Welcome to a short walking tour. Seven stops: where health systems stand today, what IEEE could make possible by 2032, and an Adventure Guide for bringing your Section along.
Presented by Ravinder Dahiya · IEEE Boston Section · Professor of ECE, Northeastern University · IEEE Division X Director
Session by Bruce Hecht · IEEE Boston Section · IEEE Brain · IEEE Industry Connections Health
Four forces, felt in every Section's community:
Care needs grow faster than care capacity, in every region.
Long-term conditions now drive most of the global burden of care.
Devices, data, and care systems still don't connect.
Between regions and within them, care does not reach everyone.
Sections and Chapters aligned on grand health challenges — through mission-driven programming, interdisciplinary collaboration, and measurable impact. Local actions adding up to coordinated global health innovation goals, 2026 to 2032.
Chapter programs designed around a grand challenge — not one-off talks.
Shared missions, shared metrics, shared stories — carried Section to Section.
IEEE doesn't need to build the community — it needs to point it at the mission.
IEEE Sensors Council · EMBS · IEEE Brain · Industry Connections Health.
IEEE SA Healthcare & Life Sciences — open, standardized collaboration.
Trusted local convenors in every region of the world.
Industry, academia, and clinical collaborators already engaged.
A Health Grand Challenge on Body Sensor Interfaces, launching with Prof. Ellis Meng (USC) and IEEE EMBS:
Connecting neural signals to devices, therapies, and understanding.
Continuous, body-worn and implantable sensing for real health signals.
Learning across sensor modalities to make data clinically meaningful.
Presented at IEEE FLEPS — sustainable electronics for the sensors that health innovation depends on.
The story told in Glasgow travels onward — join it at either stop:
The mission is set — grand challenges in health as a shared program.
Industry session on sensors for health — Bruce Hecht & Steve Bart (Draper) — plus Grand Challenges working sessions.
25 years of the IEEE Sensors conference, chaired by Ravinder Dahiya — commitments announced.
Mission innovation aligns programs already moving in the same direction:
Healthcare & Life Sciences practice — Bruce Hecht, Narendra Mangra, Elizabeth Baker (VCU); practice lead Maria Palombini.
Building trust in digital mental health — with Yuri Quintana (BIDMC).
Policy dialogue connecting technology and global health governance.
MIT's health & life sciences initiative, launched by President Sally Kornbluth.
Five steps, adapted from the IEEE Innovation Summit Pathway — each one something a Section, Chapter, or partner can start this year:
Ask your community which grand health challenge matters most locally.
Host a grand-challenge program — a workshop, not a one-off lecture.
Connect Chapters — sensors, EMBS, brain, computing, standards — on one project.
Partner — join the industry sessions in Rotterdam and Cairo, or sponsor the 2026–2032 innovation proposal.
Measure and share — report impact so local actions add up globally.
Leave your email and we'll connect you to the mission — no account needed.
Or write directly: bruce.hecht@ieee.org
Companion apps: IEEE HealthXBridge · IEEE Innovation Summit Pathway
Conferences: IEEE Sensors 2026 · Rotterdam · IEEE Sensors@25 · Cairo