Andrew Soltan



I am a Specialty Registrar in Medical Oncology at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and  Clinical Artificial Intelligence Researcher and Dissertation Lead for the MSc in Applied Digital Health at the University of Oxford.

My research develops federated techniques and transformer-architecture models for routinely collected healthcare data; aiming to develop, evaluate and deploy clinical tools for Cancer care pathways.

During my NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship, my research specialism was developing AI-enabled screening, diagnostic and prognostic tools using routinely collected healthcare data. Working with Professor David Clifton's Computational Health Informatics group, I led development and evaluation of an AI screening test for COVID-19 in emergency departments, based upon blood tests and vital signs recorded within 1h of a patient arriving in hospital. The CURIAL AI test was piloted in Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital Emergency Department in early-2021, and described in an accompanying The Lancet Digital Health commentary as "an elegant breakthrough to enhance the clinical decision-making process in the age of artificial intelligence".  Complimentary work has explored model-level approaches to reduce bias in AI predictions.

To support confidential development of AI models within the NHS, I developed a new platform for rapidly-deployable and readily scalable federated learning, using inexpensive micro-computing devices. The CURIAL-Federated platform was piloted across 4 NHS Trusts in 2022 to train and evaluate a Covid-19 screening test, with participating hospitals retaining custody of their data at all times, and published in The Lancet Digital Health in February 2024.

Alongside my clinical and research interests, I lead the 10-week practical dissertation module for the MSc in Applied Digital Health. The dissertation placements offer students an immersive practical experience and chance to develop a specialism within the digital health research and translational pipeline, while expanding their professional networks.