January 9, 2019 | 12:45pm – 1:50pm

Todd Coleman
Professor, Department of Bioengineering, UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

Title: Technological Innovation for Advancing Population Health: The Case of Electrical Digestive Monitoring for Gastrointestinal (GI) Problems

Abstract: In this talk, we will discuss advancement of wearable arrays of electrical sensors that produce an “EKG of the digestive system”, which provides descriptions of GI function that are consistent with invasive measures, correlate with symptoms, and can be used in ambulatory settings. The ability to associate these patterns with meals, symptoms, and other cardinal events creates opportunities to perform machine learning on very large datasets to accelerate identification of the causes of symptoms and optimize care delivery.   We will discuss how this information is being combined with other innovations in GI assessment and intervention to modernize care of the digestive system. Gastrointestinal (GI) problems are the second leading cause for missing work or school in the US, giving rise to 10% of the reasons a patient visits their primary care. Although some abnormalities are easy to diagnose, more than half of GI disorders involve referrals to GI specialists. In these settings, either invasive objective procedures or subjective symptom-based questionnaires are used to manage care. With a $251B annual price tag, management of GI problems poses a significant burden that requires advances in assessing GI function and sharing this information across the numerous care providers (primary care, GI specialists, psychiatry, nutritionists, etc). We will conclude with a discussion of how these innovations and others in the GI space will enable objective and dynamic assessments of the inter-relationships between diet, stress, sleep, and digestion for population health.

Bio: Todd P. Coleman received B.S. degrees in electrical engineering (summa cum laude), as well as computer engineering (summa cum laude) from the University of Michigan. He received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from MIT in electrical engineering, and did postdoctoral studies at MIT in neuroscience. He is currently a Professor in the Bioengineering Department at UCSD, where he directs the Neural Interaction Laboratory. Dr. Coleman’s research is very multi-disciplinary, using tools from applied probability, physiology, and bio-electronics. His work has been featured on CNN, BBC, and the New York Times. Dr. Coleman has been selected as a National Academy of Engineering Gilbreth Lecturer, a TEDMED speaker, and a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

January 10, 2019 | 12:45pm – 1:50pm

Ramesh Gopinath
Vice President, IBM Blockchain Solutions

Title: Blockchain Simply Changes The Way The World Works

Abstract: Blockchain will fundamentally transform all industries by virtue of it being a trusted and permissioned information sharing platform.  In the traditional model, when companies do business with each other, they share information via point to point communication leading to information silos, disputes, and reconciliations.  In the blockchain model, information is shared across the businesses on a shared ledger leading to a single version of the truth. In addition, business logic can be run in a trusted manner on top of the trusted data with so-called smart contracts.  Supply chains, with the many hand-offs that occur, is the perfect place to apply this technology.  This presentation will argue that supply chains will never be the same again by describing two supply chain solutions deployed in production with this technology – the IBM Food Trust for transforming the food ecosystem and TradeLens for transforming global trade. It will be concluded with suggestions for future academic and industrial R&D.

Bio: Ramesh is responsible for the offering management and development of blockchain solutions at IBM. He leads client engagements in this space and has worked with marquee clients across a number of industries including food safety, banking and financial services, and global supply chain. He played an instrumental role in developing the IBM Food Trust blockchain solution to support food safety currently in use by many of the world’s largest retailers and food companies. He also helped develop the TradeLens technology currently in use by numerous members of the shipping supply chain. Previously he was the global leader for blockchain at IBM Research which helped incubate IBM’s growing blockchain business. He began his career in IBM Research in 1994 and over the years has led the development of IBM products and services in a broad range of areas including cognitive (speech and text), collaboration, mobile and cloud. Ramesh graduated from Rice University (Ph.D. 1993, M.S. 1990) and the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai (BTech 1987).

Plenary Speakers from HICSS-2 to HICSS-52

Over the past 52 years, HICSS has had the privilege to have an incredible number of distinguished plenary speakers from academic and industry.