Seminar: Challenges and Opportunities in Health Technology Research and Application

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Speaker: Dr. Sandra Woolley, Software and Systems Engineering Research, Keele University, UK.

Date: Tuesday 17th October 2017, 16:00-18:00.

Venue: UPC Campus Nord, room A6-203

The seminar will comprise the following two parts and provide examples of the health, technology and translational challenges and opportunities for each.

1)  Assistive Technologies and Wearable Devices for Healthcare and Well-being

There are very many new opportunities for assistive technologies to significantly improve the independence, quality of life and health outcomes of individuals, both young and old, living with a range of health conditions. Examples of unmet needs and technology applications relevant to people living with i) dementia and ii) life-threatening anaphylactic allergies, will be presented. The research methodologies and practicalities of clinical prototyping will be discussed and exemplified with the "AllergiSense" wireless sensing system and app designed to help individuals manage anaphylactic allergies.

 2) Patient Monitoring and Precision Medicine

Aging populations and a rise in chronic conditions add to the increasing burdens experienced by central health services. Systems that enable robust health-monitoring outside the hospital and clinic environment are one way of reducing the burden on these services. Patient monitoring systems also provide opportunities for acquiring substantially more detailed patient data than previously possible. The new "quantified patient" of the future might then also benefit from improved diagnoses and individually-tailored "precision medicine".  Experiences from developing a clinical wearable and ambient monitoring prototype will be discussed, and the results presented. The lessons learnt and the evolution of a new system design will be outlined.

The seminar will close with a brief look ahead toward future health technology possibilities.