W02: Health Tech Workshop

Health Tech Workshop

Technology offers the potential to reshape health and care, empowering people who are willing and able to become more actively engaged in their health. However, it is critically important that digital healthcare technologies do not exacerbate inequalities in healthcare. Some of the questions posed by the Health Tech Stream and addressed by our speakers are:

• How can emerging technology support or potentially exacerbate inequality, inclusion and parity in health and social care?
• How can digital healthcare systems be created that actively improves equality and inclusion?
• How does power and bias affect the collection and sharing of mass health data?
• What safeguards have to be deployed in order to protect the sensitive and valuable NHS data?
• Is regulation enough to ensure the safety of our rights or it will never be able to catch up with the pace of innovation?
• In the end, should we be technopositive or technorealist?

This workshop will enable delegates to engage in further discussion and hands-on activities to actively engage with the challenges, risks, and opportunities around these questions.

Who should attend this workshop

Workshop Leader

Dr Laura Sobola is a Senior Consultant at Unai and has participated in the management and delivery of healthcare-related projects, as well as data science projects. Recently, she has been researching and helping to implement an ethical framework for Unai, which has reignited her interest in ethics. She is also a SWCTN Data Fellow investigating the variety of ways health data can be understood and used.

She studied Human Genetics at Newcastle University and has a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Oxford. It was at Oxford that she discovered a passion for technology and software development and started to follow the trends of artificial intelligence. Currently, she is participating in the local health tech community in Bristol and volunteering for One HealthTech Bristol chapter.