PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Kieran Campbell

Kieran Campbell is a computational biologist who applies machine learning to single-cell and spatial cancer genomics. He studied mathematical physics at Edinburgh, computational biology at Cambridge, and computational genomics at Oxford before a Banting postdoctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia and BC Cancer. His research includes probabilistic cell-type assignment in tumors, Astir for cell identity from multiplexed imaging and proteomics, active learning for single-cell annotation, and STARLING for spatial protein phenotyping. He holds a Canada Research Chair in Machine Learning for Translational Biomedicine and Ontario's Early Researcher Award, and received the 2026 New Investigator Award from the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences. Since July 2026, he is an associate professor in Molecular Genetics and Statistical Sciences at the University of Toronto and an investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute.

Timeline

  1. 2009–2019

    A PhD and Banting fellowship

    He earns a BSc in mathematical physics at the University of Edinburgh after studying there from 2009 to 2013. He completes an MPhil in computational biology at the University of Cambridge from 2013 to 2014 and a PhD in computational genomics at the University of Oxford from 2014 to 2017. From 2017 to 2019, he holds a Banting postdoctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia's Department of Statistics and BC Cancer Agency's Department of Molecular Oncology.

  2. 2019

    Probabilistic cell-type assignment

    In 2019, he coauthors a Nature Methods paper on probabilistic assignment of cell types from single-cell RNA-seq for tumor microenvironment profiling.

  3. 2020–2031

    Assistant professor and research chair

    In 2020, he becomes an assistant professor in the University of Toronto's Departments of Molecular Genetics and Statistical Sciences, an investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, and a faculty affiliate at the Vector Institute. From 2021 to 2031, he holds a Canada Research Chair in Machine Learning for Translational Biomedicine.

  4. 2021–2024

    Astir and active learning

    In 2021, he coauthors Astir, a tool for assigning cell types and states from highly multiplexed imaging and proteomic data using recognition neural networks. In 2024, he coauthors a study on active and self-supervised learning for efficient annotation of single-cell expression data.

  5. 2025

    Spatial protein phenotyping

    In 2025, he coauthors a study on segmentation-aware probabilistic phenotyping of single-cell spatial protein data.

  6. 2025–2030

    An Ontario Early Researcher Award

    He holds the Government of Ontario's Early Researcher Award for 2025–2030.

  7. 2026

    A CSMB New Investigator Award

    In March 2026, he receives the New Investigator Award from the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences.

  8. Since July 2026

    Associate professor at Toronto

    Since July 2026, he is an associate professor in the University of Toronto's Departments of Molecular Genetics and Statistical Sciences, an investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, and a faculty affiliate at the Vector Institute. His research group develops statistical and machine-learning models for single-cell and spatial cancer genomics.

Career

  1. Since 2020University of TorontoAssistant Professor, Associate Professor
  2. Since 2020Sinai Health SystemInvestigator
  3. Since 2020Vector InstituteFaculty affiliate
  4. 2017–2019University of British ColumbiaBanting postdoctoral fellow
  5. 2017–2019BC Cancer AgencyBanting postdoctoral fellow

Education

  1. 2017University of OxfordPhD
  2. 2014University of CambridgeMPhil
  3. 2013University of EdinburghBSc

From the biography.

  1. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Toronto. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  2. Of 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google, 446 work there nowIncludes Vector Institute. Our estimates of where the 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google and Google DeepMind work now: 446 at Google and 452 across 278 other organizations.
  3. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Toronto. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  4. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorateIncludes University of Toronto. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorate. Across 2,116 people with both an undergraduate degree and a doctorate recorded, we trace which undergraduate schools feed which doctoral programs, how often students stay at the same school, and how paths differ by birth-country region.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Dr. Kieran Campbell | Sinai Health sinaihealth.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Kieran Campbell - Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence vectorinstitute.ai. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Three Molecular Genetics Researchers at U of T awarded Canada Research Chairs | Molecular Genetics moleculargenetics.utoronto.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. astir - Automated cell identity from single-cell multiplexed imaging and proteomics github.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Dr. Kieran Campbell recognized by Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences | Molecular Genetics moleculargenetics.utoronto.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Recent Promotions | Temerty Faculty of Medicine temertymedicine.utoronto.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.