On Monday, October 29, 2018 the Central Texas Section in sponsorship with the EMBS (Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society), Computer Society, and Communication Society  facilitated a  Austin Joint Chapters, Special Health Forum on “Blockchain-Based Healthcare Initiatives”.
Their were over seven CEOs and leaders on blockchain took part in a well-attended special program held at Dell Medical. The special interactive session focused on Healthcare initiatives based on blockchain technology and was designed to bring awareness and education as to how technology and in particular blockchain usage is being used in the healthcare industry.  The program included a set of two-panel sessions of experts on healthcare/blockchain who are developing to introduce a set of diverse applications using blockchain technologies and highlighting some of the key benefits to healthcare.
IEEE recognizes the vital role standards will play in the development and adoption of blockchain technologies. IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA), a globally recognized standards-setting body within IEEE, and has been actively pursuing blockchain standardization efforts through various activities in multiple industry sectors, including the launch of the world’s first Advancing HealthTech for Humanity™ virtual blockchain workshop. Additional IEEE blockchain standards and activities include the following:
The Pharma Supply Blockchain Forum is a non-biased, educational program with the goal of developing a roadmap for advancing adoption of blockchain technology in the pharmaceutical enterprise.
The Blockchain for Clinical Trials Insights Program helps track complex data flow with numerous diverse stakeholders, and documenting it in real-time through a timestamping workflow, is a key step towards proving data consistency and inviolability, and will hence improve clinical trial methodology.
Blockchain in Agriculture technologists is a new set of developing solution using IoT, artificial intelligence to help optimize and secure the agricultural value chain while enhancing consumer safety and knowledge about the food we eat.
The blockchain forum was a great learning experience and a shared Best Practice that I believe can be replicated with other sections. I’m looking forward to identifying other sections to partner with to bring a similar program to their perspective sections and technology of interests.
For additional information about R5 South activities visit http://ieeer5.org/areas/south-area/