2024 BioMedEng Council Elections
A total of eight BioMedEng Council positions expired in December 2023.
The BioMedEng Association is grateful to Drs and Profs [Daniel Abásolo (Surrey), Ed Chadwick (Aberdeen), Constantin Coussios (Oxford), Ashraf Khir (Durham), Andy Nisbet (UCL), Perumal Nithiarasu (Swansea), Seb Ourselin (KCL) and Yiannis Ventikos] for their service and commitment to the Association.
Following the recent round of nominations for Council positions, which was open to previous Council members and current full members of the Association, the nominees below have been approved by the Board for elections. Each nominee has also prepared a short manifesto on why they should be voted to join the Council.
BioMedEng members can use the link in the members area to vote for their preferred candidate. To vote, please click this link and login: https://bit.ly/48aOlV1
Voting closes at midnight on 21st February 2024. Your response will remain anonymous.
Manifestos
Professor Ashraf Khir – Durham University
Ashraf W Khir is a Professor of Cardiovascular mechanics at Durham University, Ashraf carried out his Doctoral work at the Physiological Flow Studies Unit (PFSU) at Imperial College London, which was followed by a Postdoc at the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI). Then joined Brunel University London as a lecturer and worked there for 18 years before moving to Durham in 2022.
Ashraf is an Associate Editor in the Journal of Engineering in Medicine and the European Editor of Artificial Organs. Ashraf is a fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (FIMechE), where he has also been a board member of the Biomedical Engineering Division. Ex- governing board member of the European Society of Artificial Organs (ESAO) and hosted the annual conference of ESAO in 2021. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (FIPEM) where he served as a member of the Biomedical Engineering accreditation panel.
Ashraf has a broad interest in the role of Biomedical Engineering in developing Healthcare Technologies, but his main research focus is in the areas of Physiological Fluid Mechanics and the Mechanical Ventricular Assist Devices. As a Council member, he will be pleased to continue to contribute to the general running of the BioMedEng Association, participate in organising the annual conference and support the growth of the Biomedical Engineering discipline in the UK and beyond. Ashraf also wishes to assist the Association’s efforts in developing young/junior academics and engineers working in the field, as well as contributing to the Education group.
Dr Asimina (Melina) Kazakidi – University of Strathclyde
Dr Asimina (Melina) Kazakidi is a Reader at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. She obtained her PhD in Biofluid Dynamics from Imperial College London.
Asimina is the Course Director of the MSc/MRes programmes in Biomedical Engineering and Deputy Director of Research at Strathclyde. She has been the recipient of prestigious fellowships and research funding both as PI and co-I, including a recent EPSRC Transformative Healthcare Technologies Phase 2 grant. She is a Member of IPEM, the RSE Young Academy of Scotland, and the European Society of Biomechanics (ESB).
Asimina has contributed to the BioMedEng community since its inaugural conference. Her nomination hopes to broaden representation and experience within the Council, fostering further growth of the community. Her nomination also reflects a commitment to the field’s development and the continued success and impact of future conferences, especially as Strathclyde prepares to host the BioMedEng25 conference.
Professor Yalin Zheng – University of Liverpool
My name is Yalin Zheng and I am Professor of AI in Healthcare at the University of Liverpool. I have built an excellent reputation in cross-disciplinary research in medical engineering with substantial translational potential into healthcare locally, nationally and globally. My collaboration with clinicians has made significant impacts on patient care and my recent AI work has led to a new University spin-out.
It is an honour to be nominated for election of Council representatives. As your representative on the Council, I would aim to ensure that: advances in the BioMedEng fields will be shared, translation of innovations will be facilitated, and engagements with stakeholders will be widened. To deliver upon these aims, I will use my 20 years of experience from academia and industry and devote my energy, expertise and time. I will also endeavour to give you opportunities to inform me of what I can do to improve your experience and that of the BioMedEng community.
I would be honoured to represent you in the coming years, and to be given the opportunity to help bring the Association into the AI era and beyond.
Professor Perumal Nithiarasu – Swansea University
After receiving a PhD in CFD, I joined Swansea University in 1996. In 2006, I transitioned to biomedical engineering research through an EPSRC fellowship and established a strong research group in Swansea. I led the first UK network in patient specific modelling to promote translational research. My primary research focus is computational biomedical engineering, with a keen interest in digital twinning in health.
Since 2013, I have held various research leadership roles in Swansea and presently lead the research strategy for Science and Engineering as an Associate Dean. Externally, I coordinate the Welsh Digital Twin Network, chair the CMBE conference series, and edit the International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering. I have been closely associated with the BioMedEng Association since its inception. I have attended nearly all annual meetings and collaborated with many past and present members. I am deeply committed to promoting the BioMedEng Association.
Professor Amy Zavatsky – University of Oxford
Amy Zavatsky has over thirty years of experience in the field of biomedical engineering, starting with an undergraduate degree from one of the oldest and most successful bioengineering departments in the United States at the University of Pennsylvania.
Since then, she has carried out research in orthopaedic and musculoskeletal biomechanics at the University of Oxford, mainly in collaboration with clinicians at Oxford’s Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. She has also taught, supervised, and examined undergraduate and graduate students, with a focus on mechanical and civil engineering and biomechanics. Over the years, she has gained extensive administrative experience on university, departmental, and college committees and working groups. With this background, she is in a excellent position to contribute to the running of the BioMedEng Association through its Council and working groups and to promote the advancement of knowledge and education in biomedical engineering and related fields.
Professor Sotiris Korossis – Loughborough University
Sotiris Korossis holds the Chair of Biomedical Engineering and Biohybrid Organs at Loughborough University. Previously he was an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow and Director of Biomedical Engineering at Hannover Medical School. During his career, he has been committed to actively promoting biomedical engineering, particularly focusing on attracting younger generations, especially of underrepresented groups, into the field.
As a Council member, he will be actively contributing to the day-to-day business of the BioMedEng Association and support the organisation of the conferences and other activities of the Association, further promoting biomedical engineering to the academic community and general public.
Scientifically, Prof. Korossis will be actively promoting and fostering collaborations and work in the engineering of whole biological and biohybrid organs, as well as in the Replacement, Reduction and Refinement (3Rs) of animal testing by promoting enhanced integration of advanced in vitro and in silico models into tissue engineering and medical device research and development.
Dr Daniel Abasolo – University of Surrey
I am a passionate advocate for biomedical engineering and have been championing the discipline both at the University of Surrey, for example as programme leader for the BEng/MEng Biomedical Engineering programmes from 2012 to 2022, and nationally, as an active member of the IET Healthcare Technologies Network (HTN) Executive Committee, which I chaired from October 2016 to September 2019. I have also been a member of the panel of experts steering the IET Healthcare Sector from 2016 to 2023.
I have always been committed to improving the undergraduate and postgraduate students’ experience. I believe that I can work within the Council of the BioMedEng Association to that aim. Our undergraduate and postgraduate students are the future lifeblood of the discipline and as a Council Member I will actively work to increase membership numbers and to promote activities that would increase the visibility of the Association to students.