January 2016 Program

 General Meeting Program
January 12, 2016

Medical Uses for
Wireless Body Networks

Presenter: Mary Eshaghian-Wilner, PhD,
USC Professor of Engineering Practice


Dr. Wilner will introduce us to an overview of three types of body networks with a brief discussion of how they are integrated to form a wireless computing platform for medical uses. A body network consists of wireless devices that can be externally worn, surgically implanted or inserted non-invasively. Externally-worn devices are used for monitoring various conditions of patients and collected data are recorded and/or transmitted in real time to the patients’ healthcare providers. Surgically-implantable devices such as pacemakers can have immediate correcting and/or life-saving capabilities by providing low-energy electrical pulses that prompt a malfunctioning heart to beat normally. While these two are stationary, the non-invasively inserted devices are mobile and at micro- and nano-scales, they are either passive or actively controlled. They are used for applications such as targeted drug delivery for cancer.