ProfessorChristoferToumazou

Summary

Regius Professor Chris Toumazou FRS, FREng, FMedSci, NAE, FIET, FIEEE, FCGI, FRSM, CEng, DEng, PhD, BSc

Professor Chris Toumazou is Regius Professor of Engineering, Chair in Biomedical Circuit Design, Director of the Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology and Founder and Chief Scientist for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London. He is also the co-founder & CEO of ground-breaking consumer genetics services provider DnaNudge, and co-founder and Executive Chairman of DNA Electronics, developer of pioneering point-of-need solutions for rapid DNA sequencing.

Professor Toumazou is pre-eminent amongst the global community of contemporary biomedical engineers. His co-invention of semiconductor DNA sequencing revolutionised genetic testing and, in recognition of this and several other healthcare innovations, he has been honoured with the European Patent Office European Inventor Award, The Royal Society Gabor Medal, the IET Faraday Medal, and Laureate of the UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences – the first ever UK winner.

In 2020, Professor Toumazou received the President's Special Award for Pandemic Service from the Royal Academy of Engineering, in recognition of his exceptional engineering achievement in adapting DnaNudge's Lab-in-Cartridge technology to deliver - in record time - a rapid, lab-free COVID-19 RT-PCR test ("CovidNudge"). The CovidNudge test is now in use in UK NHS hospitals and healthcare settings around the world. 

Professor Toumazou’s career is distinguished for his ground-breaking research in bringing silicon technology to the field of medical devices for early detection, diagnosis and therapy. In 1994, he became the youngest Professor ever to be appointed at Imperial College London, at age 33. In 2013, he was appointed London’s First Regius Professor of Engineering, awarded to Imperial College London during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Professor Toumazou’s earlier research includes cochlear implants for born-deaf children, an artificial pancreas for Type 1 diabetics, wireless heart monitors for personalised ambulatory health monitoring, and inventing an intelligent neural stimulator as a drug alternative for obesity.

He is a recipient of the IEEE Field Medal in Biomedical Engineering for Outstanding Contributions to Biomedical Circuit Technology, the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Silver Medal for pioneering contributions to British industry, and the IET’s JJ Thompson Medal for Electronics. In 2013, he was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences – adding to his Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society, and becoming only one of very few people who are Fellows of all three UK national academies. In 2021, Professor Toumazou was elected to International Member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in the US, which is among the highest global professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.

In 2010, Professor Toumazou received the Times Higher Education Innovation Award for his founding of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London. The Institute was formally opened in 2009 by Her Majesty The Queen. He was personally honoured with the World Technology Award (sponsored by Time Magazine) for Health & Medicine in 2009. 

He has published over 750 research papers, holds over 80 patents and employs over 300 people in his combined medical device companies and Imperial College London’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering.

AWARDS & ACCOLADES

• 2022: Named Laureate of the UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences – the first ever UK winner 
• 2021: Winner of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s MacRobert Award (DnaNudge)
• 2021: iF DESIGN AWARD 2021 (DnaNudge)
• 2021: Elected International Member of the National Academy of Engineering (US)
• 2020: Winner of the President's Special Award for Pandemic Service, Royal Academy of Engineering
• 2020: Joint Entrepreneur of the Year Award, UK BioIndustry Association (BIA)
• 2016: Winner of the Elektra European Electronics Industry Awards Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2015: Winner of the IEEE Field Medal in Biomedical Engineering for Outstanding Contributions to Biomedical Circuit Technology
• 2014: Winner of The IET Faraday Medal
• 2014: Awarded Honorary Fellowship, Cardiff University
• 2014: Winner of European Inventor Award, European Patent Office   
• 2013: Becomes London’s first Regius (Royal) Professor of Engineering
• 2013: Elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences
• 2013: Winner of The Royal Society’s Gabor Medal in recognition of success in applying semiconductor technology to DNA analysis
• 2012: Awarded Honorary DSc, Mahanakorn University, Thailand
• 2011: Awarded JJ Thompson Medal for Electronics, IET
• 2010:  Electronic Product Design’s e-Legacy Award for Medical Advances (DNA Electronics)
• 2010: IET Innovation Awards in Electronics, Emerging Technologies and Healthcare (DNA Electronics)
• 2010: Elected Fellow of the City and Guilds Institute
• 2010: Awarded Honorary Deng from Oxford Brookes University
• 2009: Innovation Award for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Times Higher Education Awards (THE)
• 2009: Best British Inventions, BBC Focus Magazine
• 2009: Elektra European Electronics Industry Award for R&D (DNA Electronics)
• 2009: Emerging Technology of the Year Award, National Microelectronics Institute
• 2009: Individual winner of the World Technology Award for Health and Medicine, sponsored by Time Magazine, World Technology Network
• 2008: Innovation in Engineering Award, Institution of Engineering and Technology
• 2008: Elected Fellow of the Royal Society
• 2008: Elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
• 2007: Silver Medal for Pioneering Contributions to British Industry, Royal Academy of Engineering
• 2007: Start-Up of the Year Award, National Microelectronics Institute
• 2007: Elected Member of Academia Europaea
• 2006: Founded IEEE BIOCAS, now the largest Biomedical Circuits Society in the world
• 2006: Outstanding Innovation Award, Oracle
• 2005: IEEE Circuits and Systems Education Award for pioneering contributions to telecommunications and biomedical circuits and systems
• 2004: Elected Fellow of the IEEE
• 2003: The Clifford Patterson Lecture Prize Bronze Medal, The Royal Society
• 1993: Recipient of the IEE Electronics Letters Premium Award
• 1992: Recipient of the Outstanding Young Author Award, IEEE CAS
• 1991: Recipient of the IEE Rayleigh Best Book Award, Imperial College is recognition of research in the Department of Electrical Engineering

NOTABLE SPEECHES & LECTURES

Professor Toumazou has been an invited speaker at many high-profile academic, industry and government conferences around the world, including:

• World Healthcare Summit
• TEDMED
• The Royal Society
• International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC)
• G8 Summit

He has given a number of notable lectures, including:

• The Royal Society Clifford Patterson Prize Lecture
• Keynote lecture at IEEE 125^th Anniversary Celebration at the Royal Institution
• Keynote lecture at the Future World Symposium
• Keynote lecture at Wireless Health
• The Royal Society Gabor Lecture

EXTERNAL POSITIONS

• Member, Technology Transfer Committee, Wellcome Trust
• Member, Sub-Committee for Engineering Research Grants, The Royal Society
• Senior Advisor, Board of Grace Semiconductor, Taiwan
• Member, Critical Technologies - Power Scavenging, Joint DSB/DSAC Task Force
• Member, Foresight Committee on the Detection & Identification of Infectious Diseases (DIID), DTI
• International Advisor, Medical Devices, Singapore Government
• Chairman, Healthcare Panel, UK EPSRC, 2000
• Chairman, Biomedical Technical Committee, IEEE CAS Society, 2000
• Member, Board of Governors, IEEE CAS Society, 1999 - 2001
• Member, President's Advisory Committee, IEEE CAS, 1997 - 1998
• Vice President, Technical Activities, IEEE CAS Society, 1996 - 1997
• Chairman, Circuits and Technical Committee on Analog Signal Processing, International IEEE, 1993 - 1995
• Member, Board of Governors, IEEE CAS Society, 1993
• Member, International Circuits and System Chapter of the UK and Republic of Ireland Section, IEEE, 1992
• Member, Professional Group E10 Technical Committee, UK IEE, 1992
• European Liaison Officer (1st UK representative), IEEE Circuits and Systems Technical Analog Signal Processing, International IEEE, 1989

MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL BODIES

• Elected International Member (NAE), National Academy of Engineering (US), 2021
• Elected Fellow (FMedSci), The Academy of Medical Sciences, 2013
• Elected Fellow (FRS), The Royal Society, 2008
• Elected Fellow (FREng), The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), 2008
• Elected Fellow, Academia Europaea (European Academy), 2007
• Fellow (FIET), The Institution of Engineering Technology (IET), UK, 2004
• Fellow (FIEEE), The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), USA, 2000

COMMERCIAL SPIN-OUTS

• DnaNudge, co-founder and CEO
• DNA Electronics, co-founder and Executive Chairman

EDITORIAL BOARDS

IET Electronics Letters, Editor-in-Chief

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Publications

Journals

Conference

More Publications