Agenda was ‘personalized medicine’

Organized with the main theme of ‘personalized medicine’ this year, the 14^th National Conference on Medical Informatics was hosted by Izmir University of Economics (IUE). A total of 9 panels were organized with presentations in the conference, which lasted for 3 days with the participation of experts in their fields. IUE Rector, Prof. Dr. Murat Aşkar said, “Medical informatics is very important in terms of making the necessary medical decisions accurately and quickly in order to save the lives of patients and improve their quality of life. The conference was very productive in terms of accelerating scientific and technological development.”

The content of the conference, which was held on March 16-18 at IUE Conference Hall, was determined by an organizing committee and scientific committee composed of academics working at different universities across Turkey. The conference was realized with the support of the European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI) and Informatics Association of Turkey (TDB).

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WAS ALSO DISCUSSED

In the conference, technical presentations were made on the current studies in the field of ‘personalized medicine’, which was chosen as the main theme this year, and evaluations were made about the projects to be realized in the coming period. In addition, panels were held on artificial intelligence applications in health, ethical values ​​changing with artificial intelligence, medical imaging, bioinformatics, immunology, and health informatics and health informatics education. 48 academic papers prepared by more than 100 academics from different universities were presented. The latest research results in the field of medical informatics and the latest developments were also discussed in the conference.

DETAILED PREPARATION

Prof. Dr. Adil Alpkoçak, President of the Board of Medical Informatics Association and Izmir Bakırçay University Faculty Member, chaired the conference.  The scientific committee was chaired by Prof. Dr. Kemal Turhan, Karadeniz Technical University Faculty Member, and the organizing committee was chaired by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emre Dayanç, IUE Faculty of Medicine Faculty Member. The conference, which was moderated by Prof. Dr. Hakan Abacıoğlu, Dean of IUE Faculty of Medicine, started with the opening panel where Prof. Dr. Tamer Önder from Koç University delivered a speech titled “personalized medicine”.

PERMANENT PROGRESS WILL BE PROVIDED

Stating that they were pleased to host the conference, IUE Rector Prof. Dr. Murat Aşkar said, “The conference emphasizes the importance of the use of information technologies in health services and raises awareness about digital transformation in the health sector. Health services are one of the most valuable areas of human life. Therefore, it is very important to use the best and most innovative technologies in health services. Medical informatics allows automation of business processes in healthcare and the collection, processing, storage and sharing of data. Medical informatics paves the way for permanent advances in personalized medicine, which we need so much. These technologies will help make the medical decisions necessary to save the lives of patients and improve their quality of life more accurately and quickly.”

PREPARED THE GROUND FOR COOPERATION AND INNOVATION

Prof. Dr. Aşkar continued as follows: “Today, interdisciplinary studies have begun to create effective and important results in science. The use of methods and results used in one field in another field gave a serious impetus to scientific developments. The National Conference on Medical Informatics, which we hosted as a university, was a very important platform that paved the way for further acceleration of scientific and technological development and the emergence of cooperation and innovations.”

PERSONAL HEALTH PRACTICES WILL IMPROVE

President of the Medical Informatics Association, Prof. Dr. Adil Alpkoçak pointed out that they successfully completed the conference and he said, “We brought together many valuable academics, researchers and practitioners working in the field of medical informatics. In addition, we also provided an environment for discussion and cooperation on the future of the industry. In this year's conference, we especially highlighted the theme of ‘personalized medicine’. Because we know that thanks to the developing information technologies, the door to personalized health practices is opened. We had the opportunity to listen and discuss the latest research results of nearly 90 academics. We also evaluated in detail the innovations in the fields of use of artificial intelligence, health informatics education, medical imaging and bioinformatics. I would like to thank Dean of Izmir University of Economics Faculty of Medicine Prof. Dr. Hakan Abacıoğlu, who has been with us from the very beginning to the realization of this conference, to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emre Dayanç, who contributed to the organization by taking part in the local organizing committee, and the students of the Medical Club.”