Special Issue on Mobile Health (mHealth): Two Decades of Unprecedented Growth and Contributions to Global Health – 20th Anniversary Submission Date: 2024-09-30 This special is dedicated to two esteemed past Editors-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Information Technology

in Biomedicine (TITB), now IEEE J-BHI, the late Professors Swamy Laxminarayan, the Founding Editor of the

Transactions, and Niilo Saranummi. Their unwavering dedication and visionary support laid the groundwork for the

progress and development witnessed in this field. Commemorating their legacy within this issue acknowledges their

efforts and the pivotal role they played in fostering the growth and evolution of mobile health and the journal.

Two decades ago, the IEEE TITB (predecessor of IEEE J-BHI) featured a groundbreaking special issue on mobile

health (m-Health) entitled “M-Health: Beyond Seamless Mobility and Global Wireless Health-Care Connectivity”.

The editorial paper by Istepanian, Jovanov, and Zhang (2004) became the seminal reference, defining first the concept

and the scientific framework of m-Health. Recognized by over 1000 citations, this paper laid the foundation for the

transformative field of mobile health.

Since then, m-Health has undergone significant evolution, becoming a cornerstone in the developments of global IT

for healthcare disciplines. Recognized by the WHO in 2011 as a vital area for global health improvement and

transformation. This important area has also gained worldwide traction across various sectors including IT,

telecommunications, and healthcare conglomerates among others. Technological strides in communications, sensing,

and computing, from 4G to 5G and now 6G, low power cellular and wide area network connectivity, such as NB-IoT,

LTE-M, and LoRaWAN, alongside with advancements in smartphone applications (mHealth Apps), IoT, cloud, edge

computing, and AI, have revolutionized m-Health.

Moreover, advances in wearable sensors linked to mobile computing have enabled the collection of health data beyond

traditional settings, empowering the monitoring and management of challenging diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular

and many other chronic conditions. Furthermore, mHealth systems and applications have been developed and

deployed in the above vital healthcare areas in the developed and Low and Middle-Income countries (LMIC).

Advances in other relevant areas such as in medical imaging, robotics, and wearables were among some of the areas

and disciplines that were enabled by mHealth technologies to develop and advance the integration process of health

and wellbeing sensor and environmental data into combined and large data sets. These advances are now driving the

development of the next generation of machine learning and artificial intelligence applications of smart mHealth

systems.

To reflect these remarkable advancements and their impact, we invite contributions for a special issue of the Journal

focusing on the latest developments in mobile health. This issue aims to showcase the enduring significance of

mHealth in healthcare improvement globally over the next two decades.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following ones:

• Advancements in communication technologies for mHealth (6G, IoT, LPWAN, etc.)

• Evolution of mHealth applications for health and wellness monitoring and management

• Novel wearable sensors and their impact on healthcare outside traditional settings

• Use of mHealth in managing chronic diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular, obesity etc.)

• Pre-emptive mHealth systems for future pandemics

• Integration of mHealth into healthcare systems for improved outcomes

• Cybersecurity and Privacy challenges for future mHealth systems

• Interoperability for future mHealth eHealth systems

• Role of AI, cloud, and edge computing in advancing mHealth systems

• Big Data and mHealth

• mHealth in LMIC and low income and conflict settings (Frugal mHealth 2.0) systems

• Future social networking systems and mHealth

• Ethical considerations and regulatory frameworks in mHealth applications

Guest Editors

Dimitrios I. Fotiadis, Professor, Biomedical Engineering, University of Ioannina / FORTH, Editor in Chief IEEE,

Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, Greece; Email: fotiadis@uoi.gr

Robert Istepanian, Emeritus Professor and Lately Visiting Professor, Institute of Global Health Innovation,

Imperial College, UK; Email: Robert_istepanian@yahoo.com

Emil Jovanov, Professor, Electrical and Computer Eng. Dept., The University of Alabama in Huntsville, USA;

Emil: jovanov@uah.edu

Constantinos S. Pattichis, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering Research

Centre, University of Cyprus and CYENS Centre of Excellence, Cyprus; Email: pattichi@ucy.ac.cy

Y. T Zhang, Research Professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Email: yt.zhang@cityu.edu.hk

Key Dates

Deadline for Submission: 30 September 2024

First Reviews Due: 30 November 2024

Revised Manuscript Due: 15 January 2025

Final Decision: 28 February 2025