Biography
Walter Karlen
I am full professor for biomedical engineering at the University of Ulm, where I direct the Institute for Biomedical Engineering.
Biography
I was an Assistant Professor at ETH Zurich from 2014 to 2020 where I directed the Mobile Health Systems Lab in the Department of Health Sciences and Technology. Previously, I was a researcher at the Biomedical Engineering Research Group of Stellenbosch University, South Africa, the Pedriatic Anesthesia Research Team of the Department of Anesthesia of BC Children’s Hospital, and the Electrical and Computer Engineering in Medicine Group at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada.
I obtained the degree of Docteur ès sciences (PhD) and my M.Sc. degree in micro-engineering from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. My doctoral thesis was entitled “Adaptive Wake and Sleep Detection for Wearable Systems“.
Research interests
My research interests include bio-medical signal processing, adaptive systems, human-machine interaction, bio-inspired engineering, wearable and embedded systems, robotic sensors and actuators for global health, neuroscience, and chronic diseases.
My current research is focused on the automation in medicine at the point-of-care. This includes the smart processing of respiratory (CO2, flow, pressure), photoplethysmography (PPG, SpO2) and electroencephalography (EEG) signals. We use machine learning and traditional approaches to model physiological signals and processes.
We apply these approaches and technologies in the field of anesthesia, intensive care, respiratory diseases (such as pneumonia), sleep, back pain, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson’s disease, and dengue fever.
Honors & Awards
- 2017 – 2nd place, Parkinson’s Disease Digital Biomarker DREAM Challenge, Sage Bionetworks
- 2014 – SNF Assistant Professor Fellowship, Swiss National Science Foundation
- 2014 – 3rd Place, MobileHealth & AAL Challenge, mobileMed conference, Prague
- 2013 – Killam Post‑Doctoral Fellow Research Prize, UBC Faculty of Graduate Studies.
- 2012 – Fellowship for Advanced Researchers, Swiss National Science Foundation
- 2012 – Rising Stars in Global Health, Grand Challenges Canada
- 2012 – Best Clinical Application of Technology, Society for Technology in Anesthesia (STA) annual meeting
- 2010 – CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
