UM organises health sciences workshop to enhance secondary school teachers’ professional knowledge

The Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) of the University of Macau (UM) organised a two-day workshop titled ‘Understanding Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine’ for more than 20 science teachers from Yuet Wah College. As part of FHS’s training programmes for in-service teachers, the workshop aimed to enhance the teachers’ professional knowledge and broaden their horizons.

At the workshop, Poon Chuen Wai, associate professor in FHS, emphasised that precision medicine is an important avenue for improving healthcare. He explained in detail the concept of precision medicine, the importance of big data, and the wide range of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the future public healthcare system, including the analysis of genetic data and other omics data, new drug development, disease prediction, disease diagnosis, deep phenotyping, treatment response prediction, and the development of wearable smart devices. In addition, Prof Poon discussed the challenges and business opportunities related to the application of AI in precision medicine, and presented the basic principles of machine learning tools, such as artificial neural networks, deep learning and large language models, as well as their real-world applications in medicine and public health. He also explained how generative AI will reform clinical practice.

Kong Kong Hang, vice principal of Yuet Wah College, said that continuous professional training for teachers is very important for their success in teaching, as it can improve their teaching skills and effectiveness and stimulate innovative thinking. She thanked UM for organising training workshops for teachers, which helps enhance their professionalism and promote their continuous development in teaching.

Tam Man Tou, a teacher who participated in the workshop, said that the workshop provided participants with up-to-date information, which allowed them to explore fields they are not well versed in and helped them widen their students’ knowledge. Another participating teacher, Tse Ka Pou, said that the ‘big health’ industry, as a national strategic emerging industry, is not only a hot topic among students but also gives her inspiration for teaching.

FHS actively responds to the needs of the community by organising training workshops, with the aim of improving the overall quality of education in Macao. The workshops on health sciences held by the faculty not only introduce teachers to technological innovations, ideas and discoveries, but also give them a new perspective on science and enhance their professional and academic development.