Israeli college launches ‘world's first’ digital health degree
The new program promises to educate hundreds of undergraduate students in digital health technologies, including artificial intelligence, big data, remote medicine and robotics.
By EYTAN HALONHigher Education and Water Resources Minister Ze'ev Elkin (left) and Holon Institute of Technology President Prof. Eduard Yakubov(photo credit: SHAHAR TZARFATI)
The coronavirus pandemic has made clear the importance of digital technologies to assist overwhelmed healthcare systems worldwide. Once considered nice-to-have, digital healthcare solutions now possess must-have capabilities.Seeking to secure Israel’s leading position in the developing world of advanced digital healthcare, Israel’s Holon Institute of Technology (HIT) launched on Tuesday what it describes as the “world’s first” Bachelor of Science degree in digital health.The new degree program, approved by the Council for Higher Education and launched in collaboration with Israeli hospitals, promises to educate hundreds of undergraduate students in digital health technologies, including artificial intelligence, big data, remote medicine and robotics.Outstanding students will be able to continue to a graduate entry medicine course lasting four years, HIT said.“This is an important international breakthrough in the world of higher education and the world of medicine,” said HIT president Prof. Eduard Yakubov. “I am proud to lead an institution that will train the physicians of the future, who will be the first in the world with both medical and technological training.”The new three-year degree, launched at a ceremony attended by Higher Education and Water Resources Minister Ze’ev Elkin, will welcome its first 60 students in the 2020/21 academic year, and will gradually increase its intake to 90 students by 2022/23.The college hopes that graduates will find positions as health information technology analysts in hospitals, healthcare providers, start-ups and medical insurance firms.“We are currently in a very challenging period, a time when the words health and doctor open our newscasts,” said Elkin.“I think that anyone who is looking at the future of the field of medicine understands the importance of today’s event... There is no doubt that this is the world of tomorrow in medicine, and therefore it is so important to prepare for it today.”
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