Throughout its history, medical practice has been driven by the Hippocratic Oath which puts patient safety as a paramount concern. This has led to an understandable conservative instinct on the part of practitioners to continue with tried and trusted methods and equipment. Indeed, the venerable stethoscope, invented over 100 years ago, is still the primary tool of patient diagnosis. The integrated circuit, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is a relative new-comer to the medical scene, but it has enabled whole new fields of diagnostics such as CAT, PET and MRI. In the next few years we are likely to witness further revolutions thanks to microelectronics, as new low power portable diagnostics make their way from the hospital or laboratory out to the doctor’s surgery, and ultimately the home. In addition, many of the promised advances in non-invasive diagnostics will only be possible with the use of advanced microelectronics.
Mr. O’Dwyer will discuss some of the design challenges which these trends are raising, and the gaps which are emerging in the skill set of both electronic engineers and medical practitioners as they attempt to speak a common language to cope with these challenges
Tom O’Dwyer is Director of Technology for Healthcare worldwide at Analog Devices Inc. For many years he led the Precision Digital-to-Analog Converter research and development team based at Limerick, Ireland, and was instrumental in setting up ADI’s initial venture into portable medical diagnostics. He was a founding member of the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute, a joint industrial-academic research group focused on the development of novel portable diagnostics based at Dublin City University. This institute was established by the Irish government in 2006 with over $30m funding. His current responsibilities include technology for medical imaging, laboratory equipment, patient monitoring, consumer healthcare, and implanted devices.