Friday, May 23, 2025
1:20 – 2:25 pm
VIRTUAL (flyer)
On Friday, May 23 at 1:20 pm, you are invited to join S&J affiliate and Associate Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Karen Miga’s BME 80G Bioethics course for a talk by Ma’n Zawati.
A zoom option or recording may be available for members of the campus community who cannot attend in person. Contact Colleen Stone (colleen@ucsc.edu) to request access.
Crowdsourcing Smartphone Data for Biomedical Research and Algorithm Training: Ethical and Legal Questions
More than 5 billion people in the world own a smartphone. More than half of these have been used to collect and process health-related data, the existing volume of potentially exploitable health data is unprecedentedly large and growing rapidly. Indeed, mobile health applications (apps) on smartphones are increasingly being used for gathering and exchanging significant amounts of personal health data from the public. This data is often utilized for biomedical research purposes and for algorithm training. While there are advantages to utilizing this data for expanding biomedical knowledge, there are associated risks for the users of these apps, such as privacy concerns and the protection of their data. Consequently, gaining a deeper comprehension of how apps collect and crowdsource data is crucial. This presentation will provide a better understanding of these concerns and ways to address them.
Ma’n Zawati, Associate Professor, Research Director, Centre of Genomics and Policy, McGill University.
Ma’n Zawati (LL.B., LL.M., Ph.D. (DCL)) is an Associate Professor at McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Research Director of the Centre of Genomics and Policy in the Department of Human Genetics. He is also an Associate Member in the Department of Medicine, the Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy and the Faculty of Law. His work is interdisciplinary, drawing together perspectives from law, ethics, genomics, and policy. His research mainly focuses on the legal, ethical and policy dimensions of health research and clinical care, specializing in data sharing, governance, professional liability, and the use of novel technologies (e.g., mhealth apps, WGS, WES and Artificial Intelligence). During COVID-19, Prof. Zawati was instrumental in establishing the ethics governance for multiple initiatives, including the Quebec COVID19 Biobank (BQC19), CGEn’s HostSeq project and the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force. His work has facilitated access and use of data and samples across jurisdictions.
Co-hosted by the UCSC Department of Biomolecular Engineering, the Genomics Institute, and the Science & Justice Research Center.