Lionel Tarassenko
Also known as Lord Tarassenko
Lionel Tarassenko is an Oxford engineering professor whose research applies signal processing and machine learning to healthcare. Born in Paris, he earned an Oxford BA in Engineering Science and DPhil in medical electronics, then developed neural-network analysis of sleep disorders and a machine-learning system for patient monitoring in critical care. He directed Oxford's Institute of Biomedical Engineering, headed its Engineering Science department and joined the House of Lords as a non-party-political peer. In 2026, he co-authored Hypnos, a sleep foundation model trained with next-token prediction across physiological sensor data. As of October 2026, he is Professor of Engineering Science at Oxford and founding President of Reuben College.
- Now at
- Reuben College, House of Lords, St Hugh's College, University of Oxford and St John's College, University of Oxford
- Badges
Timeline
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1957–1985
Oxford engineering degrees
Born in Paris in 1957, he moves to England at 13. He earns a BA in Engineering Science in 1978 and a DPhil in medical electronics in 1985, both at Oxford.
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1988–1997
From lecturer to Oxford chair
He joins Oxford in 1988 as a University Lecturer and Tutorial Fellow at St Hugh's College. In 1997, he is elected to the Chair of Electrical Engineering and a Professorial Fellowship at St John's College.
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1996–2000
Neural networks for sleep disorders
In 1996, his development of neural-network analysis of sleep disorders earns the British Computer Society Medal. He is elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2000.
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2006–2008
Machine learning in critical care
In 2006, he receives the Royal Academy of Engineering Silver Medal for engineering work that reaches market use. In 2008, his machine-learning system for critical-care patient monitoring becomes the first such system to gain FDA approval.
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2008–2012
Directing biomedical engineering
He directs Oxford's Institute of Biomedical Engineering from its opening in April 2008 to October 2012.
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2014–2019
Leading Oxford Engineering
He heads Oxford's Department of Engineering Science from 2014 to 2019 and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Topol Review on NHS technology and its workforce impact, which reports in 2019.
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2019
Founding Reuben College
Oxford establishes Reuben College as its 39th college in May 2019. Tarassenko is its inaugural President.
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June 2024
A House of Lords peer
He joins the House of Lords as a non-party-political peer on 10 June 2024.
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2026
Hypnos for sleep physiology
In 2026, he co-authors Hypnos, a sleep foundation model trained through next-token prediction across eight physiological sensing modalities and more than 20,000 overnight polysomnography recordings. The model produces embeddings for downstream tasks and matches strong supervised baselines for sleep-stage classification with 100 times less labelled data.
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As of October 2026
Oxford professor and college president
As of October 2026, he is Professor of Engineering Science at Oxford and founding President of Reuben College. His research applies signal processing and machine learning to healthcare.
Career
- Since 2024House of LordsNon-Party-Political Peer
- Since 2019Reuben CollegeFounding President
- NowSt John's College, University of OxfordResearch Fellow in Electrical Engineering
- NowUniversity of OxfordProfessor of Engineering Science
- NowSt Hugh's College, University of OxfordHonorary Fellow
Education
- 1985University of OxfordDPhil in Medical Electronics
- 1978University of OxfordBA in Engineering Science
Colleagues
Sources and credits
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