Nicholas Ayache

Nicholas Ayache, born on 1 November 1958 in Paris, is a French computer scientist and Research Director at INRIA, Sophia Antipolis-Mediterranean Centre. Previously, he was Scientific Director of the Institut hospitalo-universitaire de Strasbourg (2012–2015) and Visiting Professor at the Collège de France (2014). He is also a member of the French Academy of Sciences.
Biography.
Nicholas Ayache is a Civil Engineer from the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne (1980), holds a Master of Science from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA, 1981), a PhD and a Thèse d’État (Habilitation) from the University of Paris Sud (1983 and 1988).
He is research director at Inria (Institut national de recherche en informatique et mathématiques appliquées), where he leads the EPIONE research team, dedicated to the digital patient and digital medicine. Since 2019, he has also been the Scientific Director of the Interdisciplinary Institute of Artificial Intelligence (3IA) of the Côte d'Azur.
He was a visiting professor at the Collège de France, holding the annual chair in Computer Science and Digital Sciences for the 2013–2014 academic year.
He was a visiting researcher at MIT and Harvard in 2007.
He was the scientific director of the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire (IHU) in Strasbourg (2012–2015).
He is co-founder and co-editor of the scientific journal Medical Image Analysis.
Research work.
From 1981 to 1988, Nicholas Ayache sought to equip autonomous robots with new artificial vision capabilities (bulk object recognition, bi- and trinocular stereoscopic vision, navigation from visual maps). Since 1988, he has been engaged in pioneering research in the field of computer analysis of medical images, image-guided therapy and surgical simulation. A central focus of his work has been the introduction of geometric, statistical, physical or functional models of the human body for the analysis and simulation of medical images. His current research focuses on the introduction of artificial intelligence algorithms to guide the diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic management of patients based on medical images and all available patient data (clinical, biological, behavioural, etc.).
The research work of Ayache and his collaborators has made a decisive contribution to the development of digital medicine worldwide.
Main publications.
He has published 12 books (including one monograph) and more than 400 articles. He is the co-author of 12 patents.
Nicholas Ayache has directed (or co-directed) the theses of 80 PhD students, most of whom are employed in the field of digital imaging, mainly medical. Nine of his doctoral students received a thesis prize, including two second Gilles Kahn prizes and a second Cor Baayen prize.
Awards and honours.
2020 : Laureate of the International Steven Hoogendijk Award 2020.
2019: Grand Prix de la ville de Nice
2018: Free member of the French Academy of Surgery
2017: Chevalier of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques
2015: Scientific medal from the University of the French Riviera
2014: Member of the French Academy of Sciences
2014 : Winner of the Grand Prix Inria - Academy of Sciences
2013 : Winner of the MICCAI 2013 Enduring Impact Prize (Nagoya, Japan)
2012: Appointed Scientific Director of the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire de Strasbourg
2011: Winner of the European Research Council ERC (2.5 million euros)
2009: Elected Fellow of the MICCAI Society (London)
2008: Winner of the Microsoft Prize for Science in Europe, awarded by the Royal Society (London) and the French Academy of Sciences (Paris)
2008: Elected Fellow, American Inst. for Med. and Biol. Engin. (Nat. Acad. Sc., Washington DC). 2007: Named Researcher of the Year by Le Nouvel Economiste
2006: Winner of the EADS Foundation Information Science Prize
2001-2015: 11 scientific articles awarded with a prize (including 6 major international conferences)
1999: Laval Virtual Prize for the introduction of virtual reality in surgery
1996: ECCV Computer Vision Award for transfer to industry