UCI PHIT Summit 2026: Digital & Public Health Informatics & Technology: Workforce of the Future

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The UCI PHIT Summit 2026: Digital & Public Health Informatics & Technology – Workforce of the Future is a two-day interdisciplinary summit bringing together leaders from academia, industry, government, standards organizations, healthcare, public health, and technology to explore the rapidly evolving landscape of digital health and public health informatics.

Hosted at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) College of Health Sciences on September 10–11, 2026, the Summit will focus on the technologies, standards, workforce capabilities, and interdisciplinary collaboration required to build the next generation of healthcare and public health systems.

The program combines keynote presentations, moderated expert panels, student poster presentations, technical training, professional-development activities, industry roundtables, and networking opportunities. Sessions will examine how emerging technologies—including Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Large Language Models, Generative AI, Agentic AI, wearable and medical devices, cloud technologies, interoperability standards, FHIR, and digital health platforms—are transforming healthcare delivery, public health, research, and the future health technology workforce.

Each major 90-minute technical session will follow a 30/30/30 format, consisting of a session keynote, an industry-focused discussion, and an academic/government perspective. This structure is designed to connect technological innovation with real-world deployment, research, policy, standards, and workforce development.

Key areas of discussion include Emerging Technologies; Devices & Apps; Aging, Longevity & Lifestyle; Healthcare & Public Health Systems; Standards and Interoperability; Informatics, Technology & Standards; Society & Mental Health; and Disease Informatics.

A strong emphasis will also be placed on student and early-career workforce development. Participants will have opportunities to engage in hands-on technical learning, including cloud architecture, DevOps/CI-CD, integration using sandbox environments and Postman, FHIR, notebooks, LLMs, GenAI, Agent-to-Agent technologies, and Model Context Protocol (MCP). Professional-development activities will include industry roundtables, resume and LinkedIn guidance, AI-assisted job-search strategies, soft-skills development, and direct interaction with employers.

The Summit will also feature the PHIT Student Poster Program, allowing students to showcase their projects and research while engaging with professionals, researchers, technology leaders, and prospective employers.

Supported by UCI PHIT and academic partners, HL7, IEEE, ISO TC215, and industry partners, the Summit seeks to strengthen collaboration across the health technology ecosystem while preparing students and professionals for the emerging workforce needs of Digital Health, Public Health Informatics, Healthcare AI, Interoperability, and Health Information Technology.

 

PARKING: A valid UC Irvine parking permit is required at all times when parking on campus. Parking for guests attending the UCI PHIT Summit event at the College of Health Sciences is complimentary via ParkbyPlate. Upon successful registration, your license plate will serve as your parking permit.

Parking is available in general (unmarked) stalls in the Health Sciences Parking Structure. 

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INDUSTRY/ACADEMIA EXPERT TALKS & PANELS @ UCI COHS Sue & Bill Gross Auditorium

Agenda

Day 1 — September 10, 2026

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Registration, Breakfast & Networking

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
UCI PHIT Summit Kickoff

• Norma Ramirez — PHIT Program Manager

• Kai Zheng — PHIT Director / UCI ICS Faculty

• Welcome Keynote: Dean Bernadette Boden-Albala

• Opening Remarks: Irvine Mayor Larry Agran

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Session 1: Emerging Technologies
NLP, ML, LLMs, Generative AI, Agentic AI, and emerging healthcare technologies.
Speakers: Gora Datta, Arie Shen, Brian Hagerty, Dr Daniel Tabor

11:00 AM – 11:15 AM
Break

11:15 AM – 12:45 PM
PHIT Student Poster Session

12:45 PM – 2:00 PM
Lunch & Networking

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Session 2: Devices & Apps
Wearables, connected devices, SaMD/SiMD, and digital health applications.
Speakers: Dr. Susan L. Ivey, Dr. Mohammad Usman, Marc Mar-Yohana, Dr Ramsey Wehbe

3:30 PM – 3:45 PM
Break

3:45 PM – 5:15 PM
Session 3: Aging, Longevity & Lifestyle (A2L)
Nutrition, preventive care, precision healthcare, healthy aging, and longevity.
Speakers: Dr Adam Albitar, Dr Derrick Holman, Dr. Sanjay Bhojraj, Raija Leiviska

3:45 PM – 5:15 PM — Parallel Training (Room #1030 @ COHS)
PHIT Technical Training: Introducing Large Language Models (LLMs): LLM Internals
Trainers: Vinay Sharma, Pranay Khicha

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM
Industry Roundtables / Meet-the-Employers

6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Day 1 Closing Keynote: Dr Raj Nihalani + Dinner & Networking

Day 2 — September 11, 2026

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Registration, Breakfast & Networking

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Day 2 Welcome Keynote
Digital Health Standards – FHIR Around the World

• Gora Datta, FHL7, SMIEEE, SMACM

Opening Keynote
Reclaiming the Commons: Health as if People Matter

• Mei Lin Fung, Vice Chair, UN AI for Good Impact Steering Committee

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Session 4: Healthcare & Public Health Systems
EHRs, patient portals, laboratory systems, and digital health infrastructure.
Speakers: Nadine Afari, Sameer Halai, Dr. Lee Ann Prebil, Dr Raj Nihalani

11:00 AM – 11:15 AM
Break

11:15 AM – 12:45 PM
Session 5: Standards Interoperability at Work
HL7, ISO, IEEE-SA, FHIR, APIs, cloud, and interoperability standards.
Speakers: Todd Cooper, Prof Rachel Dunscombe, Gora Datta, FHL7

11:15 AM – 12:45 PM — Parallel Professional Development (Room #1030 @ COHS)
Building the Future PHIT Workforce
Resume/LinkedIn development, AI-assisted job search, prompt engineering, soft skills, and career readiness.
Speaker: Heather Maas

12:45 PM – 2:00 PM
Lunch & Networking

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Session 6: Society & Mental Health
Public policy, mental health, social determinants, resilient healthcare, and community health.
Speakers: Dr. Yuri Quintana, Dr. Orlando Lopez, Dr. Lee Ann Prebil

 

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM — Parallel Training (Room #1030 @ COHS)
PHIT Technical Training: FHIR & Healthcare Interoperability: Hands-on FHIR, APIs, sandbox environments, and Postman.

Trainer: Pradyumna Kodgi

 

3:30 PM – 3:45 PM
Break

3:45 PM – 5:15 PM
Session 7: Disease Informatics
RPM, chronic care, disease surveillance, epidemics, and pandemics.
Speakers: Dr. Manijeh Berenji, Dr. Bryant T. Karras, Dr Ahmad Charifa, Dr. Angel Desai

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM
Awards, Certificates & Meet-the-Employers

6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Day 2 Closing Keynote: Dr Ravnish Bhalla + Dinner & Networking

Program and speaker lineup are subject to change.

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Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner will be available on both days.

Supported by UCI PHIT and academic partners, HL7, IEEE, ISO/TC215, and industry partners.

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