Page 5 - ITU KALEIDOSCOPE, ATLANTA 2019

Chairman’s message

Chaouki Abdallah

General Chairman
The use of innovative applications and advanced information
and communication technologies (ICTs) are set to continue to
affect the health sector globally, providing significant
developments and ensuring that communities around the world
are capable of providing necessary and efficient healthcare.

Georgia Institute of Technology is proud to provide a space for the presentation and discussion of
essential research towards this year’s ITU Kaleidoscope academic conference on ICT for Health:
Networks, standards and innovation, at our campus in Georgia, Atlanta, USA, 4-6 December 2019.

The establishment of the ITU Academia membership category in 2011 brought greater significance to
Kaleidoscope’s role in fostering academic engagement in the work of ITU. As a member within this
category, Georgia Tech is committed to continuing its support to the Union, and particularly in the
pursuit of research and academic engagement.

The Technical Programme Committee chaired by Mostafa Hashem Sherif selected 20 papers through a
double-blind peer-review process supported by 75 international experts. I would like to thank the
Committee and the reviewers for selecting high-caliber papers for presentation at the conference and
identifying papers eligible for awards.

Among the various keynotes presented in this year’s programme, the first by Valerie Montgomery Rice,
President and Dean of the Morehouse College of Medicine, explored the possibilities of leveraging
digital health technology to advance health equity. Ian F. Akyildiz, the Kenneth G. Byers Professor in
the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering here at Georgia Tech, offered insightful research
into the technical aspects of health applications in the context of an Internet of Bio-Nanothings. Both
keynotes emphasized the importance of investigating the convergence of engineering and medical
research in the pursuit of the global good. John Vertefeuille, of the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, delivered his keynote speech titled, “Polio eradication and how technology is reaching the
last mile,” discussing how digital health plays a key role in combatting disease.

The first Kaleidoscope 2019 invited paper, “Towards international standards for the evaluation of
Artificial Intelligence for health,” co-authored by Markus A. Wenzel and Thomas Wiegand, from
Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute, explored how international standards are necessary for thoroughly
validating AI solutions for health, and how such standards could create trust among stakeholders. This
presentation also highlighted the achievements of the ITU/WHO focus group on “AI for Health.”

Kaleidoscope 2019 was developed as a joint collaboration between ITU and the World Health
Organization (WHO). In light of this partnership, Marcelo D’Agostino, WHO’s Senior Advisor on
Information Systems and Digital Health, delivered a keynote speech as part of the opening plenary on
“Digital Health in the Information Society: Working together to leave no one behind.” Mr. D’Agostino
also moderated the WHO special panel session titled, “Digital transformation of the health sector: The
power of Artificial Intelligence and the potential of unstructured and Big Data for public health.” Yuri
Quintana from Harvard Medical School discussed the potential power of Artificial Intelligence to
support patients, families and healthcare providers. Ian Brooks of NCSA University of Illinois explored
what potential there might be for public health, given the uses of unstructured data and Big Data today,
and Jennifer Nelson from the Interamerican Development Bank in the United States focused on the
challenges and opportunities surrounding digital transformation in Latin America.

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