The intersection of technology and healthcare
The intersection of technology and healthcare is widely recognised as one of, if not the most, important global investment and business opportunity in the foreseeable future. Innovation in medical technology is integral to ensure thriving communities of the future.
The Monash Institute of Medical Engineering (MIME) partners with the Monash Faculty of Information Technology (FIT) to assist in the creation of innovative outputs to improve health outcomes.
Since its inception in 2015, MIME has built a unique program which connects clinicians at the coalface of healthcare to researchers who can turn their ideas into tangible technologies.
Professor of Digital Health within the Faculty of IT, Professor Chris Bain, said the collaboration not only delivers efficiency but also enhances the sustainability of healthcare.
“MIME ultimately supports MedTech solutions to unmet clinical needs. The MedTech pathway from identification of clinical need and research innovation through to market is long, complicated and unique. It requires diversity of expertise and scale. Digital technology along with our Faculty plays a huge role in providing and assisting with these real-world solutions ,” said Professor Bain.
“Digital health is recognised as a new frontier in health tech providing the health system with validated MedTech to assist in medical diagnosis and prescription. Through our partnership with MIME, we have worked and continue to work with countless clinicians and healthcare professionals to realise innovative and responsible IT research and education to improve their delivery of healthcare.”
“Through these connections we hope to entrench the importance of digital framing as a crucial element when thinking about how to approach any sort of medical output,” said Professor Bain.
The Faculty of IT at Monash University offers world-leading software engineering and cybersecurity pioneers, focused on providing research expertise across data science and AI, human-centred computing and software systems and cybersecurity. Some of the research projects MIME in collaboration with the Faculty of IT are currently focused on include:
- Virtual patient advocate to improve reproductive and preconception health
This project seeks to design and develop an accessible, intuitive and trustworthy “human-like” interactive virtual agent to communicate preconception care for Australian women.
Undertaken in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
- The diabetic sensate footwear project
This project involves integrating sensors and electronic systems into footwear for monitoring those with diabetes. The solution will include a smart-phone app which will inform patients and clinicians of changes that may cause tissue injury.
Undertaken in collaboration with the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture.
Looking to the future, MIME and the Faculty of IT will continue to works towards embedding technology into healthcare.
“The link between MIME and FIT provides critical access to our innovators, tools and platforms to allow cross collaboration in an effort to lead the capability of digital health tech into the future,” said Professor Bain.
MIME works with our Monash University Faculty Partners of Information Technology; Engineering; Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences; and Art, Design and Architecture and as the clinical innovation platform for Monash Partners Academic Health Science Centre, to identify real world problems and provide real world solutions.