Digital technology applications will play a key role in addressing COVID-19 crisis

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, and other key digital technology applications will play a vital role addressing the new healthcare challenges triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a peer-reviewed Special Issue of OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology.

COVID-19 is undoubtedly among the ecological determinants of planetary health,Digital health is a veritable opportunity for integrative biology and systems medicine to broaden its scope from human biology to ecological determinants of health.This is very important."

Vural Özdemir, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, OMICS

Despite a widespread belief that media coverage of artificial intelligence tends to be negative, Colin Garvey and Chandler Maskal, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) report that the majority of the news coverage is positive.

Other articles in the special issue include an interview on "Responsible Innovation and Future Science in Australia," by Justine Lacey, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia, and Erik Fisher, Arizona State University, Tempe, new research articles, and expert reviews such as "Blockchain for Digital Health: Prospects and Challenges" and "Integrating Artificial and Human Intelligence: A Partnership for Responsible Innovation in Biomedical Engineering and Medicine."