KUCHING – Professor Patrick Then, Head of the School of Information and Communication Technologies at Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, has been awarded Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
The prestigious honour is awarded to individuals who have made a significant contribution in the field of cardiology.
Professor Then is a leading expert in health informatics and digital health research and development. He was one of only five Asia-Pacific representatives at the inaugural Digital Summit by the ESC in Estonia in 2019.
Widely published in top international journals and conferences, Professor Then has also developed several digital health interventions that have been implemented in clinical practice. His innovative works in managing Covid-19 have also received recognition by the Sarawak State Government and the Sarawak State Health Department.
In addition to his research, he is a passionate advocate for digital health education and capacity building. According to Professor Then, we are all beneficiaries of digital health in the future, if not now.
“This is why I want to ensure the young generations of researchers, technologists and educators are trained and adequately equipped to bring digital health to new heights,” he said.
His election as Fellow of the ESC is testament to his significant contribution to the field of cardiovascular diseases.
“Professor Then’s election as Fellow of the ESC is a notable achievement for a professor in IT,” said Dr Alan Fong, President, National Heart Association, Malaysia.
“It is a well-deserved recognition especially with his decades of cutting-edge research in digital health, collaborations with cardiologists both within Sarawak and nationwide and most significantly his successful building of a team of IT professionals who partner global healthcare professional to address heart health,” added Dr Fong.
ESC is the leading professional organisation for cardiovascular diseases in Europe. With over 100,000 members from more than 150 countries, ESC is dedicated to promoting and advancing the prevention, diagnosis and management of cardiovascular diseases to concerned health professionals, enabling these professionals to give better care to their patients.
Professor Patrick Then.
Aside from his enormous contribution to digital health, Professor Then holds distinguished roles as Board Member of Sarawak Development Institute, President of the Society for Design and Process Science in USA since September 2023, panel member for the prestigious Yayasan Tun Taib Scholarship and technical committee member of the Malaysian Standard’s Software and System Engineering.
On top of his role as Head of the School of Information and Communication Technologies at Swinburne Sarawak, he is also the Director for the university’s Centre for Digital Futures and Program Leader (Sarawak), Swinburne Melbourne Data Science Institute.
Swinburne is an Australian university based in Melbourne, Australia. It is ranked among the Top 1% of universities globally in the QS World University Rankings 2024 and the latest Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). Swinburne Sarawak has been recognised as one of the country’s Top 10 Preferred Private Universities by JobStreet.com.
For more information on Swinburne Sarawak, visit its website (www.swinburne.edu.my), Facebook page (@swinburnesarawak), Instagram page (@swinburnesarawak), Twitter page (@Swinburne_Swk), TikTok page (@swinburnesarawak) or YouTube channel (Swinburne Sarawak).