Dr Dimitra Blana

Dr Dimitra Blana
Dr Dimitra Blana
Dr Dimitra Blana

Lecturer

About

Biography

I am the Interim Director of the Aberdeen Centre for Health Data Science, and the Lead for the MSc Health Data Science. I am passionate about improving research culture and promoting open and reproducible research practices. I am also an advocate for diversity in health science and technology.

My research focus is dynamic modelling of complex health systems. I initially worked on biomechanical models of the human arm, to help design prosthetic hands, and assistive technologies for people with paralysis. Since joining the Aberdeen Centre for Health Data Science, I have started applying my modelling methods to other healthcare problems. For example, I built an epidemiological model to help NHS Grampian with their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. I now use dynamic modelling to address a range of health challenges, from the needs of the individual patient, to demand and capacity analysis of the healthcare system.

My background is in biomedical and computer engineering. I received my B.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. I went on to earn my M.Sc. and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.

Research

Research Overview

My focus is dynamic modelling of complex health systems. I am a member of a multidisciplinary group that includes health researchers, engineers, computer scientists, and clinicians. 

Here is a list of our human movement related projects, and our COVID-19 modelling work.

Research Specialisms

  • Biomechanics
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Mathematical Modelling
  • Dynamics
  • Health Informatics

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

Knowledge Exchange

Funding and Grants

  • University of Aberdeen Funding to Pump-Prime Research and Research Networks: A creative engagement approach to improve the impact of healthcare modelling, 2024
  • Chan Zuckerberg Initiative “Essential Open Source Software for Science”: OpenSim Creator: Empowering Biomedical Research with Biomechanical Models, 2022-2025
  • Carnegie Trust For The Universities Of Scotland PhD studentship: Wearable sensors for clinical movement analysis of the upper limb: enhancing accuracy and improving access, 2022-2025
  • NHS Grampian Endowment: Investigating socioeconomic disparities as a cause and consequence of deteriorating kidney health among people admitted to hospital with an acute illness, 2021-2022
  • NHS Grampian Endowment: Using wearable technology to optimise timing of concomitant metformin and exercise prescription, 2021-2022
  • SFC Upskilling Fund to develop two Master’s level Health Data Science courses, 2021
  • 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

Programmes

Publications

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  • Glenohumeral stability during a hand-positioning task in previously injured shoulders

    Marchi, J., Blana, D., Chadwick, E. K.
    Medical & biological engineering & computing, vol. 52, no. 3, pp. 251-256
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Selection of muscle and nerve-cuff electrodes for neuroprostheses using customizable musculoskeletal model.

    Blana, D., Hincapie, J., Chadwick, E., Kirsch, R.
    Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 395-408
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Continuous neuronal ensemble control of simulated arm reaching by a human with tetraplegia.

    Chadwick, E., Blana, D., Simeral, J., Lambrecht, J., Kim, S., Cornwell, A., Taylor, D., Hochberg, L., Donoghue, J., Kirsch, R.
    Journal of Neural Engineering, vol. 8, no. 3, 034003
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • A real-time, 3-D musculoskeletal model for dynamic simulation of arm movements.

    Chadwick, E., Blana, D., van den Bogert, A., Kirsch, R.
    IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 56, no. 4, pp. 941-948
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Combined feedforward and feedback control of a redundant, nonlinear, dynamic musculoskeletal system.

    Blana, D., Kirsch, R., Chadwick, E.
    Medical & biological engineering & computing, vol. 47, no. 5, pp. 533-542
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Musculoskeletal model-guided, customizable selection of shoulder and elbow muscles for a C5 SCI neuroprosthesis.

    Hincapie, J., Blana, D., Chadwick, E., Kirsch, R.
    IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 255-263
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • A musculoskeletal model of the upper extremity for use in the development of neuroprosthetic systems

    Blana, D., Hincapie, J. G., Chadwick, E. K., Kirsch, R. F.
    Journal of Biomechanics, vol. 41, no. 8, pp. 1714-1721
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Dynamic Arm Simulator: A real-time model of the upper limb

    Chadwick, E., Blana, D., Kirsch, R., van den Bogert, T.
    Journal of Biomechanics, vol. 40, no. Supplement 2, pp. S65
    Contributions to Journals: Abstracts
  • Model-Based FES Muscle Selection for Restoring Arm Movement in High SCI

    Kirsch, R. F., Blana, D., Chadwick, E.
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings
  • MODEL-BASED DEVELOPMENT OF A NEUROPROSTHESIS CONTROLLER

    Hincapie, J. G., Blana, D., Chadwick, E., Kirsch, R.
    n/a
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
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Books and Reports

Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings

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