Texas State University and Mines Saint-Étienne came together for a digital health symposium from June 2 to 6, 2025, at the Centre for Biomedical and Healthcare Engineering (CIS) on the Health Innovations Campus. This prestigious cooperation forms part of the development of joint teaching initiatives and the School’s international outreach.
Four teacher-researchers from the American university were welcomed for a week of constructive exchanges with researchers and industry partners in the field.
The objective is to develop a continuing education module in digital health, which will take the form of three summer schools in 2026, 2027 and 2028. This will make it possible to implement best teaching practices and meet industry needs.
Julia Fleck, Associate Professor at CIS, who is leading this project with Elise Lambert, Professor at Texas State University, perfectly sums up the week for us: “We welcomed an incredible team of experts from Texas State University and around the world to discuss the future of digital healthcare.”
The week began with an industry round table where trends and future needs in digital healthcare were discussed with industry representatives by Cyril Chaigneau (Sigvaris), Fabrice Cognasse (Etablissement Français du Sang), Katherine Lusk (Texas Health Services Authority (THSA)), and Philip Beckett, Susmit Pal and Emmanuel Canes (DELL).
It continued with discussions on the American, French and Estonian healthcare systems and presentations on best practices in continuing education in digital health, with Elise Lambert, Barbara Hewitt, David Gibbs & Dr. Rodney E Rohde (TXST), Alexandre Jaborska, François-Xavier Guénan (École des hautes études en santé publique, Rennes) and Peeter Ross (Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Estonia).
International perspectives on health data governance in the age of AI were provided by Rachel Fellner, a researcher at the OECD, and what promises to be an incredible digital health hackathon was organized by Oliver Rockwell (Novo Nordisk Global) and Daniel Rosales (Ksyos).
At the end of the seminar, we were able to visit the research facilities of the Etablissement Français du Sang with Anne-Claire Duchez.
“It was a breathtaking experience, and next year we will do it in a newly expanded format. Many thanks to all participants for sharing their valuable expertise!”
This project is supported by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region and Saint-Étienne Métropole, in partnership with NOVEKA, represented by its Director, Natalie Cohet, and IMT Mines Saint-Étienne and Texas State University. It was officially opened by Jacques FAYOLLE, Director of Mines Saint-Étienne; Vincent Augusto, Director of the Centre for Biomedical and Healthcare Engineering; Charles Dallara, Metropolitan Councillor, Delegate for Higher Education; and Laurence Bussière, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Councillor.
