Prof David M Simpson BSc, PhD
Professor of Biomedical Signal Processing

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Prof David Simpson is Professor of Biomedical Signal Processing within Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton. His research and teaching focuses on the application of engineering techniques in a medical context. He aims to address real-world problems using computational data analysis (signal processing) methods for the benefit of patients and other users.
Biomedical engineering provides a stimulating mix of 'hard' science and engineering, with the excitement of understanding more of biology and the motivation to help patients.
After schooling in Austria, he graduated in Biomedical Electronics from the University of Salford (1981) and then worked as a mathematics and physics teacher in Nigeria. He obtained a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of London in 1988. From 1989 to 1998 he lectured in the Biomedical Engineering Program at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), before becoming a research fellow in the Medical Physics Department of Leicester Royal Infirmary. He moved to the University of Southampton (ISVR) in 2001.
His research aims primarily to develop data analysis (signal processing) methods that extract diagnostic information from complex biomedical signals to improve the understanding of physiology and provide innovative diagnostic methods. Specific topics of research include:
- Control of blood flow to the brain (cerebral autoregulation)
- Assessment of hearing function using electrical signals from the brain (EEG and evoked potentials) and other physiological signals.
In his teaching he aims to enable students to solve problems at the interface between engineering and medicine/health sciences, with an understanding of the relevant technologies as well as the wider context of the application of healthcare technology. He enjoys teaching at the interface between disciplines with students from a wide range of educational backgrounds.