Syed Sibte Raza Abidi is Professor of Computer Science and Professor of Medicine (cross appointed) at the Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax. He holds a PhD degree in Computing Sciences from University of Surrey (UK) and a Masters degree in Computer Engineering from University of Miami (USA). He is the Canadian representative of Digital Health Canada at International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA), Board Director of International Association of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, Member of College of Reviewers at Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). He served as Board Director at Digital Health Canada (2018-2024) and Director of Health Informatics at Faculty of Computer Science (2005 –2020).
He is passionate about developing innovative real-life healthcare solutions, using state-of the-art digital technologies, to improve health outcomes and healthcare delivery at the professional, patient, public and administrator levels. He has extensive collaborative research experience with a broad range of medical specialties.
He is the founding director and scientific lead of the NICHE (kNowledge Intensive Computing for Healthcare Ecosystems) research group that conducts cutting-edge interdisciplinary research at the intersection of healthcare and digital health technologies. For over 30 years, he has been involved in academia, research and innovation. His research interests include AI-driven health data analytics for decision support, health knowledge management to compuetrize clinical guidelines, digital therapeutics targeting personalized patient empowerment, and digital twins for precision medicine. He has developed over 40 AI-driven digital health solutions, published over 300 peer-reviewed research papers at top scientific venues, delivered over 90 invited talks and supervised over 100 graduate students. He has secured significant research funding from both international and national organizations, including Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), CANARIE, International Development Research Centre (IDRC), New Frontiers for Research Fund-Exploration (NFRF), Aga Khan Foundation, WHO, UN, European Strategic Program for Research in Information Technology (ESPRIT), Malaysian Govt.’s program on Intensified Research in Priority Areas (IRPA) and a number of industry partners. He rountinely serves as subject expert reviewer for several international scientific journals, research funding organizations and digital health strategic programs.
He is an internationally renowned researcher and is the recipient of international and national awards and recognitions that include, Leadership in the Field of Health Informatics Award by Digital Health Canada, International Award for Innovation in Medical Informatics awarded at the World Expo (Hannover) by International Congress of Medical Informatics in Europe, Faculty Research Excellence Awards, Multiple Best Paper Awards and runners-up at Data Impact Challenge by Canada Health Infoway.
