Digital public health technologies: rationale for a multidisciplinary research laboratory

Abstract

An expansion of digital technologies in healthcare includes various artificial intelligence (AI) approaches to diagnostic, patient care, and research. This state-of-art review aims to critically assess the current role of AI and digital technologies in public health. Furthermore, it explores the overall progress and determines possible direction and expediency for public health research projects in the areas that would benefit from AI. We paid particular attention to describing biomedical data sources for AI-based analysis and digital technology advances in radiology, pathology, drug development and disease screening. In addition, we focused on the ethical, legal and technical issues linked to AI technologies in the context of public health successfully. In conclusion, we consider several promising AI applications in public health: computer tomography analysis in lung cancer screening, digital fundus camera images for eye disease tracking, echocardiogram analysis for heart disease diagnosis, and reading mammograms and magnetic resonance imaging in breast cancer screening.