Brian A. Telfer

Dr. Brian A. Telfer is a senior staff member in the Human Health and Performance Systems Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. In this role, he provides technical leadership in applications relating to early detection of human performance degradation, human performance enhancement, and combat casualty care. His expertise spans biosignal and image processing, machine learning and artificial intelligence, system analysis, rapid prototyping and technology transition. He has a special interest in transitioning bioengineering technology that has been restricted to hospitals and research laboratories into field and home environments.

Recent projects have included the Artificial Intelligence–Guided Ultrasound Intervention Device (AI-GUIDE) for pre-hospital medical interventions, a Heat Injury Prediction System (HIPS) based on wearable sensing and advanced biosignal processing, and research into technology for improved hemorrhage control. These have led to technology transitions to a start-up in the case of AI-GUIDE and to U.S. government contracts to industry for more than 1,000 specialized HIPS monitors. This work has involved collaborations with clinicians and medical experts at hospitals, universities, and the U.S. government. Telfer has also led several studies for Department of Defense medical leadership.

Earlier in his career, Telfer was an assistant leader of the Ballistic Missile Defense Systems Integration Group, involving programs in system analysis, radar signal processing and machine learning, and technology transition, resulting in U.S. government contracts to industry for several hundred million dollars. Prior to that, as a staff member, he led algorithm development and integration for sidecars (adjunct processors) that operated in real time, linked with several instrumentation and fire-control radars.

Before joining Lincoln Laboratory, Telfer worked at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), where his work was supported by an Office of Naval Research Young Navy Scientist Award. He was honored as the NSWC Research Department’s Young Professional of the Year. He holds a BS degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech and MS and PhD degrees in electrical and computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon, with a PhD thesis on associative memory and neural networks.

Telfer is a senior member of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a member of IEEE’s Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society’s Technical Committee on Wearable Sensors, and received the IEEE Region 1 Technical Innovation Award. Other honors include a 2021 MIT Lincoln Laboratory Best Invention Award, and R&D 100 Award, and a South-by-Southwest Innovation Award Finalist. He has served multiple times as a conference technical program co-chair, session chair, journal special session guest editor, and external reviewer for U.S. government programs. He serves as an editorial committee member on the IEEE Reviews in Biomedical Engineering. He is a past member of several MIT Lincoln Laboratory internal funding selection boards, as well as technical lead for MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s Introduction to Radar Systems course. He has co-authored over 70 publications, two book chapters, and four patent applications. A special interest has been sharing his enthusiasm for engineering as a diversity and inclusion mentor at the high school and university level, and as a coach for the FIRST LEGO Robotics League for elementary and middle school students.