Anna Tünde Szilágyi - Cover Letter - 17 March 2014

Anna Tünde Szilágyi

Dept. of Biomed. Lab. and Imaging Science
Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen
Nagyerdei Krt. 98, HU - 4032 Debrecen
To WHOM it may concern:

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing this cover letter in order to seek possible open position for a Biomedical Engineering
lectureship/ teaching assistantship and/or research. I would be excited about the opportunity to
apply for a lecturer and/or research position, and I believe that my teaching and research
experience makes me a strong candidate for this.
I have recently completed my PhD in the field of Medical Image Analysis at the University of
Oxford, UK. My main focus was on the automatic analysis of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
images of the liver with the aim to segregate clinically relevant chronic liver disease patient
groups based on the computational texture of the liver parenchyme. We achieved reasonable
separation between three clinically important patient groups using local phase based
computational methods.
My first degree is in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Master of Science), which I
completed in Budapest, Hungary (2006) with one year study at the Department of Bioengineering
at Imperial College London, UK (2005-2006). I additionally completed a Postgraduate Diploma
in Magnetic Resonance Technology and Methods at Imperial College London, UK (2008).
At current I am a postdoctoral research fellow in medical image analysis at the Faculty of
Medicine, University of Debrecen, Hungary with focus on brain tumours using multi-modal MRI.
To-date my contribution is a texture based automatic grading and a semi-automatic segmentation
method.
Prior and during my higher education studies I have took opportunities to perfect my teaching
approach (see end of my CV). Additionally to the trainings, I have also taught in higher education
(both in Hungary and UK) and privately with different group sizes and institutions as is detailed
in the attached documents. I have acted in all forms of teaching from demonstration through
tutorial teaching to lecturing. The courses mainly focused on advanced engineering mathematics,
electrical systems and information engineering. Recently, I have designed a lecture series in
medical image analysis to be included as tutorial in the Neuroimaging Workshop, April 2014. The
content of this is the closing document of this portfolio. A sample lecture is available upon
request.
I included my curriculum vitae, a list of publications, teaching experiences, and contact of my
references as well as the lecture schedule. I am looking forward to become part of a challenging
team and do original research/ unique teaching. Thank you for your time and consideration, and I
am looking forward to hear back from you.
Yours sincerely,
Anna Tünde Szilágyi
 Anna Tünde Szilágyi
650 308 6059
 tuende.szilagyi@gmail.com
______________________________________________________________________________
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
2013 Szent-Györgyi Albert Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Medical Image Analysis, University
of Debrecen, Faculty of Medicine, Hungary
2012 Visiting Researcher, Laboratory Jedlik Ányos, Péter Pázmány Catholic University,
Budapest, Hungary
2008-13 Wolfson Medical Vision Laboratory, Engineering Science Department, University of
Oxford, UK. Research area: Medical Image Analysis
DPhil Thesis Title: Structural characterisation of liver fibrosis in Magnetic Resonance Images
2007-13 Life Sciences Interface Doctoral Training Centre, University of Oxford, UK
2006-7 Diploma of Imperial College, Imperial College London, UK
2001-6 Péter Pázmány Catholic University, Budapest, Hungary
MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering
First-Class Honours - Joint BEng MSc Program
___________________________________________________________________
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
2010 IET Postgraduate Scholarship for an Outstanding Researcher for 2010
2010 IET, Travel Award
2009 EPSRC travel and living costs Award to attend the Summer School in Medical Imaging,
Lipari, Italy, 12-18 July, 2009
2008 First Prize, Group Computational Modelling Project: “The effect of radiation therapy on
tumour progression under a hypoxia-driven microenviroment and the stem cell hypothesis”,
Fields Institute, Toronto, Canada
2008 Sarah and Nadine Pole Scholarship, Trinity College Oxford, UK
2007 British Chapter of ISMRM, Travel, Accommodation and Registration Award
2005-6 Scholarship of the Republic granted by the State of Hungary (highest undergraduate award)
2005-6 Erasmus Scholarship: Imperial College, Department of Bioengineering
2004 Third Prize, Scientific Student Conference at PPCU-IT, title: “Solo music and speech voice

Anna Tünde Szilágyi

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 restoration”
2003-4 Scholarship of the Republic granted by the State of Hungary
2002-3 Scholarship of the Republic granted by the State of Hungary
2001-2 Scholarship of the Pro Professionale Foundation, Budapest, Hungary
____________________________________________________________________________
WORK EXPERIENCE AND TEACHING ACTIVITY
2012 ACUITAS MEDICAL (Swansea, UK) – Consultant, 1D signal processing of raw Magnetic
Resonance Imaging Data for feature detection and 2D semi-automatic segmentation of the
liver.
2011 Modelling the formation of fibrosis from a challenged inflammatory microenvironment.
2011 Modelling Pharmacokinetics for radiolabelling drug efficacy for tumour treatment.
2010 MSc tutoring in Medical Image Analysis, Laboratory, Engineering Sciences Department,
University of Oxford.
2008-10 Tutorial teaching at Brasenose College; Tutorial teaching at Lady Margaret Hall;
Demonstration at the Computing Laboratory, Engineering Sciences Department;
Demonstration: Scientific Computing in Matlab, Life Sciences, University of Oxford.
2008-9 Small animal imaging: mice imaging and dissection of pancreatic Xenograft tumours for
further processing (see publication list attached).
2006-7 Simulation of parallel transmit for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (see publication attached).
2006 Tutoring Maths for sixth form students during Spring and Summer trimester, Gunnersbury
Boys School, Brentford, London, UK.
2003-5 Faculty of Information Technology, Péter Pázmány Catholic University, Budapest, Hungary:
Teaching seminars: Discrete Mathematics, Introduction to Computer Science; Project
supervision: Database Systems.
_____________________________________________________________________________
SKILLS AND TRAINING
Languages: Hungarian (native), English: advanced (fluent speaker), Romanian: advanced (passive
advanced)
Professional student membership: IET, British Computer Society
Teaching skills training
 Demonstration Training, Tutorial Teaching, Department of Engineering, University of

 Class Teaching, Department of Engineering, University of Oxford, Michaelmas, 2009

Oxford, Michaelmas, 2008

 Planning and Delivering Lectures, A preparation for academic practice workshop, MPLS,
University of Oxford, Hilary, 2009
_____________________________________________________________________________

 Oxford Speakers Club, Vice President of Membership, 2008-2009

INTERESTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

 Oxford Speakers Club, Treasurer, 2009-2010

 IET, Young Professionals Committee, Scholarships Committee, 2011- to date

Anna Tünde Szilágyi

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PUBLICATIONS:
Journal papers
1. R. Ali, T. Szilágyi , M. Gooding, M. Christlieb, Sir M. Brady, "On the use of low pass
filters for image processing with inverse Laplacian models", Journal for Mathematcial
Imaging and Vision, 2011.
2. R. Ali, M. Gooding, T. Szilágyi , B. Vojnovic, M. Christlieb, Sir M. Brady, "Automatic
segmentation of adherent biological cell boundaries and nuclei from brightfield microscopy
images", Machine Vision and Applications, 2011.
3. B. Cornelissen, P. Murray, T. Szilágyi, P. O’Neill, M. Brady, S.J. Chapman, K.A. Vallis, ”DNA
damage imaging and targeted therapy using immunoconjugates against H2AX: a mathematical
model”, IN PRESS
4. A. Rehan, G.-D. Cigdem, T. Szilágyi, B. Durkee, E. Graves, „Semi-automatic segmentation of
subcutaneous tumours from micro-Computed Tomography images”, PMB, ACCEPTED, IN PRESS

Peer-reviewed Conference Papers

1. T. Szilágyi , D. Larkman, J. Hajnal, “ Parallel transmission (PxT): improved fidelity of
localising excitation without explicit k-space undersampling” , British Chapter of ISMRM,
Birmingham, 5-7 September, 2007 (POSTER).
2. T. Szilágyi , Sir M. Brady, "Feature extraction from cancer images using local phase
congruency: a reliable source of image descriptors", International Symposium on Biomedical
Imaging, Boston, 28th June-1st July, 2009.
3. T. Szilágyi , Sir M. Brady, T. Brunner, N. Joshi, "Local phase significance estimated with
uncertainties to detect fibrotic regions from in vivo pancreatic cancer images", Medical
Image Understanding and Analysis, London, 14th -15th July, 2009.
4. T. Szilágyi , M. Verhoek, A. Noble, “ Detecting early response to therapy in liver cancer
treatment: 3D metastases segmentation using graph-cuts with a modified prior” , Medical
Image Understanding and Analysis, London, 14th -15th July, 2009.
5. T. Szilágyi, A.K. Harvey, Sir M. Brady, L. Cochlin, N. Joshi, "Quantitative analysis of
tendon ECM damage using MRI", International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging,
Rotterdam, Netherlands, 14-17 April, 2010 (POSTER).
6. R. Ali, T. Szilágyi , K. Hussien, M. Christlieb, B. Vojnovic, Sir M. Brady, "Automatic
nucleus segmentation of adherent cells from brightfield microscopy images", British Machine
Vision Association and Society for Pattern Recognition Symposium, London, 21 April, 2010.
7. B. Cornelissen, S. Able, T. Szilágyi , K. Shah, M. Brady, K. Vallis, "DNA double strand
break imaging with anti gH2AX-TAT antibodies does not alter DNA repair kinetics", AACR
Annual Meeting, Chicago, 31 March – 4 April, 2012 (POSTER).
8. R. Ali, T. Szilágyi , E. Graves, "Semi-automatic phase-based segmentation of
subcutaneous tumours from microcomputed tomography images", International Symposium
on Biomedical Imaging, Barcelona, 2-5 May, 2012.

Workshop Talks
1. M. Brady, T. Szilágyi, “ The monogenic signal, Section: Robust Feature Descriptors” ,
Local Structure Workshop, Manchester, 5 May 2009.
2. T. Brunner and T. Szilágyi , "Ultrasound imaging of preclinical tumours focussing on
the microenvironment (vascularity and stroma)", Invited Talk, British Medical Ultrasound
Society Pre-clinical Day, London, 20 November, 2009
Anna Tünde Szilágyi - Teaching Experience

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Anna Tünde Szilágyi
tuende.szilagyi@gmail.com
650 308 6059

Background I am working in the field of medical image analysis, most prominently in feature
detection and texture analysis using the Riesz filters and the continuous intrinsic
dimensionality. My fundamental aim in image analysis is to understand/ characterise/
describe low-level 2/3D signals and to apply this knowledge to the exploration of
digital textured patterns. In the field of medical image analysis, I have a special
interest in the development of algorithms to be used in oncology applications, disease
staging, treatment monitoring and drug development.

Teaching Philosophy

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand - Confucius”

My primary aim is NOT to give all material knowledge to students but TO
facilitate and gear their attention based on their personal interests and hobbies.

Teaching Profile

10/2009-06/2010 Tutor in Engineering at Lady Margaret Hall

Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, UK
I have tutored maths for students from first year to finals in their study. I have also
contributed to the selection of preliminary exam questions and have marked these.
The curriculum included Linear and Complex Algebra, Dynamical Systems and
Fourier Theory. For reference the tutorial organizer at that time at Lady Margaret
Hall was Prof. Penny Probert Smith and Dr. Nicholas Hankins.

2010 Demonstrator for Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering practical

University of Oxford, UK
I have acted as demonstrator for the practical part of the Medical Image Analysis
course organized for students on the Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering.
The course consisted in three main sessions: the basics in Matlab for handling and
performing medical image analysis, level-sets based segmentation and fiducial
point based registration. The session was organized by Prof. Julia Schnabel.

10/2009-12/2009 Tutor in Engineering at Brasenose College

Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, UK
I have tutored Electrical systems and Information Engineering for second year
students. The tutorial organizer was Dr. Harvey Burd.

01/2009-06/2009 Demonstrator in Matlab

Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, UK
Anna Tünde Szilágyi - Teaching Experience

Demonstrated Matlab for first year students organized and led by Prof. Ian Reid
and Prof. Paul Newmann.

10/2008-11/2008 Demonstrator for the course: Scientific Computation in Matlab

Life Sciences Interface Doctoral Training Centre, University of Oxford
I acted as demonstrator for the practical part of Scientific Computation in Matlab,
course designed and led by Prof. David Gavaghan.

01/2006-05/2006 Tutor in Mathematics

Gunnersbury Boys Science School, London, UK
I have tutored Maths for sixth form students. During this period of time the director
of the school was Dr. Andrew Bull.

02/2005-06/2005 Final Project supervisor

Faculty of Information Technology, Pázmány Péter Catholic University,
Budapest, Hungary
I have advised and evaluated final projects in Database Systems. Course organizer:
Bércesné Dr. Ágnes Novák.

09/2004-01/2005 Lecturer in Introduction to Information Technology

Faculty of Information Technology, Pázmány Péter Catholic University,
Budapest, Hungary
I have taught Introduction to Information Technology with practicals to first
year students. Course organized by Dr. László Kék.

09/2003-01/2004 Class Teacher

Faculty of Information Technology, Pázmány Péter Catholic University,
Budapest, Hungary
I was class teaching Linear and Complex Algebra for first years, setting written
exam questions and marking. Course organized by Bércesné Dr. Ágnes Novák.
Anna Tünde Szilágyi – Contact Details of the References

Contact Details of the References:

Professor Sir Michael Brady FRS FREng FMedSci

Department of Oncology
Old Road Campus Research Building
Off Roosevelt Drive
Oxford, OX3 7DQ
E-mail: mike.brady@oncology.ox.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)1865 617346
Fax: +44(0)1865 617318

http://www.oncology.ox.ac.uk/research/sir-michael-brady

Professor Alison Noble

Technikos Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Institute of
Biomedical Engineering
Institute of Biomedical Engineering,
Old Road Campus Research Building,
University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7DQ, UK
Email: alison.noble@eng.ox.ac.uk
Phone: +44(0)1865 617 690/730(PA)

http://www.ibme.ox.ac.uk/research/biomedia/people/professor-alison-noble

Professor Penny Probert Smith

Reader in Engineer Science

Fellow and Tutor of Engineering at Lady Margaret Hall
University of Oxford, UK
E-mail: penny.smith@eng.ox.ac.uk
Phone: +44(0)1865 283149

http://www.lmh.ox.ac.uk/Tutors/Fellows/Profiles/Probert-Smith.aspx
Neuroimage Workshop, April 2014 – Tutorial: Advanced Medical Image Analysis

Tutorial schedule:

 3 x 1h Lecture 1-3
 1.5h Practical in Matlab/Octave: Level-set based segmentation
 3 x 1h Lecture 4-6
 1.5h Practical in Matlab/Octave: Registration

Prerequisite: Linear Algebra I–II, Calculus I-II, Information Engineering, Partial Differential Equations,
BUT everyone with a genuine interest is welcome without a maths background.

Language: Hungarian/English (TBD)

Course Organizer: Tünde Szilágyi

The lectures are designed for those who wish to gain understanding of image processing algorithms.
It reviews concepts behind medical image processing softwares from point of view of clinical need,
mathematical models of images, mathematical and algorithmical bases of image analysis, essential
considerations.

Lectures:

1. Lecture 1: Image processing in clinical neurology. Cancer therapy planning based on brain
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), image processing and mathematical modelling.
Neurodegenerative disease simulation based on registration warp fields. Robust feature
descriptor properties. Multi-scale image scene description.

2. Lecture 2: Salient image features. Fourier transform in image analysis. Windowed Fourier
transform. Discrete wavelet transform. Dual-tree complex wavelet transform. Monogenic
signal.

3. Lecture 3: Image segmentation. Geodesic active-contour methods. Level-sets. Hidden

Markov Random Fields. Hidden Markov Measure Fields. Application.

4. Lecture 4: Image registration. Mathematical problem formulation. Generic registration.

Transformation models. Registration basis. Application and validation.

5. Lecture 5: Shape analysis. Clinical motivation. Shape models. Building shape models.
Application of shape models in neurology assessments.

6. Lecture 6: Medical image noise sources and their distributions. Gaussian smoothing. Edge
preserving anisotropic diffusion. Wiener filtering. Bilateral filtering. Mode detection with the
Mean-shift algorithm.