eHealth Mobile Technology:
Integrating Prevention and Healthcare
Thursday, January 19, 2012 Time: 3:00pm – 4:00pm Location: HNES 402
Abstract: This presentation will describe an eHealth model of prevention and care that can transform and sustain our healthcare system and keep more people healthy. The Connected Wellness Platform is a cloud-based software system that helps health professionals, informal care-givers and people/patients manage their health and wellness. The Platform will underpin development of a new health profession, the ‘Health Coach’. York University has initiated development of the required curriculum to support this emerging profession. The mandate of the Health Coach is to facilitate self-management and care for patients with chronic disease, to reduce associated hospital admissions and unnecessary physician contact. A related dimension is supporting wellness, with an initial focus on first year university and college students. Dr. Harvey Skinner will review major challenges for building sustainable prevention and healthcare systems, will describe an integrated ‘cloud computing’ eHealth solution: the Connected Wellness Platform including a mobile eHealthCoach, and will discuss opportunities for integrated solution that span health promotion, prevention and healthcare.
Biography: Dr. Harvey Skinner, a psychologist, is the inaugural Dean of the Faculty of Health at York University. Dr. Skinner has broad experience in behavior change at individual, organizational and systems levels. He is the author or co-author of 7 books and over 150 articles and chapters. Dr. Skinner was one of the first to focus on linking behavior change, organizational improvement and information technology (e-health), described in his book Promoting Health Through Organizational Change (2002). Dr. Skinner has been a pioneer in the use of computer technology for health assessment, and was one of the first to initiate a major program of research using the Internet for eHealth promotion. The TeenNet and Global Youth Voices program has created innovative websites for engaging youth in health promotion, including smoking prevention, gambling education, and youth action projects. Dr. Skinner has a special interest in global health. Currently, he is Chair of the Board of the Canada International Scientific Exchange Program (CISEPO) leading peacebuilding initiatives in the Middle East. Also, he serves on the Board of the Canadian Association for People-Centred Health, and is a member of the Canadian Coalition for Public Health in the 21st Century, and the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research. He has served as an expert advisor to the World Health Organization, U.S. Institute of Medicine, U.S. National Institutes of Health.
YorkeHealth AllianceLecture Series