Summer school: “Biomedical Informatics: Foundations and Research Directions”

Beirut campus

The formal opening session of the summer school will be held on July 5, at 3:00 p.m., in Irwin Hall Conference Room, LAU Beirut. The program includes:

• MC: Dr. Nashat Mansour, Assistant Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, LAU Beirut
• Dr. Joseph Jabbra, LAU President
• Dr. Fouad Hashwa, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, LAU Byblos
• Dr. Mouin Hamze, Secretary General of the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS)
• H.E. Dr. Mohamad Khalife, Minister of Health

The summer school will offer a one-week intensive course, given by world-class experts, on the foundations of biomedical informatics and some research directions in this area. Biomedical informatics is the study of information and computation in biology and health. It covers computational techniques and information technologies that can be used for applications such as medical diagnosis, clinical decision making, personalized medicine, molecular biology, and health care systems. Progress in this field will lead to improvement in the quality of medical treatment and health services.

Objectives:

• To build teaching and research capacity in the field of biomedical informatics.
• To facilitate forming biomedical informatics research groups.
• To build capacity in professional IT organizations and pave the way for technology and knowledge transfer into health care institutions.

 Course outline and lecturers:

1. Medicine for Scientists and Engineers – A Brief Survey of Health Care
   Dr. Bruce Bray, Professor of Biomedical Informatics, School of Medicine, University of Utah
2. Clinical Informatics
   Dr. Thomas Payne, Medical Director, IT Services, School of Medicine, University of Washington
3. Computing for Translational Science and Personalized Medicine
   Dr. Peter Tonellato, Director of the Laboratory for Personalized Medicine in the Center for Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School, Harvard University
4. Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
   Dr. Sami Khuri, Professor of Computer Science, San José State University

Who should attend:
Expected participants are: university academics, researchers, graduate students, and professionals from IT and health organizations, all with appropriate computing background. A certificate of attendance will be provided.

Deadline for registration:
April 10, or until the class is full (limited places).

For more information:
Please refer to the summer school’s website or contact us at: si@lau.edu.lb.