Technology plays a huge role in our daily lives, and it has proved to be imperative during the pandemic. It is undeniable that the world is advancing towards digitalisation where both artificial intelligence AI and machine learning allows for better accuracy at predicting outcomes. In healthcare, the application of AI can provide substantial improvements in all areas from diagnostics to treatment.
“HealthAI: Innovate for Health” was organised with the goal to bridge the gap between data and healthcare. It is a month-long event, including a webinar and a research hackathon/workshop starting from 22 October to 20 November 2021. This event is organised by AI4DP, a research excellence consortium comprising of IMU-MMU-UKM, and members of International Medical University (IMU) Scholars’ Committees under the supervision of head advisor Dr Elaine Chan Wan Ling from the IMU Institute for Research, Development and Innovation (IRDI). We were honoured to have more than 170 international and local participants throughout the event.
Webinar: Bridging the Gap between Data and Healthcare
“HealthAI: Innovate for Health” started off on 22 October with a webinar themed “Bridging the Gap between Data and Healthcare”, where experts came together to present the current trends and the relationship between data and healthcare. It is no longer surprising when we hear about “big data” making waves in the healthcare industry. This massive amount of information, stored by both public and private sectors, opens doors to medical related research, healthcare service improvement plans and the revolution of modern medical practices. During the webinar, speakers introduced the benefits of the integration while providing deeper insights into its current healthcare industry applications and technology trends. The webinar was opened to the public.
| List of Speakers | |
|---|---|
| Raju Chellam | Vice President, Fusionex Group, Malaysia |
| Associate Professor Dr Asif Khan | School Of Data Sciences, Perdana University, Malaysia / Bezmialem Vakif University, Turkey |
| Dr Kauthar Mohd Daud | Faculty Of Information Science & Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia |
| Professor Sushmita Mitra | Machine Intelligence Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India |
| Noor Sharazain Bin Ahmad Noordin | General Manager, Products and Innovation Mesiniaga Berhad, Malaysia |
| Dr Janice Ng | Senior Consultant, Oxentia, United Kingdom |
| Associate Professor Mohammad Faizal Ahmad Fauzi | Faculty of Engineering, Multimedia University; Head, AI4DP MMU-UKM-IMU Research Excellence Consortium, Malaysia |
Research Hackathon/Workshop: Code for Health
From 23 October till 20 November, a research hackathon themed “Code for Health” was conducted with the aim to bridge the gap between data and healthcare by equipping students with knowledge from various fields of studies. The hackathon has also provided participants the opportunity to enhance their skills ranging from teamwork to problem solving, while building networks with experts from different backgrounds and expertise. This was particularly opened to students from computer and life science majors. They were required to come up with an innovative idea and pitch it within 3 minutes to the invited judges.
The hackathon kick started with a half-day workshop where computer science students learnt how to interpret and utilise medical data and graphs for building better models to meet current needs in healthcare industries, while health sciences students learnt the possible ways of applying machine learning models in their field of studies.
After the workshops, participants were separated into groups of four consisting of both computer and life sciences students to brainstorm a solution to address a challenge that they have observed from healthcare settings using Miro Board, which is an online whiteboard tool used for visual collaboration.
After the first day session, the participants were given a month to work as a group to continue to develop their ideas and prepare for their pitch. In order to guide the participants throughout the one-month long group ideation, two drop-in clinics were held.
On 20 November, the final presentation day, participants presented their ideas to a panel of invited judges from both academia and industry. General public was invited to get a glimpse of the idea presented by the participants and vote for their favourite group. The groups were judged based on solution feasibility, solution inventiveness, proposed steps of implementation, teamwork and presentation. Prizes up to RM2800 in total were awarded to outstanding teams.
| Winning Teams | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1st Prize | Samer Walid Saboba
Adlin Sofea Binti Alauddin Loh Yue Yi Lai Min Jia |
Aston University,
UK IMU MMU UOW Malaysia KDU |
| 2nd Prize | Onn Sze Mun
How Yi Wen Kum Yu Kit Thean Jun Chao |
Taylor’s University
USM UOW Malaysia KDU UKM |
| 3rd Prize | Lim Jing Yu
Maevy Yeo Hong Yan Han Ahmed Fakhr Aldin Alfatih |
Sunway University
Taylor’s University IMU UOW Malaysia KDU |
| People’s Choice | Samer Walid Saboba
Adlin Sofea Binti Alauddin Loh Yue Yi Lai Min Jia |
Aston University, UK
IMU MMU UOW Malaysia KDU |
| People’s Choice | Tan Hou Dong
Chock Li Ling Tay Ming Chung Yong Yung Jun Muhammad Ashraf Bin Mohamad Hamil |
Taylor’s University
IMU UOW Malaysia KDU TARC UNITEN |
Champion of the research hackathon
Overall, participants of both webinar and research hackathon enjoyed the sessions very much. Some feedback for the webinar includes, “eye opening on the integration of big data and healthcare research”, “it inspired me” and “helped me to gain a vivid understanding of how data can contribute to the healthcare field, the importance of managing them and its potential application in the real world”, and for the hackathon it includes, “has given me a chance to develop my innovative thinking and pitching skills”, “enjoyed hearing all the different creative and useful ideas that aim to improve the healthcare system” and “met new friends and learnt new knowledge”.
Kudos to all groups for putting in much effort into their ideas! There were inevitably obstacles along the way and yet they overcame and pushed through with resilience. It was definitely an enjoyable event for both the organising team and participants. Stay tuned for the hackathon challenge next year!
Website: https://imuhackathon2021.wixsite.com/health-ai
Instagram: https://instagram.com/health_ai
Written by: Jovonna Yap (CM220), Project Leader of HealthAI
Edited by: Dr Elaine Chan Wan Ling (IRDI)
