Justin Phillips

Overview

Please note I am currently at Google.

I normally divide my time between teaching and research in physics/engineering applied to medicine. Last academic year (2015/16) I have been working on a Senior Research Fellowship awarded jointly from the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Leverhulme Trust, which funded a replacement academic to cover my teaching and administration activities, enabling me to concentrate on research. During 2017 I will be at Google working on health monitoring applications.

I graduated in Physics from Durham University in 1992 and started my career at Ciba Corning Diagnostics in the UK where I worked on the design and evaluation of prototype biomedical instrumentation. Since 1998 I worked at the Royal Brompton Hospital and later St Bartholomew's Hospital where I was involved in research in anaesthesia and physiological measurement. I completed my PhD from Queen Mary, University of London for work developing new methods of monitoring cerebral oxygen saturation in head injury patients using fibreoptic sensors. I am a member of the Institute of Physics (IoP), Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) and the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE). I am also a co-author of 'Physics in Anaesthesia', a key textbook for medical students and postgraduate trainees studying for their FRCA (Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthesia) examinations.

I am also the Course Director for the MEng/BEng in Biomedical Engineering degree here at City.Please note I am currently at Google.

I normally divide my time between teaching and research in physics/engineering applied to medicine. Last academic year (2015/16) I have been working on a Senior Research Fellowship awarded jointly from the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Leverhulme Trust, which funded a replacement academic to cover my teaching and administration activities, enabling me to concentrate on research. During 2017 I will be at Google working on health monitoring applications.

I graduated in Physics from Durham University in 1992 and started my career at Ciba Corning Diagnostics in the UK where I worked on the design and evaluation of prototype biomedical instrumentation. Since 1998 I worked at the Royal Brompton Hospital and later St Bartholomew's Hospital where I was involved in research in anaesthesia and physiological measurement. I completed my PhD from Queen Mary, University of London for work developing new methods of monitoring cerebral oxygen saturation in head injury patients using fibreoptic sensors. I am a member of the Institute of Physics (IoP), Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) and the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE). I am also a co-author of 'Physics in Anaesthesia', a key textbook for medical students and postgraduate trainees studying for their FRCA (Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthesia) examinations.

I am also the Course Director for the MEng/BEng in Biomedical Engineering degree here at City.

Employment
06/2011 - to date RAEng/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow
06/2011 - to date City University London, Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Engineering
09/2008 - 06/2011 City University London, Lecturer in Biomedical Engineering
10/1999 - 09/2008 Anaesthetic Laboratory, St Bartholomew's Hospital, Principal Technologist
03/1998 - 10/1999 Royal Brompton Hospital, Respiratory Physiologist
02/1996 - 11/1997 Ciba Corning Diagnostics Ltd, Research Assistant

Honorary Appointments
11/2008 - to date Dept of Anaesthesia, St Bartholomew's Hospital, Honorary Research Fellow

Membership of professional bodies
2007 Institute of Physics & Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), Corporate Member
2007 Institute of Physics (IoP), Member
2007 Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (IEEE), Member

Qualifications

• PhD Biomedical Engineering, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry/Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom, 2009
• BSc (Hons) Physics, Durham University, United Kingdom, 1992

Research website: http://www.justinphillips.org

My research is focused on developing new devices and signal processing methods for non-invasive health monitoring for all levels of healthcare; from wearable cardiovascular monitors to critical care and anaesthetic monitoring applications. This work also extends to the development of new technologies for screening patients for cardiovascular disease as well as developing solutions for monitoring patients in their homes.

My main research interests are as follows:
• photoplethysmography (PPG)
• optical bio-sensors
• wearable sensors
• bio-signal processing
• non-invasive cardiovascular monitoring
• cerebral monitoring
• medical device clinical trials

Photoplethysmography and Wearable Sensors

Much of my research focuses on photoplethysmography, acquisition and analysis of optical pulse signals collected from tissue, usually the skin. This signal, the photoplethysmogram (or PPG), arises from the small arteries as they fill and empty over the cardiac cycle and therefore contains information about the function of the cardiovascular system. Simple analysis of the PPG waveform reveals the pulse rate, from the interval between PPG pulses, while more sophisticated examination of the signal may produce new clinical diagnostic tools. The factors affecting the exact shape and characteristics of the PPG signal, which vary according to the sensor and patient, are poorly understood, however there has been recent renewed interest in the potential of PPG due to the explosion in wearable health monitoring technology.

My work is based on developing new algorithms and methods of extracting clinical data from PPG signals as well as developing sensors to collect PPG signals of optimum quality from internal end external monitoring sites. This work should uncover an abundance clinically relevant data from this enigmatic signal, including heart rate variability data, measurement of respiratory volume, oxygen consumption, body hydration levels, blood pressure, arterial stiffness etc. etc.

Vascular Biomechanical Modelling

Understanding the physics and physiology of the vascular system is key to developing new tools for diagnosing cardiovascular disease, the largest cause of death in the developed world. In our labs at City we study use physical models of the heart and vascular system to study the effects of changes in cardiac function on the behaviour of the large and small arteries over the cardiac cycle. The models, which comprise artificial blood, programmable pumps, synthetic and real blood vessels and ‘phantoms’ of specific organs (such as the cerebro-cranial tissue) enable us to control many of the variables that influence the signals (such as heart rate, stroke volume, extravascular pressure, vascular resistance) and better understand measurable variables such as pulse wave velocity. This will enable better interpretation of ‘real’ signals from the body and allow us to develop sensors and software for analysing them to provide useful clinical data. An example application is analysing PPG data (see above) from a wearable heart rate monitor so the wearer can be alerted to an underlying heart condition.

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