Chris Paton, M.D. Closed Now

Dr. Chris Paton is a physician and academic specializing in global health informatics, with a particular focus on the use of digital health technologies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). He is the Head of the Global Health Informatics Group at the University of Oxford, where he leads multidisciplinary teams researching how mobile health, health data systems, and artificial intelligence can be applied to strengthen healthcare delivery in resource-constrained settings.

His work bridges clinical medicine, technology innovation, and public health policy. Dr. Paton has designed and evaluated digital health interventions for maternal and child health, infectious diseases, and health workforce training. One of his signature projects involves developing mobile decision support systems for frontline healthcare workers in Africa and Asia, enabling them to make evidence-based decisions in real time even in environments with limited infrastructure.

In addition to academic research, Dr. Paton is deeply involved in capacity building. He has trained and mentored healthcare professionals in informatics and health systems research worldwide. His teaching programs emphasize how open-source platforms, interoperability standards, and locally driven innovations can make digital health more sustainable and impactful in LMICs.

Dr. Paton is also active in the policy space, contributing to discussions on how governments and NGOs can harness data responsibly for public health. He collaborates with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other global partners to promote frameworks for ethical and secure health data use.

He has published in leading journals such as Journal of Global Health and BMJ Global Health, and he frequently speaks at international conferences, sharing insights into the intersection of health, data, and equity. His vision is a world where digital health technologies empower healthcare workers and improve health outcomes for the most underserved populations.