Technology and health on a global scale – Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

The five research presentations covered a range of technologies, demographics and communities. Eshan Mehra and David An looked at synthetic biology as a way to improve access to organ transplantation in lower-resourced areas of the world, while May Ng and Maggie Richardson analyzed what technologies could enhance independence for elderly people.

It was a great way to really expand my knowledge of how you can approach different topics with different mindsets, said Mehra, whos in his first semester at Harvard. The fellowship also introduced me to a lot of new topics, such as predictive artificial intelligence. I really hadnt thought about these applications to global health, but it was really enlightening to think about new career paths and just try something new.

Predictive artificial intelligence (AI), a subject Reis taught to the fellows, was a recurring technology in several of the presentations. Jennifer Arakaki, Elizabeth Peng and Christian Chiu applied it to Alzheimers disease, presenting on how AI could be used to notice signs of the disease much earlier than conventional testing. Lauren Kim, Billan Mahdi and Safaa Hassan presented the technology for an app that uses AI to help improve the mental health of young people.

I came into this fellowship planning to concentrate in biology, maybe with a global health secondary. But after seeing the applications this technology can have, it inspired me to switch my pathway to one that is more all-encompassing of science, technology and global health, said Arakaki, a second-year student now studying computer science and neuroscience.

Tyler Nilson and McKayla Ro initially planned to look at heart disease and diabetes in tropical countries, but their research took them in an unplanned direction. Looking at the impact of Hurricane Maria on the Caribbean in 2017, they realized telecommunications during disaster relief needed improvement.

I had a hard time believing the best we have are ham radios and satellite phones, said Nilson, a second-year student studying human developmental and regenerative biology. I feel like we have a lot of really cool technology, and there has to be a better way.

TGHI plans to further develop Nilson and Ros research next spring with a project on disaster relief and resource allocation. Fall fellowship projects had to include a literature review on their subject matter, but beyond that fellows were free to implement their research through a website, app or other medium.

With the fellowship now over, TGHI can begin implementing some of its projects on a larger scale during the spring semester.

The students capacity to have ethics, compassion and curiosity, their maturity and excitement moving forward, when you layer that with the technical education and collaboration of the fellowship, the maturity is almost instantaneous, said advisor Joel Ray, part of the Senior Common Room at Winthrop House. Theyre so bright and curious, theyre immediately moving to solutions.

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Technology and health on a global scale - Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences