Dr Dimitra Blana

Biography

I received my B.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 2001. I went on to earn my M.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, in 2003, and PhD from the same institute in 2008.

I am a member of the Aberdeen Centre for Health Data Science, and I develop and use computational tools with the aim to improve human health.

I am very active in public engagement with research. I aim to be an advocate for women in science, and encourage young people to consider careers in STEM.  

I am increasingly interested in open and reproducible research, and as a Mozilla Open Leader I have developed an online platform for sharing code and expertise for clinical movement analysis.

Research Overview

I develop computational tools, design experiments and analyse data to address clinical needs in the area of human movement disorders.

Knowledge Exchange

• Founder of the Aberdeen branch of One HealthTech
• 2019 Soapbox Science Stoke-on-Trent organiser
• 2017 Soapbox Science participant (Leeds Arts & Science event)
• 2017 demonstrator at the Cheltenham Science Festival
• 2017 & 2018 Judge for the Association of British Science Writers Awards
• Editor of ScienceSeeker, 2016-2017
• STEM Ambassador

Funding and Grants

• NHS Grampian Endowment grant: Integrating real time surveillance and dynamic modelling of COVID-19 in Grampian to inform an adaptive healthcare response, 2020-2021
• Clinical movement analysis society (CMAS) small grant: A free online platform for sharing movement analysis code and resources, 2019
• EPSRC Healthcare Technologies grant: Personalised approach to restoration of arm function in people with high-level tetraplegia, 2018-2021 
• Innovation Fund from the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine: Intelligent FES for restoring arm movement in people with tetraplegia, 2018
• RCUK Public Engagement with Research Catalysts: Co-Production and Creativity: ethos, typologies and innovation in public engagement practice, 2017 - 2018
• Keele Innovation Fund: Using digitally enhanced creative methods to engage the community with biomedical engineering research, 2017
• Orthopaedic Institute / Keele ACORN PhD studentship: Biomechanical modelling of toe walking gait to inform the prescription of ankle foot orthoses in children with cerebral palsy, 2016 - 2019
• National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIH): Intracortical control of FES-restored arm and hand function in people with spinal cord injury, subcontract with Case Western Reserve University, 2015 - 2017
• National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIH): Prosthesis Control by Forward Dynamic Simulation of the Intact Biomedical System, subcontract with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, 2013 - 2015

Teaching Responsibilities

I am the coordinator of the MSc in Health Data Science.

I contribute to the courses PU5532 (Health Informatics) and EG555J (Research Methods for Bioengineers)