Speaker: Dr. Shabbir Syed-Abdul  
                Professor of Artificial Intelligence & Digital Health
                Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics
                Adjunct Professor at School of Gerontology and Long-Term Care
                Taipei Medical University. Taiwan

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Title:  Empowering Intelligent Environments: Integrating Wearable Technologies and Digital Twins for Enhanced Healthcare and Well-being

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Abstract: Amidst rapid technological progress, sensors, wearable devices and digital tools are revolutionizing patient care by offering a broad spectrum of services aimed at the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management of a wide array of diseases. Among these innovations, wearable technology stands out as a cutting-edge solution addressing healthcare challenges. The market today is flooded with a variety of wearable healthcare devices, including wristbands, smartwatches, and wearable mobile sensors, each playing a pivotal role in transforming healthcare systems and lightening the load on conventional healthcare infrastructure. 

Wearable devices are instrumental in remote patient monitoring and telehealth, significantly improving access to healthcare services, especially in remote or underserved areas. This movement towards a more decentralized healthcare model not only makes healthcare systems more sustainable by diminishing the reliance on extensive physical infrastructure. The fusion of sensor technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and principles of sustainable design heralds a new era in healthcare delivery that is more patient-oriented, efficient, and environmentally friendly.

Adding to this technological vanguard, the concept of digital twins in healthcare emerges as a game-changer. Digital twins, essentially virtual replicas of physical entities, are now being applied to replicate human physiology in a digital format. This breakthrough allows for personalized medicine to reach unprecedented levels, where healthcare providers can simulate and analyze the effects of various treatments on a patient's virtual counterpart before applying them in real life. This capability not only enhances the precision of medical interventions but also significantly reduces the risk to patients by allowing for thorough scenario testing in a virtual environment.

The synergy between wearable technologies and digital twins is central to creating intelligent environments that support healthcare and well-being. These environments use sensors and AI to monitor health indicators in real-time, offering proactive and personalized care. Despite the potential, challenges in data privacy, cybersecurity, technology interoperability, and regulation need addressing. Overcoming these barriers requires interdisciplinary collaboration to ensure that the evolution of digital health tools is beneficial and sustainable.

The future of healthcare lies in leveraging wearable technologies and digital twins within intelligent environments, promising a more resilient, efficient, and patient-centric healthcare ecosystem.

Speaker's Short Bio: Professor Shabbir Syed-Abdul is a strong health informatics research professional with expertise in artificial intelligence and internet of things in healthcare. His research focus revolves around long term care of older adults and early prediction and management of chronic diseases such as cancer, chronic kidney disease, etc. He is a Professor at the Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, a leading researcher and a principal investigator at the International Center for Health Information Technology, Taipei, Taiwan. He has been an educator for MOOCs on FutureLearn since 2015.

Prof. Shabbir performed the role as a physician, a researcher and a principal investigator both in the developed and developing world. This made him to lead advanced global knowledge on the factors that impact on the development of sustainable healthcare, in particular focusing on innovation and ageing populations. He is recognized as a part of the WHO roster of Infodemic managers to support technical assistance in countries in infodemic management and response to health misinformation.

Prof. Shabbir has been actively involved in Social Media in Health research at the Social Media Working Group IMIA (International Medical Informatics Association). He is also a member of the Asia-Pacific Association for Medical Informatics (APAMI) Scientific Program Committee. He has been actively involved in several European Commission funded through H2020 projects.. He was also a part of the ITU Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health (FG AI4H) in partnership with ITU and World Health Organization (WHO).

Prof. Shabbir has an excellent track record of accomplishing projects and publishing over 130 articles in the SCI prestigious journals including The Lancet, BMJ, JAMIA, Journal of Medical Internet Research, Burns, PlosOne and Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine.

His major research interests revolve around Artificial Intelligence, Big data analysis and visualisation, Long-term care with Wearable technologies, mHealth, Personal Health Records, Social Network in healthcare and Hospital Information System. Through his work he looks forward to empower care providers and improve patient engagement and patient empowerment. He feels one of the ways to achieve it is to focus on the management and flow of the health/medical information among health care providers and seekers.