Media Release
Can technology manage healthcare challenges?
14 June 2017
With apps, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, smart homes, genetic testing and 3D printing, is technology the answer to the challenge of our ageing population and rising healthcare costs?
This topic was explored at the 2017 ATSE National Technology Challenges Dialogue The Crisis in Ageing –Technology to Manage the Challenges in Healthcare in Brisbane today.
Entrepreneurs, decision makers, government officials, researchers, academics and business leaders explored:
- The role of technology in active ageing
- Leap-frog health technologies of the future
- Managing the shift towards personalised healthcare and an empowered consumer
- Using technology to mitigate the challenges of the evolving health sector.
Key speakers included:
- Professor Ian Frazer AC FAA FTSE FAHMS, inventor of cervical cancer vaccine and Ambassador and Chair, Translational Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland (UQ), on urban design to stop isolation in old age;
- Professor Rajesh Vasa, Deakin Software and Technology Innovation Lab, Deakin University, on ‘smart homes’ for health and in home technology;
- Professor Elizabeth Geelhoed, School of Population and Global Health, University of Western Australia, on how health budgets put a value on life;
- Professor Kenneth Hillman AO, Intensive Care, Liverpool Hospital, University of New South Wales, on empowering the elderly at the end of their lives;
- Dr Elizabeth McGrath, Medical Devices Branch, Therapeutic Goods Administration, on potential and challenges of health apps;
- Dr Priscilla Rogers, IBM Research Australia, on artificial intelligence in health;
- Associate Professor Sonia Wutzke, Deputy Director, The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre, on prevention champions to address chronic disease;
- Dr Denise Furness, Molecular Geneticist and Nutritionist, on genetic testing for the best diet and lifestyle;
- Dr Stephen Beirne, Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, University of Wollongong, addressing the use of 3D printing in health;
- Mr Tim Blake, Managing Director, Semantic Consulting, on digitally empowered patients; and
- Professor RanjenyThomas FAHMS, Arthritis Queensland Chair of Rheumatology, University of Queensland, on nanotechnology in health.