Guests, committee, and participants (front row, from left): Prof Yap, Prof Awang Bulgiba, Dr Liu, Prof Chuah, Prof Cheong and Prof Rasko

In line with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), an international conference that is focused on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on various aspects of medical practice and medical education was held from 4 to 6 July 2019 at UTAR Sungai Long Campus.

This conference is the 2nd Biannual Medical & Health Sciences Conference organised by the UTAR Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS). This conference on ‘Health Care Transformation in the 4th Industrial Revolution’ was designed to provide a platform where academics, practitioners and researchers can share their knowledge, expertise and experience related to the role and impact of AI in medicine and health sciences. The conference programme included six plenary sessions presented by eminent experts, over twenty talks or related topics as well as two post-conference workshops.

The opening ceremony held on the 4th July 2019 was graced by UTAR President Ir Prof Academician Dato’ Dr Chuah Hean Teik, President of the Chinese Anti-Tuberculosis Association (CATA, Dr Liu Jianjun, Prof Datuk Dr Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud, University Malaya, Emeritus Prof Dr Cheong Soon Keng, Dean of Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), Prof Dr Yap Sook Fan, Deputy Dean R&D (FMHS) and chairperson of the conference, and Prof Dr John EJ Rasko AO, University of Sydney. The participants included medical professionals, academics and scientists from several local as well as international institutes.

The message from the UTAR President touched on the challenges faced by the medical profession in the digital era facing us, and emphasised on the need for the medical profession to keep abreast of the latest developments in the technology. The FMHS Dean, in his welcoming address concurred with this and added that it is now timely for the profession to examine these new frontiers as we move into the era of the 4IR which will touch every aspect of human life. It was further pointed out that healthcare will be increasingly technology-driven and dominated by AI and big data analytics; hence, academics and practitioners in the healthcare industry must rise to the occasion to stay relevant.

Prof Cheong mentioned the need to pay attention to the humanistic aspects of technological advancement

Prof Chuah addressing the upcoming challenges in the medical field in relation to technology advancement

“We have brought together academics and researchers with vast knowledge and experience to share their viewpoints and perspectives on a range of topics related to new technologies and their impact on the evolving medical practice, education and research. With the promise of positive changes heralded by these advances, the ethical issues that invariably would follow are also addressed in this conference. It is our hope that the participants will find the sessions useful, interesting and inspiring,” said Dr Yap.

The conference commenced with a keynote address delivered by Prof Chuah. He addressed the trends and challenges faced by the global community. He pointed out that the medical profession is not exempt and will need to rise to this challenges posed by the digital revolution. The profession should be ready to embrace, adopt and adapt to the unprecedented advances in medical technology and healthcare practices that is inevitable with this revolution.

Dr Liu Jianjun, President of CATA, expressed his gratitude to UTAR for inviting the Chinese Anti-tuberculosis Association to participate in the 2nd Biennial Medical & Health Sciences Conference 2019. He touched on the good relationship between UTAR and CATA, and mentioned the CATA-UTAR memorandum of understanding which was signed on 20th September 2018. In a follow-up visit of a CATA delegation in December 2018 details of the cooperation between the two organisations were discussed. At UTAR’s invitation, CATA arranged more than 20 delegates to attend the UTAR 2nd Biennial Medical and Health Sciences Conference. At this conference and the post-conference workshop, experts from China will give five presentations to share the recent progress in scientific research and technology innovations in TB control and prevention in China.

The conference saw three plenary speakers, namely Prof Awang Bulgiba, Malaysian Medical Council Dr Milton Lum Siew Wah and Prof Rasko.

Prof Bulgiba Awang welcomes the development of AI in healthcare but cautioned that it has to be tempered by human understanding to compensate for the inability of AI to deal with human emotions

Dr Milton Lum emphasised that the Science of Medicine must be matched with the Art of Medicine and the urgent need for medical practitioners to restore the patient to a central role in the practice of Medicine. Quoting William Osler, the Father or Modern Medicine, he reiterated that “the good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient…”

Prof Rasko shares the highlights of the clinical cell and gene therapy which is forecasted to see a possible 900 per cent increase in Gene and Stem Cell Therapy approvals over the next five years

Symposia speakers: Prof Dr Wah TM, Prof Dr Looi LM, A/Prof Teh PL, Dr Qimin You

Symposium speakers: Prof Dr Alex Delikan, Dr Yi LI, Prof Diana Lee, Prof Yeo CC

The poster presentations covered topics including as medical microbiology, basic medical sciences, public health, information technology and medical education

Participants visiting exhibition booths

As the conference concluded, the third day saw two workshops which were focussed on updates of tuberculosis and health issues faced by elderly people.

Hands-on activities: Participants learning about Tui Na for the elderly, lifting and moving the elderly, and exercises for the elderly

More photos of the conference and abstracts of each presenter can be found here.

AI in the medicine and health sciences