the faculty can deliver in the online off-campus provision. She is the Online Coordinator for the LEAP Digital Health Hub.
Laura is an alumna of the Faculty of Engineering at University of Bristol. She studied MSc Communication Systems and Signal Processing following her BEng (Hons.) in Electronic Engineering. After graduation she completed her PGCE and taught A-level Mathematics and Physics at a Sixth Form College for 8 years. She then moved to a Further Education institution as Curriculum Team Leader and Lecturer in Engineering for over 7 years. In 2021, she rejoined the University of Bristol as a member of staff.