Dr. Luis Kun

In the 21^st Century, thanks to advances in technology, we can completely change the way we conduct healthcare and public health.  An array of technologies is available to improve the preparedness, response and the prevention of disease.  Yet for every technology that helps there are new challenges created by the use of digital driven information and/or devices.  Pacemakers can save lives; but if hacked, they can kill. Drones that can save victims of a heart attack within minutes of the episode, but could also be used to do target killings.  Medications bought through e-or m-commerce may not have the medications that are supposed to contain or the correct amounts, yet Blockchain technology may help solve this problem.  Using RFID, we can do traceability of food and medications and vaccines.  With GIS/GPS, combined with data mining of supermarkets products’ sales and or social media, we can be alerted of symptomatic information, regarding bioterrorist-type of threats, occurring in different parts of a City/Country.  Breaches of personal information are a major concern.  Of course, privacy issues can cause all types of problems, including identity theft, ransomware or increase in insurance premiums because of “pre-conditions,” generated when genetic information becomes public and/or stolen.  With the use of telehealth, for example, we may be able to alleviate the problems of overcrowded ERs during major crisis such as a pandemic, but what happens if those services are unaffordable for the low income population?  Are we going to create a digital divide between rich and poor?  What about the ethics of using genetic data to prevent a disease vs. the use of that data to create “special races,” as proposed by some in the 30’s.  Also, as we age, more chronic conditions manifest; elders increase the numbers of visits to specialists.  Each specialist has a website protected by a user id/password.  Each of these islands has information that lack integration and interoperability with other providers.  Yet in order to practice telehealth safely, an Electronic Health Record is necessary but we are not there yet.  Today Medical errors is the third major cause of death in the US, after heart disease and cancer.

Biography:

Dr. 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) and was Professor of Homeland Security at the National Defense University (2003-2014).  He was founding Editor in Chief of Springer's Journal of Health and Technology.  He spent 14 years at IBM; was Director of Medical Systems Technology at Cedars Sinai Medical Center.  As Senior IT Advisor to AHCPR he formulated the IT vision and was the lead staff for High Performance Computers and Communications (HPCC) program and Telehealth.  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.  While a Distinguished Fellow at the CDC, he was first Senior Computer Scientist for the Health Alert Network for Bioterrorism and later Acting Chief IT Officer for the National Immunization Program where he formulated their IT vision on 10/2000.  He was the founding chair of the IEEE USA Healthcare Engineering Policy Committee’s Electronic Medical Record and HPCC WG, and later 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.  Dr. Kun received many awards, including AIMBE's first-ever Fellow Advocate Award in 2009; IEEE-USA Citation of Honor Award with a citation, "For exemplary contributions in the inception and implementation of a health care IT vision in the US;" 2011 Golden Core Award by the IEEE CS. Named: "Professor Honoris Causa" Favaloro University, (Argentina); "Distinguished Visitor" by City of Puebla, Mexico (9/4/2013).  He is/was in the IEEE Distinguished Visitor Program for Computers, Distinguished Lecturer for the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) and is the DL SSIT Chair.  (2014) Honorary Professor of the Electrical Engineering Dept. at the School of Engineering of the University (UDELAR) in Montevideo, Uruguay.  He received the Medal of Merit on October 20, 2016 in Mexico by the National Unit of Engineering Associations and named Visiting Professor by the National Technological University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, October 2017.

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