Professor Rachel McKendry is Professor of Biomedical Nanoscience and holds a joint position between the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Division of Medicine, University College London. She is Director of the i-sense EPSRC IRC, a large interdisciplinary research collaboration in Early Warning Sensing Systems for Infectious Diseases (2013-24) and the new EPSRC Digital Health Hub for AMR (2023-2026). Her research lies at the cutting edge of quantum technologies, deep learning and telecommunications for infectious diseases and public health. Her recent breakthroughs span from ultra-sensitive quantum nanodiamond diagnostics for virus detection (Miller et al., Nature 2020), to mHealth and deep learning models for rapid testing in partnership with the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa (Turbé et al., Nature Medicine 2021). Professor McKendry has won several awards for her research including the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award, Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and the Institute of Physics Paterson Medal. She co-chaired the Digital Medicine Theme of the Topol Review of the NHS, ‘Preparing the Healthcare Workforce to Deliver the Digital Future’, served on the cross-council Steering Group for Antimicrobial Resistance, chaired the National Bionanosurveillance Network Expert Advisory Group and currently serves on the International Pandemic Preparedness 100 Days Mission Diagnostic Scientific and Technical Advisory Group.
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