A new episode of the Computing Community Consortium‘s (CCC) official podcast, Catalyzing Computing, is now available. Khari Douglas interviews Gregory D. Hager, a professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University and the founding director of the Johns Hopkins Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare. In this episode, Hager discusses medical applications for AI and robotics, tactile perception, the founding of the Malone Center, and data privacy. This will be the​ last episode of Catalyzing Computing hosted and produced by Khari, because he will be joining the editorial team at Overheard at National Geographic, “a podcast which follows explorers, photographers, and scientists to the edges of our big, weird, beautiful world.” Thanks for listening […]

A new episode of the Computing Community Consortium‘s (CCC) official podcast, Catalyzing Computing, is now available. Khari Douglas interviews Gregory D. Hager, a professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University and the founding director of the Johns Hopkins Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare. In this episode, Hager discusses medical applications for AI and robotics, tactile perception, the founding of the Malone Center, and data privacy. Watch the interview on Youtube (embedded below) or listen on your preferred podcasting app: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | iHeartRadio | Soundcloud.

A recent CNN article titled “Black or ‘Other’? Doctors may be relying on race to make decisions about your health,” discusses how race has both historically affected and currently impacts the medical decisions that doctor’s make and the subsequent care that patients receive. Among the examples it covers is the controversial eGFR (Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate), which is used to measure kidney function. eGFR is calculated through a formula that includes your blood creatinine level (creatinine is a waste product that is filtered from your blood by your kidneys) as well as other variables such as age, sex, and race. However, as CNN states, “When it comes to race, doctors […]

How can computing technology impact global health, particularly with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic? Shwetak Patel, 2018 ACM Prize in Computing winner and Computing Community Consortium (CCC) council member, addressed this question on the second day of the Virtual Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF) 2020. Patel, an entrepreneur and professor of computer science at the University of Washington, won the 2018 Prize for “contributions to creative and practical sensing systems for sustainability and health.” During his presentation, Patel highlighted a few of the use cases of computing technology on healthcare: for instance, AI has improved screening and diagnostic capabilities by reading X-rays and radiology scans and the ubiquity of mobile phones makes them a great […]

Shwetak Patel, the 2018 ACM Prize in Computing winner and Professor in Computer Science and Engineering and Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington, was a participating laureate at this year’s Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF). During his presentation at HLF, Dr. Patel discussed some of the innovate health applications he and his team have developed including an app that can monitor jaundice in babies called Bilicam. Typically, it can be hard to discern if a baby has severe jaundice since many babies skin has a yellowish hue naturally. Bilicam filters certain kinds of light out of the spectrum which allows that user to track the kinds of chemicals found in the babies skin. From there you can decide whether there […]

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) has released a white paper, Research Opportunities and Visions for Smart and Pervasive Health. This paper is an outgrowth of the December 2016 workshop Discovery and Innovation in Smart and Pervasive Health convened to inform leading researchers and policymakers on the successes of Smart and Pervasive Health research activities, the evolution of relevant computing capabilities, and the application of these technical innovations to health and wellness goals. Following that workshop, draft recommendations were presented and discussed at the AAAS annual meeting and the ACM/AMIA Workshop of Interactive Health Systems. The newly released white paper highlights these paradigms and concludes with specific recommendations for the successful […]