Aug 5, 2013

AMBIS Annual General Meeting on 14 August 2013. 7pm


The Association for Medical and Bio-Informatics Singapore (AMBIS) is calling for a AGM dinner. We are pleased to have A/Prof. Low Cheng Ooi, Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Ministry of Health Holdings as our Guest of Honour.

Date/Time: 14 August 2013. 7-9 pm.
Venue: The Scholar Restaurant. 
NUS Kent Ridge Guild House.  9 Kent Ridge Drive. Singapore 119241
Dress code: Business casual

Agenda:
Welcome address by President of AMBIS FY12/13.
Dinner
AGM report 
Voting of New Exco members

We invite all to renew/apply for membership and attend our AGM:

Jun 22, 2012

AMBIS AGM - 29 Jun 12 - Latest update


AMBIS invites all members to our Annual General Meeting and Dinner.


Agenda:
- Annual Report by President
- Election of Executive Committee 


** PLS NOTE CHANGE IN VENUE **

Date & Time: 29 June 2012. 7 pm.
Venue: National University of Singapore Staff Club **
Address : 30 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119075


**Click here for Map


We will like to call for nominations for the new Exco 2012/2013. 


Click here to Register your attendance and/or submit nominations.


Thank you!

Apr 20, 2012

Invited Speakers for the AMBIS Symposium 2012


About the Speakers & Topic Abstracts

A/Prof James Yip
Dr James Yip graduated from the Medical Faculty, National University of Singapore in 1991, and has been a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine Singapore since 2001. He trained in Adult Cardiology at the National University Hospital in Singapore from 1995-2001, and was a clinical fellow at Toronto Congenital Cardiac Centre for Adults 2001 to 2002. He is currently Senior Consultant Cardiologist and the director of the National University Heart Centre Singapore, Adult Congenital Heart Programme. He developed the Cardiology Information System which is in use in 3 public hospitals in Singapore. This project was a merit prize winner for the best use of IT in the public sector at the National Infocomm Awards 2004. He is also the recipient of the Friend of IT award of the Singapore Computer Society 2005. He currently serves as the Chairman of the MIT Committee and is the Chief Medical Information Officer of the National University Hospital. He is Chairman of the CPOE and Medication Safety Steering committee of the Singapore National Electronic Health Record Project. He has interests in using IT to improve the delivery of care for patients for patients in the area of anticoagulation , critical results routing and decision support systems.

Keynote Lecture:
Patient Care Using Mobile Technologies

Mobile health applications have the potential of enhancing work efficiency and improving communications and right siting of care, thus improving patient care and service quality. In the hospitals, it is mainly used for communication and coordinating simple and complex care, as a reference for clinicians to seek out clinical facts and for quick reference to the patients EMR. In the home setting, it is ideal for remote monitoring of high risk patients or patients with chronic disease who would benefit from the right siting of care. In the community, where access to healthcare is difficult due to long distances, telemedicine and tele education are ideal to bring specialist care to the patients door step.


A/Prof Low Cheng Ooi
An orthopaedics surgeon by training, Dr Low Cheng Ooi belongs to the generation of clinicians who handled the very first PCs in the final year of medical school. He was fascinated to discover that he could input clinical data into a rudimentary database on his PC to analyse trends and results without using punch cards and huge mainframes.

Being the chairman of the SingHealth’s Electronic Medical Records Steering Committee, he is also an advocate of the various medical informatics initiatives and spends extra hours to help fellow clinicians understand and use the new applications.

Dr Low sees the need to have full time medical informatics professionals. In ensuring good outcomes for their patients today, clinicians are now increasingly dependent on their computers and tablets as much as their stethoscopes and surgical knives.

Keynote Lecture:
Impact of National Electronic Health Record on the Hospital’s EMR


Dr Adam Chee

Dr. Adam CHEE is the Founder and Chief Advocacy Officer of binaryHealthCare, a social enterprise that serves to “Bridge the eHealth Divide” by empowering stakeholders on effective adoption of Health IT as an enabler for “better patient care at lower cost”.

Bringing 10 years of experience in strategy & operations, technology & workflow advisory, implementation & adoption of eHealth technologies across Asia Pacific, Adam had a successful career in the IT industry before venturing into Health Informatics in 2002 where he worked broadly across the healthcare ecosystem including the primary care sector, private and public tertiary hospitals, government agencies and NGOs across the globe.

Topic: Advancements in Medical Imaging Informatics - Dealing with Big Data

The increasing demands for medical imaging services coupled with rapid advances in modality technology and an inability for medical schools to produce sufficient specialists (e.g. radiologist, cardiologist) has accelerated the adoption of medical imaging informatics in numerous clinical discipline (e.g. Pathology, Hybrid Imaging etc).

In return, the acceleration of PACS resulted in a tsunami of huge medical imaging data sets, rendering healthcare facilities helpless in attempts to manage the storage, search, retrieval and more importantly, the sharing of these medical images across the care continuum.
This lecture will examine the basic guidelines in how to select or future-proof your clinical PACS investment to handle Cloud technology, Big Data and enable Analytics (the science of finding the unknown) for medical imaging, to aid in provision of patient care as well as research.


Dr Jay Kola

Jay Kola is medical informatician who over the last decade worked for the national programmes in the UK and Singapore, helping with the development and implementation of terminology standards (with a special focus on SNOMED CT). He is currently the Chair of the SNOMED CT Implementation Special Interest Group and ex-member of the Implementation & Innovation Committee at IHTSDO (the organisation that owns SNOMED CT). He has a first degree in Medicine and a Masters in Bioinformatics. He is passionate about addressing the complex challenges in the adoption and implementation of clinical information systems. He has also been programming in Java for over 7 years and has created software that demonstrates sophisticated data analytics and data entry using SNOMED CT.

Topic: What is SNOMED? Revealing the Mystery and More…

SNOMED CT is considered the most comprehensive and advanced medical terminology in the world. It has been adopted as the national reference terminology by 18 countries world over, including Singapore. While many countries continue to use the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) for morbidity and mortality coding, SNOMED CT provides a lot more advanced features out of the box. These features form the building blocks for healthcare providers and countries looking to build sophisticated electronic health care services, integrating patient care across the care continuum.

However, for many healthcare providers, SNOMED CT appears to be a 'mystery', wrapped inside the word 'standard'. This talk will uncover some of these mysteries and help attendees understand the rationale behind SNOMED CT's mysteries and complexities. The talk will cover some of the basics of SNOMED CT and why it is relevant, whether you are a physician practising in a hospital or a research scientist involved in 'omics' research. The talk also covers some advanced features like SNOMED CT's underlying logic that enables sophisticated data analytics, the ability to capture rich clinical information using post-coordination, etc.


Dr Tan Yung Ming

Dr Tan Yung Ming is a medical doctor by training with diverse involvements in the informatics domain. He currently practices in Khoo Teck Puat Hospital while working with the medical informatics team. He is the current vice-president of the Association for Medical & Bio-Informatics Singapore (AMBIS), and a founding exco member of HL7 Singapore. He also teaches medical informatics part-time in UniSIM. His work interests include clinical process redesign, UI and usability engineering.

Topic EMR User Satisfaction Research –Tips to keep clinicians happy.

Drawing from research done in KTPH, IHIS, and from around the world, learn about the various system factors that impact on clinician user satisfaction. Find out which aspects of CPOE frustrate and delight clinical users on the ground, and discover ways to reduce user resistance.


Dr Ling Zheng Jye

Dr Ling Zheng Jye is a medical officer who improves EMRs because he cares for his fellow junior doctors. He enjoys killing bugs and poor design with his practical approach. He has worked on the discharge summary structure for hospital and NEHR, and implemented a SAF cardiac screening protocol via the SAF EMR.

Topic: Designing EMRs for doctors: don't make them think!

Features are continually being added to our EMRs in response to doctors' requests. By designing for specific user types, we can increase acceptance and user satisfaction. This talk will cover the perspectives of junior doctors - a major user of our EMRs - and how to design for them!

Apr 18, 2012

AMBIS Biomedical Symposium 2012 - Medical Informatics Track


The Association for Medical and Bio-Informatics, Singapore (AMBIS) welcomes all biomedical professionals to its annual symposium. This event features prominent speakers from various healthcare and research institutions in Singapore, with opportunities for learning and networking.

Date/Time: 25th May 2012. 10am till 6pm
Venue: National University Singapore, Lecture theatre 28.

Fees:
Morning Keynote Lectures are FREE for all professionals.
Afternoon M.I Seminar & Workshop fee: S$60 includes meals and free annual AMBIS membership*


Program details (Click on program to enlarge)




















*AMBIS is a national member of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA), a member of the Asia-Pacific Association for Medical Informatics (APAMI) and a regional affiliate of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB

AMBIS Biomedical Symposium - BioInformatics Track


The Association for Medical and Bio-Informatics, Singapore (AMBIS) welcomes all biomedical professionals to its annual symposium. This event features prominent speakers from various healthcare and research institutions in Singapore, with opportunities for learning and networking.

Date/Time: 25th May 2012. 12 noon till 6pm
Venue: National University Singapore, Lecture theatre 29.
Symposium fee: $60 includes meals and free annual AMBIS membership*


BioInformatics Track












About the Seminars & Speakers


Predictive Analytics in Biomedicine

Since the advent of the Human Genome Project, a great deal of interest has been centred on the applications of large scale "omics" data in biomedical research, with the ultimate goal of enabling personalized treatments of human diseases. Inadvertently, such "omics"-based research present significant challenges for biomedical researchers, often leaving them questioning how they could intelligently extract, harness and derive actionable knowledge from the bewildering amount of data. Data mining techniques - such as machine learning - can be used to uncover meaningful patterns from complex biomedical datasets and derive useful predictions for knowledge discovery. Biomedicine analytics involve theoretical concepts and practical solutions spanning a wide range of domains - such as cellular biology, immunology and neuroimaging.

Interested in this topic? Sign up for our 25 May 2012 symposium to learn more!

Speaker's Biography
Dr. Lawrence Wee is a research scientist at the Institute for Infocomm Research, specializing in the application of data mining techniques for basic and translational biomedical research. He has developed several novel techniques and proprietary software for analyzing and modelling biomedical data, and is currently involved in a number of collaborative research with bench scientists and clinicians globally. His services to the scientific community include reviewing submissions to top-tiered bioinformatics journals and conferences, as well as organizing local and international bioinformatics conferences, meetings and workshops. Dr Wee obtained his Ph.D. from the National University of Singapore. He is also a member of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) and the Association for Medical and Bio-informatics Singapore (AMBIS).



Statistical Tools for Biomedical Data Analysis

The objective of biomedical data analysis is to discover useful and meaningful patterns hidden in the biomedical data. Statistical tools (measurements and tests) are often necessary to assess the “usefulness” and “meaningfulness” of patterns. In the literature, the commonly used statistical tools include t-test, Chi-2 test, fisher’s exact test, etc. All the statistical tools are developed and can be applied under certain assumptions and constrains. However, many researchers tend to apply the statistical tools without careful examination of the validness of the underlying assumption. This may often lead to false discoveries and invalid conclusions. A researcher needs to know the commonly used statistical tools for biomedical data analysis along with their underlying assumptions and constraints.

Sign up for our 25 May symposium to avoid common mistakes in applying these tools, and learn about alternatives and necessary corrections!

Speaker Biography
Dr. Feng Mengling is currently working as a Scientist in the Data Mining Department of Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), A*STAR. He is involved in a wide spectrum of research projects across the fields of bio-imaging, bioinformatics, medical data analysis, continuous time-series analysis, data mining for business strategies and fundamental data mining. Dr. Feng has found his real interest in knowledge discovery and data analysis during his PhD study with Prof. Wong Limsoon and Prof. Tan Yap-Peng. Dr. Feng’s current research focus is on biostatistics, data mining for business intelligence and medical time-series analysis.



Statistical Tools for Biomedical Data Analysis

The objective of biomedical data analysis is to discover useful and meaningful patterns hidden in the biomedical data. Statistical tools (measurements and tests) are often necessary to assess the “usefulness” and “meaningfulness” of patterns. In the literature, the commonly used statistical tools include t-test, Chi-2 test, fisher’s exact test, etc. All the statistical tools are developed and can be applied under certain assumptions and constrains. However, many researchers tend to apply the statistical tools without careful examination of the validness of the underlying assumption. This may often lead to false discoveries and invalid conclusions. A researcher needs to know the commonly used statistical tools for biomedical data analysis along with their underlying assumptions and constraints.

Sign up for our 25 May symposium to avoid common mistakes in applying these tools, and learn about alternatives and necessary corrections!

Speaker Biography
Dr. Feng Mengling is currently working as a Scientist in the Data Mining Department of Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), A*STAR. He is involved in a wide spectrum of research projects across the fields of bio-imaging, bioinformatics, medical data analysis, continuous time-series analysis, data mining for business strategies and fundamental data mining. Dr. Feng has found his real interest in knowledge discovery and data analysis during his PhD study with Prof. Wong Limsoon and Prof. Tan Yap-Peng. Dr. Feng’s current research focus is on biostatistics, data mining for business intelligence and medical time-series analysis.

Apr 16, 2012

Predictive Analytics in Biomedicine

Since the advent of the Human Genome Project, a great deal of interest has been centred on the applications of large scale "omics" data in biomedical research, with the ultimate goal of enabling personalized treatments of human diseases. Inadvertently, such "omics"-based research present significant challenges for biomedical researchers, often leaving them questioning how they could intelligently extract, harness and derive actionable knowledge from the bewildering amount of data. Data mining techniques - such as machine learning - can be used to uncover meaningful patterns from complex biomedical datasets and derive useful predictions for knowledge discovery. Biomedicine analytics involve theoretical concepts and practical solutions spanning a wide range of domains - such as cellular biology, immunology and neuroimaging.

Interested in this topic? Sign up for our 25 May 2012 symposium to learn more!

Speaker's Biography
Dr. Lawrence Wee is a research scientist at the Institute for Infocomm Research, specializing in the application of data mining techniques for basic and translational biomedical research. He has developed several novel techniques and proprietary software for analyzing and modelling biomedical data, and is currently involved in a number of collaborative research with bench scientists and clinicians globally. His services to the scientific community include reviewing submissions to top-tiered bioinformatics journals and conferences, as well as organizing local and international bioinformatics conferences, meetings and workshops. Dr Wee obtained his Ph.D. from the National University of Singapore. He is also a member of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) and the Association for Medical and Bio-informatics Singapore (AMBIS).