Dr Luis Kun of IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology

Crises such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, provide a unique opportunity to act as a catalyst for change.  Society around the world, was advised by the public health system to do physical distancing.  Those studying were to do distance learning, those working do telework, and for all members in the household do telehealth.  The assumption is/was that everyone has Fast Access Internet (FAI) at home, and an interoperable system of Electronic Health Records.  The reality is quite different. Many cannot afford FAI, creating a digital divide between the haves and the have nots.  In the 90s the Clinton-Gore administration worked on the concepts of “Electronic Bill of Rights” of using high tech to deliver government and social services, distance learning and telemedicine.  “Bridging the Digital Divide” connecting every classroom and library to the Internet. In the 2004 State of the Union Address, President G. W.  Bush, promised an Electronic Health Record (EHR)by 2014, for every American, to avoid medical errors, reduce costs and improve care, and in his 2009 State of the Union Address, President Obama, promised the same within 5 years.  It is 2020 and we still lack an interoperable system of Electronic Health Records.  It is estimated that between 400,000 to 440,000 individuals die every year in the US from medical errors, making it the 3^rd highest cause of death (in “normal times”), after heart disease and cancer.  This talk will review how the present crisis can provide the impetus to further bridge the Digital Divide and accelerate progress towards a single EHR for every citizen.

Biography:

Dr. Kun was the founding chair of the IEEE-USA Healthcare Engineering Policy Committee’s Electronic Medical Record and HPCC WG, and prior to 9/11, the Founding Chair of the Bioterrorism and Homeland Security WG.  In 2007 he became the Founding chair of IEEE-USA’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Committee.   For the 1^st time ever, he edited /produced 3 Special Issues of the IEEE EMBS Magazine (2002, 2004 and 2008), which included segments written by invited Legislators and were distributed among members of the US Congress. 

While at IBM Dr. Kun developed the 1^st six healthcare applications that ran in an IBM PC.  He worked with Palo Alto SC computer scientists to develop on an IBM platform: the 1^st Medical Imaging Display Station, and with Medical Physicists at UTSMC & Parkland Hospital to develop the first Picture Archival Communications System. While working on the “All Digital Medical Record” in Gaithersburg, he was technical manager in the requirements definition for the Point of Care System with/for nurses (academia and industry).  As Senior IT Advisor representing the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), he chaired the Privacy and Security of Information in the Vice-president’s Committee on Telehealth and was one of the 9 authors of the first Report to the US Congress on Telemedicine.   He led defined the sections on: Telehealth, Computer-based Patient Records, and Clinical Decision Support while working with individuals representing 15 different parts of the Federal Government and as part of the White House Subcommittee on Computing, Information and Communications R&D.  In July 1997, as invited speaker to the White House, he was largely responsible for the first Telemedicine Homecare Legislation signed by President Clinton, August 1997.  As a Distinguished Fellow at the CDC in Atlanta, first as the Senior Computer Scientist for the Health Alert Network for Bioterrorism and later as the Acting Chief Technology Officer for the National Immunization Program he defined how IT would be used in the future.  He developed and taught for the new program in Public Health Informatics at the Rollins School of Public Health, at Emory University the courses on Knowledge Management, and AI in Public Health.  As a Professor of Homeland Security (HLS) at the National Defense University he developed all the curricula on that track: HLS Inf. Management, HLS Tools & Techniques and Protection of Critical Infrastructures.  Kun graduated from Uruguay’s Merchant Marine Academy and holds a BSEE, MSEE and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from UCLA. He is a (Lifetime) Fellow of the IEEE, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering.  He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of National Security Affairs (CHDS/NDU).  He is co-founding Editor in Chief of Springer's Journal of Health and Technology.  His awards include: AIMBE's first-ever Fellow Advocate Award; IEEE-USA Citation of Honor Award, "For exemplary contributions in the inception and implementation of a health care IT vision in the US"; from the US Surgeon General, AHCPR Administrator’s Award of Merit for exceptional dedication and professional achievements that have greatly enhanced the recognition of AHCPR’s research in the HPCC Program.  Golden Core Award by the IEEE CS. Named: "Profesor Honoris  Causa" Favaloro University, (Argentina); "Distinguished Visitor" by City of Puebla, Mexico.