Master of Science in Electrical Engineering
Wireless Health Technology
Viterbi School of Engineering &
Keck School of Medicine of USC
University of Southern California
Today’s Program
• The University of Southern California
• Viterbi School of Engineering & Keck School of Medicine
• Master of Science in EE – Wireless Health Technology
• Program Overview
• Application Criteria
• Graduation Requirements
• Internship/Practicum
• Q&A
The University of Southern California
 Oldest private university in western
U.S. – founded in 1880
 37,000 students:
17,500 undergrads; 19,500 graduates
 3,300 full-time faculty
 Draws students from all 50 states and
110 countries
 Located in Los Angeles
USC Engineering: Points of Distinction
1. International Reputation for Excellence
2. World-Class Faculty and Research
3. The Trojan Family Network – 233,000
strong!
4. Unique engineering programs available
online, on-site & on-campus
5. Complete Range of Programs
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Master’s Degrees
Graduate Certificates
Short Courses
Customized Programs
The Keck School of Medicine of USC
 Exciting Transformation (keeping in step with the rapidly changing
worlds of medicine and biomedical research)
 In the coming decade, Keck School leaders expect the School to
move into the top 10 medical schools in the nation
 The School’s research enterprise is expanding substantially
 Continued pursuit of excellence in education and patient care
missions
What is Wireless Health
Technology (WHT) and Why Should We Care
 WHT sits at the interface of medicine, communication,
and information technology.
 Healthcare accounts for 16% of GDP: ballooning costs.
 WHT has the potential of significantly reducing
healthcare costs.
 Can make healthcare better and more efficient.
 There is a huge market waiting to be developed, and
companies are moving in.
Healthcare in the U.S.
Healthcare accounts for 16% of GDP in U.S. and still rising
Examples for wireless health systems
Wireless technology helps for
• Continuous patient monitoring
• Disease prevention
• Treatment of chronic diseases
• Diagnostics
• Wireless nano-devices
• Novel scanning/imaging methods
• Treatment
• Wirelessly controlled implants
Wireless Health Monitoring
 iPhone Heart Monitor uses the
inbuilt microphone on your iPhone
3G or headphone microphone to
listen to and detect your heart
beats
 It can be used to find your resting
heart rate (a good measure of
fitness), track how your heart rate
changes and check your heart rate
immediately after training
 Monitoring can combat chronic
diseases
Wireless Diagnostic Methods
 New signaling technology can be
embedded into drug tablets
 Swallowed pill transmits information
from within the body
 Device signals a cell phone or laptop
that the pill has been ingested, in turn
informing doctors or family members
 When a patient takes the pill, it
communicates with the second main
element of the system – a small
electronic device carried or worn by
the patient
Wireless Diagnostic Methods
 Mammography limitations
have resulted in research
into alternative breast cancer
imaging methods
 New technology – detection
using symmetrical antenna
array
 Microwave radar-based
imaging has attracted the
interest of research groups
around the world
Wireless Health Technology: Research and
Wireless Health:
A rich ecosystem
Development
Landscape
Medtronic CareLink® Network Includes Remote Cardiac Telemetry...
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May 2012, Vol. 50, No. 5
IEEE
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Ubiquitous Healthcare: Wireless
Sensors, Devices and Solutions
Optical Networking Advances
• Automotive Networking
• Smart Grid
•
M AGAZ I N E
MedicalMedtronic
Technology | Health
Information
Technology
CareLink
Network
for Cardiac Device PatientsCust ome r
S upp ort
Mobilizing healthcare.
The 2net Platform
2net Ecosystem
Resource
®
A Publication of the IEEE Communications Society
About Qualcomm Life
Medtronic CareLink Network for Cardiac D
The Medtronic CareLink® Network is the nation’s leading remote monitori
home or away.* As a clinician, you have 24/7 access – via a secure Internet
comparable to an in-office visit.† These diagnostic reports can be exported t
Goodbye,
limitations.
data and clinical documentation. In addition, you can receive Medtronic Car
before they become problems. Note: transmissions should be scheduled bas
* Based on CareLink metrics database (December 2010)
Hello,
† For new generation pacemakers that provide thresholds, such as the Adapta® family. Care
USC’s KNOWME Network
http://knowme.usc.edu/
 Multimodal wireless body area sensor network
 Accelerometry, ECG, pulse oximetry, GPS, etc.
 N95 cell phone performs physical activity detection
 Biometric sensor data also transmitted
to a server for access
Figure 1: KNOWME NETWORKS
by health professionals/stakeholders
 Validated in free-living
conditions
 Interdisciplinary research team
 Signal processing, wireless
communications, mobile
phone design, preventive
health, robotics
Mobile Health
Investments Small But Skyrocketing
Hear that? It’s the sound of tens of millions of dollars flowing into
mobile health.
In July alone we reported on $138 million in investment deals, which
included a whopping $61 million for ClearPractice’s parent company,
$35 million for a sleep device maker, and a $25 million investment
promised by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong in his new joint venture with
Toumaz. Most investments, of course, were still only about a couple
million in size.
During the past three days, we’ve also seen two important investment
deals for August: $50 million for appointment setting app ZocDoc and $3
million for iPhoneECG developer AliveCor.
From an article by Brian Dolan in MobiHealth News
Popularity (2013)
A quick Google search finds the following:
 Wireless Health (531,000,000 hits)
 Wireless Health Technology (176,000,000 hits)
 Mobile Health Technology (1,100,000,000 hits)
 Wireless Health Technology Conf. 2012 (3,890,000 hits)
and conferences listed on the first page
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Wireless Health 2012: http://www.wirelesshealth2012.org/
Medicine 2.0 (2013 London UK)
Connected Health Symposium
MobiHealth 2011
Popularity (2012-2013)
 Wireless Health 2013 (John Hopkins University, Nov.
2013)
 mHealth Summit
 Articles in the popular/scientific press
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IEEE Spectrum
New York Times
Investment advising firms
Scientific American
Emerging academic research
Master of Science in Electrical
Engineering – Wireless Health Technology

New program offered jointly by the Keck School of Medicine of USC
and the Viterbi School of Engineering
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Enables students to become innovators in applying wireless
technology to meet the most pressing needs of today’s healthcare
industry

Companies such as Qualcomm, Siemens, 3M, Medtronics, are all
involved in producing wireless health devices
Master of Science in Electrical
Engineering – Wireless Health Technology
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Computer simulation techniques, anatomical modeling, and
microscopes, enables students to communicate from an informed
perspective with the physicians and scientists
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Integrated experiential learning (internship) exposing students to
real world environments where innovative new technology is
needed most
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With guidance and instruction from experts of two disparate
disciplines, graduates will be equipped to revolutionize new ways to
collect and transmit health data and to develop safe, reliable and
cost-effective wireless health devices
Meet the Program Directors
Giuseppe Caire
 BSEE and PhD from Politecnico di Torino (Italy)
 MSEE from Princeton University
 Currently professor of EE with the USC Viterbi
School of Engineering
 Professor Caire was elected Fellow of IEEE
in 2005
 Past president of the IEEE Information Theory Society
 His main research interests are communications theory, information theory, channel and source coding with a focus on wireless
communications and wireless networks
Meet the Program Directors
Andreas Molisch
 Professor of Electrical Engineering
 Received the Dipl. Ing., Dr. techn., and
habilitation degrees from the Technical
University Vienna (Austria) in 1990, 1994,
and 1999, respectively
 Internationally noted researcher in wireless technologies
 Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering
and Technology
Meet the Program Directors
Ellie Nezami
 MA in Clinical Psychology from the University of Houston
 PhD in Clinical Psychology and post-doctoral fellowship from
the University of Southern California
 Directs undergraduate program in Global Health and
is co-director of the MS in Global Medicine program
 Currently serves as Associate Dean for Undergraduate, Masters and Professional Programs at
the Keck School of Medicine of USC
 Her research examines determinants of behavioral risk factors
for chronic diseases, cancer, and cardiovascular disease
Prerequisites and General Information
 Background in linear algebra and probability
 General background in calculus, signals & systems and
Fourier Analysis
 Proficiency in C/C++ programming
 Admitted students who do not meet the prerequisites
will be assigned deficiency courses
 http://ee.usc.edu/wht/index.php for details
Program Overview – Required Courses
 20 units – 6 courses
• Introduction to Computer Networks (EE450, 3U)
• Wireless and Mobile Networks Design and Laboratory (EE579, 3U)
• Health Technology Internship (MEDS 597a, 2U)
• Foundation of Medicine (MEDS 530a/b/c 12U):
• Anatomy
• Physiology
• Pathology
Program Overview – Elective Courses
 6-7 units – Approved Electives in ENGINEERING
Examples:
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EE 503| Probability for Electrical and Computer Engineers (4 units)
EE 562a | Random Processes in Engineering (3 units)
EE 559 | Mathematical Pattern Recognition (3 units)
EE 564 | Communication Theory (3 units)
EE 565a | Information Theory (3 units)
EE 519 | Speech Recognition and Processing for Multimedia (3 units)
CSCI 534 | Affective Computing (3 units)
CSCI 545 | Robotics (3 units)
CSCI 561 | Foundation of Artificial Intelligence (3 units)
CSCI 567 | Machine Learning (3 units)
BME 502 | Advanced Studies of the Nervous System (3 units)
BME 504 | Neuromuscular Systems (3 units)
BME 551 | Introduction to Bio-MEMS and Nanotechnology (3 units)
BME 552 | Neural Implant Engineering (3 units)
BME 575 | Computational Neuroengineering (3 units)
Program Overview – Elective Courses
 4 units – Approved Electives in Medical/Health
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MEDS 500 | Basic Concepts in Global Health (4 units)
MEDS 501 | Critical Issues in Global Health (4 units)
MEDS 502 | Global Epidemiology of Diseases and Risk Factors (4 units)
Internship (example)
Internship (example)
Sample Internship Project: SANO Intelligence (San
Francisco)
• Sano is a mobile health company building wearable sensors for the
Sano Intelligence - API for the Bloodstream
continuous detection and wireless transmission of blood chemistry data.
• The company has developed a platform called the ”API for the bloodstream”,
allowing developers to build powerful epidemiological, fitness, and nutrition
applications.
AngelList
• The summer intern is responsible for embedded hardware design,
Join Log In
development, prototyping, and device integration.
Sano Intelligence
Sample course planner
FALL 1
SPRING 1
FALL 2
EE 450
EE 579
EE 519
CS 402
EE 559
or EE 550
or see advisor
or CSCI 561
SPRING 2
see advisor
or see advisor
INTERNSHIP
MEDS 530 a
MEDS 530 b
MEDS 530 c
MEDS 500
MEDS 501
MEDS 502
CONTACT
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Giuseppe Caire
caire@usc.edu / 213.740.4683
Andreas Molisch
molisch@usc.edu/ 213.740.4670
Keck School of Medicine of USC
Ellie Nezami
nezami@usc.edu / 213.821.1600