Dear Colleagues and Students,

Recent scientific and technological advancements have significantly improved the human health in developed countries. The prevalence of major diseases today, from the global AIDS pandemic to antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis, cuts across the health care, political, economic, social, and biomedical disciplines: These diseases will continue affecting the world unless major measures are taken to develop comprehensive prevention and treatment programs. Thus, biomedical engineers are expected to play a critical role in developing novel and affordable medical technology and drugs to solve global healthcare problems, especially in the developing countries.

The National Academy of Engineering announced the 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The committee also praised biomedical and biological engineering as the research field to fulfill the promise of personalized medicine. Included among these 14 challenges were Reverse–Engineering the Brain, Engineer better Medicines and Advance Health Informatics.

To highlight these emerging disciplines, we devote the 5^th Advanced Study Institute on Global Healthcare Challenges to Reverse-Engineering the Brain, Engineer better Medicines and Advanced Medical Informatics. The Advanced Institute sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and endorsed by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) will be held on June 8-14, 2014,  in Antalya, Turkey. The main objective of the Advance Study Institute is to discuss current and emerging healthcare opportunities and challenges and identify new directions in the fields of Global Healthcare. The Advance Study Institute will provide the attendees exceptional insights into fundamental challenges in Healthcare Engineering, Science and Technology.

The Advanced Study Institute will provide excellent brainstorming opportunities for the participants as well as the faculty, while enjoying a pleasant location. We are confident that, this Institute will further stimulate interdisciplinary research and collaborations in Healthcare Engineering and Technologies and their use in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of the diseases.

Look forward to seeing you in Antalya!

Metin Akay, PhD
Founder and Organizer,
Advanced Summer Institute on Global Healthcare Challenges
Founding Chair & John S Dunn Endowed Chair Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Cullen College of Engineering
University of Houston
3605 Cullen Blvd, Room 2027
Houston, TX 77204-5060
Email: makay@uh.edu