Spotlight on UCL's healthcare engineers

Spotlight on Dr Marianna Obrist

Marianna joined UCL in July 2020 as Professor of Multisensory Interfaces in the UCL Interaction Centre (UCLIC). Prior to this, she was head of the Sussex Computer-Human Interaction Lab at the University of Sussex. Her research focuses on how touch, taste and smell can be used in human-computer interaction (HCI). 

In late 2020, Marianna was appointed as our Deputy Director (Digital).

"We take them for granted, but there are so many emotions and memories connected to our sense of smell and taste. By bringing together engineering advances with neuroscience and psychology, we can design new systems that take the whole human into account."

Spotlight on Prof Nick Tyler

Prof Nick Tyler is the Chadwick Chair of Civil Engineering at UCL and Director of the UCL Centre for Transport Studies. 

He set up the Accessibility Research Group within the Centre for Transport Studies, with a team of researchers looking at accessibility and public transport.

His research investigates the ways people interact with their environments, and how we can design spaces that are better for people’s needs.  

Spotlight on Dr Lena Ciric

Dr Lena Ciric is an environmental microbiologist in UCL Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (CEGE). In recent years, her research has focused on the indoor environment and the microbes that lurk within hospitals and on high-touch surfaces in public spaces.

"It’s been incredibly useful and liberating to look at the broader context; why am I doing my research? Why is it important to me?" 

Spotlight on Maryam Atakhorrami

Maryam Atakhorrami helps steer UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering’s strategic direction as a member of our management board. In the rest of her time she leads a partnership of five London universities through Health Data Research UK (HDR UK).

"Engaging with public and patients is critically important when people's data is used for research and innovation"

Spotlight on Prof Ann Blandford

Prof Ann Blandford is our Digital Health Deputy Director. As Professor of Human-Computer Interaction, Ann specialises in evaluating how complex digital systems are used and interacted with in the inherent 'messiness' of the real world. 

"The biggest thrills come from gaining insight: from realising or understanding something that hadn’t been obvious to me before."

Spotlight on Professor Geoff Parker

Geoff joined UCL in April 2019 as Professor of Healthcare Engineering, Imaging and Enterprise in the Department of Computer Science. He is also Deputy Director (Translation) for the Institute of Healthcare Engineering. 

"I have a magpie-like attraction to new ideas".

Spotlight on Professor Dan Stoyanov

Dan is Director of the Wellcome/EPSRC Centre for Interventional Sciences (WEISS) and a member of the Institute of Healthcare Engineering. 

"All our efforts are a truly interdisciplinary endeavour, bringing together teams across engineering, medicine, life sciences, biology, chemistry, physics and computational science – all under one roof!"

Spotlight on Dr Qasim Rafiq

Working at the cutting-edge intersection between biology, chemistry and engineering, Qasim focuses on the biomanufacture of the very latest advanced therapeutics, including regenerative, cellular and gene based therapy.

"Impact arises through effective collaboration".

Spotlight on Dr Rui Loureiro

Alongside his team at Aspire CREATe, the Centre for Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology, Rui works to develop pioneering technologies in areas such as spinal cord injuries, amputations, muscular dystrophy and age-related mobility issues. 

"Nothing beats seeing the sparkle in a patient’s eyes as they use one of my robots to relearn how to move again".

Spotlight on Dr Cathy Holloway

Dr Cathy Holloway is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at UCL Interaction Centre. Cathy develops assistive technologies to improve the lives of the one billion disabled people living worldwide. 

"We influence policy, develop products, collect data – all with the sole aim of accelerating disability innovation for a fairer world".

Spotlight on Professor Frederik Barkhof

Professor Frederik Barkhof was listed by Thompson-Reuters as one of the top 3000 most influential scientists world-wide.

"The human brain is a beautiful thing".

Spotlight on Dr Kurinchi Gurusamy

Professor Kurinchi Gurusamy, from the UCL Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, is working to achieve uniform high-quality healthcare for all by developing evidence-based guidelines and innovations that make surgeries safer. His main interests are liver, gallbladder and pancreatic surgery.

"It is extremely important to involve patients in research as it helps us understand their priorities and focus on what’s important to them".

Spotlight on Dr Vivek Dua

Dr Vivek Dua is a Reader in Chemical Engineering. He completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at Imperial College in 2000 before joining UCL as a Lecturer in 2004.

"Perseverance is key".

Spotlight on Dr Simon Walker-Samuel

Simon is a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow within CABI, where he leads the Cancer Imaging Group (CIG). The CIG combines novel and state-of-the-art imaging techniques to understand cancer growth, development and death. 

"It’s very satisfying when you can give people a sense of awe by showing them something new, or in a way that they hadn’t considered before".