EVENT SPEAKERS
Jovita V. Aragona
TOPIC
Implementing HL7 as Part of the National Health Data Repository Framework
Ms. Jovita Aragona graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering, and finished her Masters in Information System from the University of the Philippines Open University. She has over 30 years of experience in the field of information technology, and is at present the Senior Vice President – Chief Information Officer of PhilHealth.
She is a COBIT5 Foundation certified and TOGAF9 certified, and received the International Data Corporation Digital Transformation Leader of the Year in 2018. She was one of the key foundational member of the National eHealth Program, and led various expert groups as well. She was the principal author of the first Philippines eHealth Strategic Framework and Plan, and Health Enterprise Architecture of the DOH that have provided sound strategies on the adoption of eHealth in the country, as well as the roadmap to system integration and interoperability.
Ms. Aragona was also a previous member of the WHO Digital Health Technical Advisory Group, a group of renowned experts who brought together an unparalleled range of experience, and knowledge on digital health programs and policy, and others in the healthcare ecosystem with a focus on digital health. Ms. Aragona is also an active member of the Asia eHealth Information Network
Romulo (Jong) de Castro
TOPIC
Enabling Interoperability Using Common Data Models for Improving Data Capture in EMRs
is a “Balik Scientist” of the DOST-PCHRD who develops web apps. He is the Director of the Center for Informatics (CFI) at the University of San Agustin (Iloilo City), a consultant of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear Medicine Diagnostic Imaging (NMDI) Section and Project Lead for a Telehealth project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) – eAsia Knowledge Partnership Fun (EAKPF).
He obtained his PhD in Biochemistry & Genetics from the University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston) and conducted his postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology (Neuroscience) and The Burnham Institute (Developmental Neurobiology). His current occupation took him off laboratory research to pursue Health Informatics via the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, Autism Speaks, Pathway Genomics, 3R Biosystems and the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (where he focused his work on Minority Health and Health Disparities).
He believes that electronic medical records (EMRs) have the potential to transform healthcare worldwide for the better, but also that wide scale adoption and equitable access, especially for those not able to afford a system of their own, are prerequisites to the benefits