MEDICON2019, the 15th Mediterranean Conference on Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, will be organized for the first time in Portugal and will be hosted by the UNESCO World Heritage University, the University of Coimbra. Patient empowerment has emerged as a new paradigm that positions the patients at the heart of the health system and encourages them to be actively involved in managing their own healthcare needs. Effective patient empowerment requires a holistic approach, combining multiple dimensions of needs and patient contexts. Medical and Biological Engineering, as well as Computing, are disciplines at the heart of patient empowerment. Research and development in these areas are impacting the science and technology by advancing fundamental concepts in translational medicine and understanding in human physiology, function and behaviour at multiple levels. This is leading to improved tools and techniques for the detection, prevention, treatment and management of diseases. MEDICON2019 provides a common platform for the cross fertilization of ideas, and to help shape knowledge and scientific achievements by bridging complementary disciplines into an interactive and attractive forum under the special theme of the conference that is “Improving healthcare through holistic patient empowerment”.
The best Portuguese MSc Thesis competition is sponsored by the Portuguese Society of Biomedical Engineering (SPEB) and IEEE EMBS Portugal Chapter.