Desney Tan is corporate vice president and managing director of Microsoft Research Redmond, a multidisciplinary global organization working to create scientific knowledge and deliver innovation that leads to positive human impact at scale.Desney Tan at Microsoft Research. Retrieved on 2025-08-28. He was previously Vice President and Managing Director of Microsoft Health Futures, a cross-organizational incubation group that serves as Microsoft’s Health and Life Science “moonshot factory.” He also holds an affiliate faculty appointment in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington,University of Washington Computer Science and Engineering Affiliate Faculty. Retrieved on 2012-10-11. serves on the Board of Directors for ResMed (, ),ResMed - Board of Directors. Retrieved on 2021-12-26. is senior advisor and chief technologist for Seattle-based life science incubator IntuitiveX,IntuitiveX | Our Team. Retrieved on 2021-02-12. advises multiple startup companies (e.g. Proprio VisionProprio Vision | About us. Retrieved on 2021-02-12.), and is an active startup and real estate investor.Xconomy: Investing in Dreams. Retrieved on 2021-02-12.
Tan was recipient of a National Science and Technology Board (NTSB) Fellowship in 2001, an Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (formerly NTSB) Fellowship in 2002,A*STAR K-Batsu Newsletter . Retrieved on 2012-10-11. and a Microsoft Research Fellowship in 2003.Microsoft Research PhD Fellows. Retrieved on 2012-10-11. He was honored as one of MIT Technology Review's 2007 Young Innovators Under 35 (TR35) in 2007 for his work on Brain Computer Interfaces.Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35: Desney Tan, 31. Retrieved on 2012-10-11. He was also named one of SciFi Channel's Young Visionaries at TED 2009, as well as Forbes' Revolutionaries: Radical Thinkers and their World-Changing Ideas for his work on Whole Body Computing.Forbes' Revolutionaries: Radical Thinking and their World-Changing Ideas. Retrieved on 2012-10-11. He was the Technical Program Chair of the prestigious ACM SIGCHI Conference in 2008ACM CHI 2008 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Retrieved on 2012-10-11. and General Chair in 2011.ACM CHI 2011 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Retrieved on 2012-10-11. His research interests primarily focus on Human-Computer Interaction, Physiological Computing, and Healthcare.
Biography Tan was born and grew up in Singapore. He moved to the United States for high school and received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1996. He later attended Carnegie Mellon University, where he earned his PhD in Computer Science in 2004 under the supervision of Randy Pausch, popularly known for delivering "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" after being diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.
Work Tan began his academic career working on robotic path planning, and eventually moved into augmented and virtual reality as well as large display and multiple device user experiences. His PhD dissertation demonstrated the cognitive and social effects of display size, irrespective of the field of view. He is perhaps most well known for his work utilizing bio-sensing to create novel forms of human-computer interfaces. This includes work on: brain-computer interfaces, muscle-computer interfaces, tongue-computer interfaces, bio-acoustic sensing (e.g. in the Skinput project), using the body as an antenna (e.g. in the Humantenna project), as well as work on bionic contact lenses.
He has led partnerships with enterprises like Adaptive Biotechnologies (seeking to develop a universal blood-based diagnostic)Geekwire: How Microsoft and Adaptive Biotech became 'a single team' to build groundbreaking AI diagnostic. Retrieved on 2021-02-12. as well as Verily Life Sciences and the Broad Institute (to develop and deploy the Terra.bio platform).GenomeWeb: Microsoft Brings Scalability, Apps to Broad and Verily's Terra Bioinformatics Platform. Retrieved on 2021-02-12.
Tan has published over 100 technical papers in various domains, and holds more than 100 associated patents.Desney Tan publications. Retrieved on 2012-10-11.Desney Tan - ACM Digital Library profile page. Retrieved on 2012-10-11.Desney Tan - Google Scholar. Retrieved on 2021-02-12.
References
External links Desney Tan's Professional Homepage at Microsoft Research Desney Tan's webpage at the University of Washington Desney Tan's LinkedIn Profile