Call for Abstracts, Department of Health and Human Services
Emerging technologies—including developments ranging from internet-connected devices and electronic medical records to big data analytics and gene editing—have tremendous potential to improve health outcomes and advance medical knowledge and understanding. They also raise new and novel privacy concerns and challenges. Stakeholders who consider using, implementing, and incorporating these emerging technologies must take into account important privacy considerations and associated ethical issues.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Privacy & Information Management requests abstract submissions on the intersection of emerging technologies, health, privacy, and ethics. Specifically, we seek original scholarship and/or empirical research in diverse areas including law, policy, medicine, and technology for presentation at a symposium entitled Data Privacy in the Digital Age, to be held in Washington, DC on October 26, 2017 and for possible subsequent publication. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following areas:
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Internet of things in the health and medical realm
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Mobile medical applications
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Wearable devices
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Approaches to privacy protection (such as differential privacy, access controls, anonymization, and de-identification)
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Big data
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Genetic databases, biobanks, and disease registries
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Privacy and health information management in cloud computing
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Workplace wellness programs
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Information sharing and the healthcare market
Additional Information
The HHS Symposium will feature sessions with a mix of presentation formats including 10-minute presentations followed by a question and answer session, roundtable or panel discussions, and keynote speakers.
Submissions must be sent to HHSPrivacyEvents@hhs.gov and received no later than 11:59pm ET on June 9, 2017. Please include the following information in your submission:
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First and last name, professional title, institution, mailing address, email address, and phone number.
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Title and abstract (max. 500 words) describing your proposed presentation and scholarship.
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Publication details for previously published related research, if applicable.
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OPTIONAL: A statement expressing interest in subsequent publication.
Abstracts will be selected for inclusion in the HHS Symposium based upon an assessment of the quality of the submissions, the relevance of the submissions to HHS’s work, and the need to cover a diverse range of topics representing a variety of viewpoints. Presentations may be original scholarship that has been prepared for, previously presented at, or is under consideration for inclusion in other conferences or publications. If interested in subsequent publication, work discussed in the abstract should be original or substantially modified from previous publications. Proposals that are substantially promotional or commercial in nature will not be accepted.
NOTE: HHS does not offer compensation of any kind to presenters or participants in its conferences. Presenters are responsible for their own travel expenses, including transportation and hotel accommodations.