David Harris-birtill PhD

Dr. David Harris-Birtill is a Lecturer in the School of Computer Science at the University of St Andrews. David is Principal Investigator on a project funded by the Digital Health and Care Institute (DHI), where, together with his Research Assistant, David Morrison, he is creating an automated remote pulse oximeter to measure people’s vital signs from a distance using camera-based technology. David also is Principal Investigator on an EPSRC IAA-funded project to perform medical image segmentation using deep learning to automatically detect cancer. David’s research interests include remote sensing, image and signal processing, and machine learning for patient benefit.

David studied for his Physics master's at Warwick University, before completing his Ph.D. in Physics at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. He then became a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Imperial College London, working for the department of Surgery and Cancer in the Hamlyn Centre for Medical Robotics. Throughout his career David has used his programming skills to create high-impact image and data analysis programs to help researchers across the globe, enabling clinicians, chemists, biologists, and physicists to complete their research much faster using fully-optimized and automated or semi-automated programs. He also has a great deal of experimental experience creating and optimizing medical imaging systems, microscopy systems, using lasers for therapy and imaging, and chemical analysis of gold nano-particles.