Bulletin No. 2, 2024

Wearable sensors gather information about the user’s health know, not very theoretical.” Her life in academia has long been characterised by this pursuit of utility: as a young student of materials sciences and engineering at Tsinghua University, she was fascinated by new scientific breakthroughs announced in the media from time to time. It was the ability to apply what she had learned that captivated her, all the way to a PhD specialisation in optoelectronics, the study of devices that utilise light, at Cambridge University. From there she took up a post-doctorate fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she deepened her research. CUHK became her next career move after she read an article about the University in the South China Morning Post . But it was a conversation with a colleague, Professor Zhang Yuan-Ting, that gave Professor Zhao the idea to look into sensors. “At the time, we were both examiners of the final-year projects, and one particular student didn't do a particularly impressive job. But after the student left, we started to talk.” An expert in wearable devices and sensors, the elder professor asked for her opinion on potential improvements to that project. This casual conversation started off a very productive partnership where the two professors’ expertise fed into one another. As a result, she started looking into the field of flexible electronics, and how they might be utilised for healthcare. All this research culminated in a project that the two professors have since presented to the steering committee at the RAISe+ Scheme. This project, she explains, consists of two components. The first is a series of wearable medical devices, developed by Professor Zhao and her team, that track risk factors of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in the body. “These wearable sensors can collect all the necessary vital signs, including heart rate, blood oxygen level, blood pressure; but also some other parameters that may be less familiar to the public, like arterial stiffness.” All these signs are then fed into the second component: a personalised AI system, which Professor Zhao's team has named “Dr. PAI”. This system, she explains, “combines the beauty of generative AI models with the most advanced sensing technology”. Generative AI models (the most famous of which is ChatGPT) draw on vast amounts of information to generate their own responses; Professor Zhao’s new system similarly draws on the wide range of data collected from the various connected devices to create feedback to the user, advising them on different health issues, as well as steps they might want to take to minimise risks to their health. As time goes on, the system will also learn to recognise their habits and adjust accordingly: “The more you interact with your own model, the more the model learns about you; and the more data you fit in this model — and I mean physiological data — the more it knows whether this is a transient thing, or whether you have a problem”. Chinese University Bulletin 32 | Professor Zhao Ni