Challenges in healthcare – the role of mathematics

Post by Sílvia Barbeiro

The Portuguese Network of Mathematics for Industry and Innovation – PT-MATHS-IN – promoted the industrial workshop “Challenges in Healthcare – the Role of Mathematics” that was held at University of Coimbra on June 7th, 2019.

61 participants, representing 21 distinct organizations, including a considerable number of students, attended the meeting. The intensive and stimulating program counted with a panel of distinguished keynote speakers. Joining specialists from the health ecosystem and researchers from several areas, this workshop was the right environment to discuss challenges in healthcare, to hear perspectives on the latest trends and to identify promising opportunities where mathematics plays a significant fundamental role to improve that field.

After last year’s successes, achieved with the Big Data and Smart Security industrial days, this one-day event aimed to keep bringing together Academy and Industry in the discussion of areas of great scientific or industrial relevance and with the highest societal impact.

This meeting confirmed the notion that mathematicians have a very important role to tackle “Challenges in Healthcare”, which include several diverse aspects related with from big data and data management, precision medicine, healthy ageing, logistics, pattern recognition, not forgetting the social and ethical implications of advances in healthcare.