ProfessorChristofer Toumazou, FRS, FREng
Winston Wong Chair, Biomedical Circuits
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering - Faculty of Engineering
Orcid identifier0000-0001-8773-7360
- Winston Wong Chair, Biomedical CircuitsDepartment of Electrical and Electronic Engineering - Faculty of Engineering
- 020 7594 6255 (Work)
- 405, Bessemer Building, South Kensington Campus, United Kingdom
BIO
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 125th 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
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 125th 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
FACULTY
- Faculty of Engineering
POSITION NAME
- Winston Wong Chair, Biomedical Circuits