Professor Neil Reeves

Professor of Secure Health Technologies

Profile

Neil Reeves is Professor of Secure Health Technologies based in the Medical School at Lancaster University. His research focusses on digital health technologies and cyber security. He has a strong track-record of research with digital medical devices, particularly in diabetes where he led the first proof-of-concept clinical trial showing the efficacy of smart pressure-sensing insoles for diabetic foot ulcer prevention, published in the Lancet Digital Health. Neil also led the first clinical trial showing the efficacy of vibrating insoles for improving gait and balance published in Diabetes Care.

Neil currently leads an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)-funded project on 'cyber security of digital medical devices', working to develop UK capability for a new design and development route. He leads the EPSRC-funded ‘Socksess’ project developing smart-sensing socks for diabetic foot ulcer prevention. He co-developed (with Prof. Moi Hoon Yap) a novel Artificial Intelligence-driven mobile app, FootSnap-AI for diabetic foot screening and monitoring and won the Oracle Innovator Accelerator Grant to scale-up and translate this towards clinical practice with industry partners.

Neil has led externally funded research supported by UK and international funding bodies including the National Institutes of Health (USA), EPSRC and Diabetes UK. He works across the health technology sector with medical technology companies to progress health solutions and sits on scientific committees including EPSRC’s Healthcare Technology strategic advisory team, several British Standards Institution (BSI) and International Standards (IEC) committees on medical devices (CH-62-1, CH-62-4, CH-205, PAS-2600, IEC TC 62/SC 62D/WG 42), Innovate UK and medical charity scientific committees including Diabetes UK and Great Foundations.

He has been on the Editorial Board for several journals and serves as an expert assessor and panel member for major UK and international funding bodies. He has published >180 papers in international peer-reviewed journals (ORCID: 0000-0001-9213-4580) and has an author ‘H-Index’ of 52 (Scopus).

External Roles

Scientific Committee & Funding Panel Membership

Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Strategic Advisory Team committee member – Healthcare Technologies.
British Standards Institution (BSI) committee CH/62/1: ‘Common aspects of medical equipment, software and systems'.
British Standards Institution (BSI) committee CH/62/4: ‘Particular medical equipment, software and systems'.
British Standards Institution (BSI) committee CH/205: ‘Non-active medical devices'.
International Electrotechnical Committee (IEC) IEC TC 62/SC 62D/WG 42: 'Continuous glucose monitoring systems'.
British Standards Institution (BSI) committee PAS-2600: ‘Requirements for continuous glucose monitoring systems – design verification and validation of performance – Specification'.
Scientific Committee panel member, Great Foundations (medical charity focussing on foot and lower limb health).
Scientific Committee panel member, Diabetes UK.
Advisory panel member Innovate UK.
UKRI and EPSRC peer review college member.

Journal Editorial Roles

Guest Editor for a special issue of Sensors journal: ‘Saving Limbs and Lives – Sensing and Monitoring Technologies for the Diabetic Foot’. May 2022 – November 2023.
Section Editor (Biomechanics and Motor Control) for the European Journal of Sport Science, October 2018 – 2022.
Editorial Board Member for the journal Gerontology (Technology section), September 2017 – 2023.
Associate Editor for BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, September 2010 – December 2017.
Lead Guest Editor for a Special Issue of the Journal of Aging Research, on: ‘Aging and Type 2 Diabetes: Consequences for Motor Control, Musculoskeletal function and whole-body movement’. September 2011-March 2013.
Associate Editor for a Special Issue of the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association, on: ‘The role of podiatry on the prevention of falls in older people’. November 2012 – August 2013.

Expert Reviewer for External Funding Bodies

UK funding bodies:

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC); Medical Research Council (MRC); Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council (BBSRC); National Institute of Health Research Invention for Innovation (i4i) & Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB); Innovate UK; Arthritis Research UK; Diabetes UK; Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation; Dunhill Medical Trust; Rosetrees Trust; Orthopaedic Research UK.

International funding bodies:

India Alliance DBT Wellcome; The Royal Society of New Zealand (Marsden Fund); Swedish National Space Board; Romanian National Research Council; Swiss National Science Foundation; PSI Foundation Canada; Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research; National Medical Research Council Singapore.

External Examiner Roles

External examiner - Ph.D. degrees

University of Nottingham, UK.
Griffith University, Queensland, Australia.
University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.
University of Glasgow, UK.
University of Galway, Ireland.
Amsterdam University Medical Centre, Netherlands.
Loughborough University, UK.
University of Vienna, Austria.
Brunel University, UK.
Vrije University Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Salford University, UK.
Leeds Beckett, UK.
University of Groningen, Netherlands.
Liverpool John Moores, UK.
University of Cumbria, UK.

External Examiner - Taught Courses

2018 – 2023: University of Galway - MSc in Exercise Physiology and its Application in Therapy.
2019 – 2024: Staffordshire University – MSc Clinical Biomechanics; PGCERT Clinical Biomechanics; PGDIP Clinical Biomechanics; Individual Modules Sport (PG).