■ Speaker: Seung-min Park (Assistant Professor, Nanyang Technological University) (Recipient of the 2023 Ig Nobel Prize)

■ Abstract 

Precision Health represents a transformative shift in medicine, envisioning a future where continuous health monitoring throughout an individual’s lifetime enables early disease detection, personalized risk assessment, and preventive interventions. Despite significant technological advances, we face a fundamental challenge: creating solutions that are both clinically meaningful and seamlessly integrated into daily life. Few existing technologies have successfully bridged this gap between scientific capability and practical implementation. I will introduce the Precision Health Toilet, an innovation that fundamentally reimagines how we approach longitudinal health monitoring. This platform represents a paradigm shift in healthcare delivery – offering non-invasive, continuous health assessment through the analysis of human excreta. By combining advanced physical sensors with sophisticated computer vision and artificial intelligence, we’ve created a system that transforms routine biological processes into valuable health insights. Notably, this work has received international recognition, including the 2023 Ig Nobel Prize, highlighting the innovative and thought-provoking nature of the approach. Our discussion will explore the journey from concept to implementation, including the development of integrated assay modules, the challenges of converting complex biological data into actionable health information, and the creation of predictive models that could reshape preventive medicine. We’ll also address crucial considerations around user identification, privacy, acceptance, and system limitations. Beyond the technology itself, we’ll examine the broader implications for the future of healthcare – how such innovations could democratize access to continuous health monitoring and contribute to a more proactive, precise, and personalized approach to medicine. I will discuss critical societal considerations including ethics, privacy, data sovereignty, and equitable access, as we work toward a future where advanced health monitoring serves the needs of all communities while respecting individual rights and dignity.