Early diagnosis of diseases using AI

Dr. Pham Huy Hieu, the youngest person to be honored in the Golden Globe Science and Technology Award (awarded by the Central Youth Union and the Ministry of Science and Technology) this year, is currently a lecturer at the Institute of Computer Science and Engineering, Deputy Director of the VinUni-Illinois Smart Health Research Center (VinUni University).

During his research journey, he has had many scientific works that bring value to the community. Among them, there are 2 works in the medical field that he is most proud of: "Research and construction of large-scale medical imaging facilities to support the construction of early disease prediction models" and "VAIPE solution: Smart healthcare monitoring and support system for Vietnamese people".

"The first research I participated in was at   Vingroup Big Data Research Institute, under the leadership of Dr. Nguyen Quy Ha, Executive Director of the institute. This research aims to collect, standardize and label very large-scale medical imaging facilities to serve the development of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to support lesion localization and early classification of diseases, especially dangerous and common diseases in Vietnam," Mr. Hieu shared.

With this work, up to now, his research group has published 5 large-scale datasets on medical imaging diagnosis. The datasets collected and standardized by the group are completely open and free to the domestic and international scientific community.

"These datasets have been cited and exploited by hundreds of research groups around the world to evaluate the effectiveness of algorithms and data-based machine learning models. Students at technical universities across the country have also used these datasets for their studies and research. This research is part of our efforts to solve Vietnamese problems, while promoting open science and open data," said Dr. Hieu.

The second study aims to develop a mobile solution, integrating AI and data analytics, that allows the collection, management and analysis of individuals’ health data. Medication habits, heart rate, blood pressure, height, weight and other important health indicators will be collected via smartphones and analyzed to provide recommendations on safe medication use, warnings about drug misuse, taking drugs outside of prescriptions and early diagnosis of diseases.

"We are in the process of testing and deploying this application in practice to evaluate its effectiveness, and then move towards applying it to larger communities such as groups of users with blood pressure, cardiovascular disease or diabetes. For us, scientific research only truly has full meaning when it is applied in practice and creates positive changes in people's lives. This is also the reason why we devote a lot of attention and effort to this research," he said.

"This is very worthwhile work"

Sharing his interest in the healthcare sector, he said that low-cost smart digital healthcare solutions that open up access at scale will be of particular significance in improving public healthcare capacity.

The future of healthcare is when every individual health indicator is digitized, collected, and analyzed using data-based predictive models to provide recommendations and early diagnosis of diseases. This helps improve treatment efficiency and reduce the burden on the healthcare system.

"On the other hand, we want to promote the process of bringing new, affordable healthcare technologies to the majority of people regardless of income or geographic location. This is a very worthwhile job and doing so will create great social significance," he confided.

As the youngest scientist among the 2023 Golden Globe Science and Technology Award winners, he said it was an honor and a blessing.

"This is a special opportunity for me to thank the leaders of Vingroup, VinUni University, the Institute of Computer Science and Engineering, and the VinUni-Illinois Smart Health Research Center where I work, for dedicating their best resources to building a professional working environment that encourages freedom and creativity, allowing me to focus my time on teaching and research with the support of a modern, streamlined management system and simplified procedures," Dr. Hieu emotionally shared.

At the same time, Dr. Hieu expressed his hope that there will be more and more talented young people who love science and dedicate their expertise to developing technology and training people.

"My expectation is that the country will have a strong generation of young, talented scientists with intelligence and a strong desire to contribute to join the force leading the development of the country's technology and science. At the same time, create solutions that bring practical benefits to the people. It is a job that requires dedication and sacrifice, but it is a truly meaningful job," he expressed.