IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, and the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA), today announced the world’s first Advancing HealthTech for Humanity virtual Blockchain workshop, designed to enhance participants’ knowledge of Blockchain technology and platforms.
The virtual workshop, which launched on 22 September and runs through 21 October 2016, will help demystify Blockchain technology and give participants a better understanding of its capabilities, with an improved ability to address key challenges in healthcare today relating to privacy and security.
“This is a great opportunity to make a real impact and we are excited to be a part of it. By having experts involved, we decrease the time to possibly solve identified problems while increasing relevant and in-demand field skillsets”
IEEE-SA has partnered with precision medicine and patient-centric experts and platform providers to bring the first ever virtual Blockchain workshop, which welcomes healthcare practitioners, researchers, scientists, patient advocates, incentive designers, developers, students, and entrepreneurs interested in making an impact toward some of the real challenges in healthcare today.
“As a unifying force and a catalyst for advancing technology innovation and implementation, IEEE is ideally positioned to bring diverse stakeholders in the Blockchain ecosystem together to build consensus, support the standardization process, focus on education, and help advance Blockchain technologies,” said Greg Adamson, chair, IEEE Blockchain Special Interest Group, and president of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology.
“This event is perfectly timed as it seeks to advance the understanding, via real world usage, of the potential of distributed ledger technologies precisely when healthcare and life sciences industries are actively assessing the massive value of longitudinal health data exchange. If all goes to plan, outcomes and learnings from this collaborative event will make a real impact on the efficacy of its adoption curve,” said Michael Dillhyon, CEO of YouBase, Inc., creator of a Personal Health Information eXchange Layer (PIXL) that utilizes distributed ledger technologies.
“We’re delighted to participate in the IEEE Virtual Blockchain Workshop for HealthTech. We see Blockchain as a valuable general purpose technology, whose applications go far beyond the current focus in the finance sector,’ said Dr. Gideon Greenspan, Founder and CEO, Coin Sciences Ltd. “Blockchain is suitable for creating shared immutable databases in any field, and healthcare is undoubtedly an area with deep potential.”
Participants in the IEEE-SA’s Advancing HealthTech for Humanity virtual Blockchain workshop will gain a better understanding of several of the key challenges related to healthcare, develop a base level understanding of Blockchain technologies, and receive support to leverage participating Blockchain platforms available on the market today. Workshop challenges focus on areas such as patient anonymity, addressing the problem of counterfeit medicines, and patient-driven interoperability. Specific challenges for the first virtual workshop include:
- How can we use Blockchain-related technologies to drive patient-driven interoperability?
- Can Blockchain technology facilitate incentivization of data sharing between patients and researchers?
- Exploring the use of Blockchain technology to secure the drug supply chain against counterfeit medicines
- Can the healthcare Blockchain be used as a platform to aggregate the many different data stores patient data may live on?
“This is an innovative event that increases both awareness of a potentially game-changing technology in the context of real issues that the industry faces,” said Professor Kevin Clauson, PharmD and Associate Professor at the College of Pharmacy at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN.
“This is a great opportunity to make a real impact and we are excited to be a part of it. By having experts involved, we decrease the time to possibly solve identified problems while increasing relevant and in-demand field skillsets,” added Professor Timothy Mackey, PhD, Director of GHPi and an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Global Public Health at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.
Selected submissions demonstrating progress toward achieving challenge statements will be recognized at the IEEE Computer Society’s Rock Stars of Emerging Technology event taking place on 2 November 2016 in El Segundo, CA.
To join, sponsor or learn more about this innovative event, visit Blockchain.ieee.org
Individuals interested in IEEE Collabratec™ Blockchain learning more about the IEEE’s Blockchain Special Interest Group, can visit: https://ieee-collabratec.ieee.org/app/community/102/activities
The IEEE Standards Association, a globally recognized standards-setting body within IEEE, develops consensus standards through an open process that engages industry and brings together a broad stakeholder community. IEEE standards set specifications and best practices based on current scientific and technological knowledge. The IEEE-SA has a portfolio of over 1,100 active standards and more than 500 standards under development. For more information visit http://standards.ieee.org.
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