Iain Buchan [Image courtesy of Microsoft]
Iain Buchan is presently a clinical professor of public health informatics at the University of Manchester – and director of the Health eResearch Centre, which is part of the U.K.’s Medical Research Council.
Buchan will become director of healthcare research at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, effective Oct. 2. He’ll report to the lab’s director Chris Bishop.
Buchan is an expert at applying advanced statistical and data analysis techniques to the healthcare space – and sees Microsoft’s Cambridge lab as a perfect place to develop new technologies for patients and communities. His work will be part of Microsoft’s Healthcare NExT initiative, which is seeking to incorporate artificial intelligence and cloud computing into healthcare products and services.
“Some of the greatest challenges in healthcare require tapping into the rhythms of daily life and health, and influencing frequent choices, for example over diet, physical activity and medication. Here, Microsoft technologies touch our lives more often than clinics, and could help us to act quickly and prevent problems before they need urgent medical attention,” Buchan said in a news release.
“Microsoft conducts scientific research with rigor and earns the respect of those in academia and the healthcare sector for being properly cautious, especially when it comes to artificial intelligence,” Buchan said. “This diligence differentiates Microsoft from many other companies in the digital health stampede.”
