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Gari David Clifford is a British-American physicist, biomedical engineer, academic, and researcher. He is the Chair of Emory's Department of Biomedical Informatics and a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Biomedical Informatics at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology.

Clifford has authored over 400 publications, and has multiple patents awarded. His research is focused on scalable and affordable healthcare, and his major application areas include, Cardiovascular Disease, Circadian Rhythms and Sleep, Maternal/Fetal Health and Neuropsychiatric Diseases.

Clifford is the Director of the PhysioNet/Computing in Cardiology Challenges, the co-founder and CTO of MindChild Medical Inc., and the co-founder of LifeBell AI, where he serves as a Chief Scientific Officer. He is the Deputy Editor of IOP Journal of Physiological Measurement, and has served as an International Advisory Board Member of the Research Resource for Complex Physiologic Signals (otherwise known as ‘PhysioNet’).

Education

Clifford studied at the University of Exeter and received his bachelor's degree in Physics and Electronics in 1992. He then earned a master's degree in Theoretical Physics from the University of Southampton in 1995, and his Doctoral degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Oxford in 2003.

Career

Following his Doctoral degree, he joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Postdoctoral Fellow in 2003, then Research Scientist in 2004, and Principal Research Scientist from 2005 to 2009. From 2009 to 2014, he was appointed as an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford, and subsequently as a Visiting Professor from 2014 to 2017. He held concurrent appointments as Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Emory University, and as Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology from 2014 till 2019. He currently serves as Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Biomedical Engineering at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology.

At Emory University, he was appointed as Interim Chair in 2016 and then as Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics since 2019.

Research

Clifford's research focuses on four main themes.

Healthcare Technology in Low-resource Settings

Clifford has worked on scalable and affordable healthcare in low-resource settings. Most notably, he and his research team developed a novel method of identifying intrauterine growth restriction and gestational age estimation from a low-cost Doppler. In collaboration with Rachel Hall-Clifford, and the Maya Health Alliance, the team have developed a co-design program to deploy this AI-driven mHealth technology to improve outcomes in pregnancy and early childhood in Guatemala. While on faculty at the University of Oxford he founded the Oxford Centre for Affordable Healthcare, in which he along with his research team and collaborators developed a $5 mHealth blood pressure device, a mobile stethoscope used in South Africa, a cardiovascular disease screening system used in a clinical trial in India, and a smart hand-pump system for East Africa.

The PhysioNet/Computing in Cardiology Challenges

Clifford is most well known for his contributions to the NIH-funded Research Resource for Complex Physiological Signals (known as PhysioNet) and his leadership of the associated PhysioNet Challenges/Moody PhysioNet Challenges since 2015, a series of annual international competition which has since 2000. Clifford managed the coordination, assembly and dissemination of the MIMIC II database (through PhysioNet).

Computational ECG Analysis

During his doctoral work at the University of Oxford, Clifford along with co-author Patrick McSharry, introduced a dynamical model which is based on three coupled ordinary differential equations, and is capable of generating realistic synthetic electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. Later, while at MIT, Clifford collaborated with Christian Jutten and Reza Sameni to develop a novel approach to recording and extracting fetal ECG. This work was licensed and spun out into a startup, Mindchild Medical Inc. He subsequently demonstrated that the approach could accurately extract important clinical parameters (QT intervals and ST-levels).

Digital Mental Health and Computational Neuro-psychiatry

While on faculty at the University of Oxford, Clifford established a program in Computational Neuro-psychiatry, funded by the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and the Wellcome Trust, to use passive data collected from mobile phones, and active data from body worn sensors to assess mental health status in schizophrenic and bipolar disorder patients. Later, he extended this program to use passive eye-tracking and emotion analysis from video to evaluate depression, mild cognitive impairment, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Awards and honors

• 2009 - Martin Black Award, Institute of Physics
• 2010 - Mobile Health Industry Summit Challenge winner; ‘best R&D project’ (mStethoscope)
• 2010 - mHealth Alliance Award and Vodafone Wireless Challenge (for SanaMobile)
• 2011 - 1st Prize, International Engineering World Health Design Competition
• 2012 - ‘Best Innovation Leveraging Technology’, Dell Social Innovation Challenge
• 2014 - 1st Prize, PhysioNet / Computing in Cardiology Challenge (Phase III)
• 2015 - Distinguished guest professor, Tsinghua University, Beijing
• 2017 - Elected to the Fulbright Specialist Roster
• 2019 - Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Development, Georgia Institute of Technology
• 2020 - Max Harry Weil Memorial Award, The Society for Critical Care Med
• 2023 - Fellowship of the IEEE "for contributions to machine-learning applications in cardiovascular time series"

Bibliography

• McSharry, P. E., Clifford, G. D., Tarassenko, L., & Smith, L. A. (2003). A dynamical model for generating synthetic electrocardiogram signals. IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering, 50(3), 289–294.
• Clifford, G. D., Azuaje, F., & McSharry, P. (2006). Advanced methods and tools for ECG data analysis (p. 12). Boston: Artech house.
• Saeed, M., Villarroel, M., Reisner, A. T., Clifford, G., Lehman, L. W., Moody, G., ... & Mark, R. G. (2011). Multiparameter Intelligent Monitoring in Intensive Care II (MIMIC-II): a public-access intensive care unit database. Critical care medicine, 39(5), 952.
• Sameni, R., Shamsollahi, M. B., Jutten, C., & Clifford, G. D. (2007). A nonlinear Bayesian filtering framework for ECG denoising. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 54(12), 2172–2185.
• Sameni, R., & Clifford, G. D. (2010). A review of fetal ECG signal processing; issues and promising directions. The open pacing, electrophysiology & therapy journal, 3, 4.

References

1. ^ "The Clifford Lab at Emory University & Georgia Tech".
2. "Gari Clifford".
3. "PhysioNet: Brief Introduction".
4. "Physiological Measurement".
5. Katebi, Nasim; Sameni, Reza; Clifford, Gari D. (2020). "Deep Sequence Learning for Accurate Gestational Age Estimation from a $25 Doppler Device". arXiv:2012.00553 .
6. Stroux, L.; Redman, C. W.; Georgieva, A.; Payne, S. J.; Clifford, G. D. (2017). "Doppler-based fetal heart rate analysis markers for the detection of early intrauterine growth restriction". Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica. 96 (11): 1322–1329. doi:10.1111/aogs.13228. PMC 5643243. PMID 28862738.
7. Stroux, Lisa; Martinez, Boris; Coyote Ixen, Enma; King, Nora; Hall-Clifford, Rachel; Rohloff, Peter; Clifford, Gari D. (2016). "An mHealth monitoring system for traditional birth attendant-led antenatal risk assessment in rural Guatemala". Journal of Medical Engineering & Technology. 40 (7–8): 356–371. doi:10.1080/03091902.2016.1223196. PMC 5180361. PMID 27696915.
8. Martinez, Boris; Ixen, Enma Coyote; Hall-Clifford, Rachel; Juarez, Michel; Miller, Ann C.; Francis, Aaron; Valderrama, Camilo E.; Stroux, Lisa; Clifford, Gari D.; Rohloff, Peter (2018). "mHealth intervention to improve the continuum of maternal and perinatal care in rural Guatemala: a pragmatic, randomized controlled feasibility trial". Reproductive Health. 15 (1): 120. doi:10.1186/s12978-018-0554-z. PMC 6033207. PMID 29973229.
9. "App Helps Reduce Childbirth Deaths In Rural Guatemala". NBC News.
10. "AI4D Mobile BP".
11. "Mobile Health from the Intelligent Patient Monitoring Group" (PDF).
12. "Mobile phones offer heart lifeline".
13. Peiris, David; Praveen, Devarsetty; Mogulluru, Kishor; Ameer, Mohammed Abdul; Raghu, Arvind; Li, Qiang; Heritier, Stephane; MacMahon, Stephen; Prabhakaran, Dorairaj; Clifford, Gari D.; Joshi, Rohina; Maulik, Pallab K.; Jan, Stephen; Tarassenko, Lionel; Patel, Anushka (2019). "SMARThealth India: A stepped-wedge, cluster randomised controlled trial of a community health worker managed mobile health intervention for people assessed at high cardiovascular disease risk in rural India". PLOS ONE. 14 (3): e0213708. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1413708P. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0213708. PMC 6435227. PMID 30913216.
14. ^ "MW4D MOBILE/WATER FOR DEVELOPMENT".
15. Moody PhysioNet Challenge overview
16. ^ "Challenges".
17. "Early Prediction of Sepsis from Clinical Data -- the PhysioNet Computing in Cardiology Challenge 2019".
18. Reyna, Matthew; Andres Perez Alday, Erick; Gu, Annie; Liu, Chengyu; Seyedi, Salman; Bahrami Rad, Ali; Elola, Andoni; Li, Qiao; Sharma, Ashish; Clifford, Gari (2020). "Classification of 12-lead ECGs: the PhysioNet/Computing in Cardiology Challenge 2020". 2020 Computing in Cardiology Conference (CinC). Vol. 47. doi:10.22489/CinC.2020.236. ISBN 978-1-7281-7382-5. S2CID 231915966.
19. Clifford, Gari D. (2020). "The Future AI in Healthcare: A Tsunami of False Alarms or a Product of Experts?". arXiv:2007.10502 .
20. "You Snooze, You Win: the PhysioNet/Computing in Cardiology Challenge 2018".
21. "F Classification from a Short Single Lead ECG Recording: the PhysioNet/Computing in Cardiology Challenge 2017" (PDF).
22. Clifford, G.D; Long, W.J; Moody, G.B; Szolovits, P. (2009). "Robust parameter extraction for decision support using multimodal intensive care data". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 367 (1887): 411–429. Bibcode:2009RSPTA.367..411C. doi:10.1098/rsta.2008.0157. hdl:1721.1/67339. PMC 2617714. PMID 18936019.
23. Neamatullah, Ishna; Douglass, Margaret M.; Lehman, Li-wei H.; Reisner, Andrew; Villarroel, Mauricio; Long, William J.; Szolovits, Peter; Moody, George B.; Mark, Roger G.; Clifford, Gari D. (2008). "Automated de-identification of free-text medical records". BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. 8: 32. doi:10.1186/1472-6947-8-32. PMC 2526997. PMID 18652655.
24. McSharry, P.E.; Clifford, G.D.; Tarassenko, L.; Smith, L.A. (2003). "A dynamical model for generating synthetic electrocardiogram signals". IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. 50 (3): 289–294. doi:10.1109/TBME.2003.808805. PMID 12669985. S2CID 544816.
25. Clifford, Gari; Sameni, Reza; Ward, Jay; Robinson, Julian; Wolfberg, Adam J. (2011). "Clinically accurate fetal ECG parameters acquired from maternal abdominal sensors". American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 205 (1): 47.e1–47.e5. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2011.02.066. PMC 3145045. PMID 21514560.
26. "A Nonlinear Bayesian Filtering Framework for ECG Denoising".
27. Sameni, Reza; Clifford, Gari D.; Jutten, Christian; Shamsollahi, Mohammad B. (2007). "Multichannel ECG and Noise Modeling: Application to Maternal and Fetal ECG Signals". EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing. 2007: 043407. Bibcode:2007EJASP2007...50S. doi:10.1155/2007/43407. hdl:1721.1/67338.
28. Clifford, G.; Sameni, R.; Ward, J.; Robinson, J.; Wolfberg, A. J. (2011). "Clinically accurate fetal ECG parameters acquired from maternal abdominal sensors". American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 205 (1): 47.e1–5. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2011.02.066. PMC 3145045. PMID 21514560.
29. Palmius, N.; Saunders, K.; Osipov, M.; Goodwin, G.M.; Clifford, G.D.; Bilderbeck, A.C.; Tsanas, A. (2014). "A multi-sensor monitoring system for objective mental health management in resource constrained environments". Appropriate Healthcare Technologies for Low Resource Settings (AHT 2014). p. 4. doi:10.1049/cp.2014.0764. ISBN 978-1-84919-915-5.
30. "Multi-scale markers of circadian rhythm changes for monitoring of mental health".
31. "Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute (SCNi)".
32. Osipov, M.; Behzadi, Y.; Kane, J. M.; Petrides, G.; Clifford, G. D. (2015). "Objective identification and analysis of physiological and behavioral signs of schizophrenia". Journal of Mental Health. 24 (5): 276–282. doi:10.3109/09638237.2015.1019048. PMC 4776688. PMID 26193048.
33. Reinertsen, E.; Shashikumar, S. P.; Shah, A. J.; Nemati, S.; Clifford, G. D. (2018). "Multiscale network dynamics between heart rate and locomotor activity are altered in schizophrenia". Physiological Measurement. 39 (11): 115001. Bibcode:2018PhyM...39k5001R. doi:10.1088/1361-6579/aae1ed. PMC 6258081. PMID 30222594.
34. Jiang, Z.; Harati, S.; Crowell, A.; Mayberg, H. S.; Nemati, S.; Clifford, G. D. (2021). "Classifying Major Depressive Disorder and Response to Deep Brain Stimulation Over Time by Analyzing Facial Expressions". IEEE Transactions on Bio-Medical Engineering. 68 (2): 664–672. doi:10.1109/TBME.2020.3010472. PMC 7891869. PMID 32746065.
35. Haque, R. U.; Pongos, A. L.; Manzanares, C. M.; Lah, J. J.; Levey, A. I.; Clifford, G. D. (2021). "Deep Convolutional Neural Networks and Transfer Learning for Measuring Cognitive Impairment Using Eye-Tracking in a Distributed Tablet-Based Environment". IEEE Transactions on Bio-Medical Engineering. 68 (1): 11–18. doi:10.1109/TBME.2020.2990734. PMC 9216227. PMID 32340935. S2CID 216595655.
36. Cakmak, A. S.; et al. (2021). "Classification and prediction of post-trauma outcomes related to PTSD using circadian rhythm changes measured via wrist-worn research watch in a large longitudinal cohort". IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics. 25 (8): 2866–2876. doi:10.1109/JBHI.2021.3053909. PMC 8395207. PMID 33481725. S2CID 231687580.
37. "Martin Black award".
38. "2023 Newly Elevated Fellows" (PDF). IEEE.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 30, 2022.

• American people of British descent
• American physicists
• Alumni of the University of Southampton
• Alumni of the University of Oxford
• Emory University faculty
• Georgia Tech faculty
• Living people