Introductory editorial to the special issue on systems medicine for the delivery of better healthcare services

Excerpt

Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing cover complementary disciplines that hold great promise for the advancement of research and development in complex medical and biological systems. Research and development in these areas are impacting the science and technology by advancing fundamental concepts in translational medicine, by helping us understand human physiology and function at multiple levels, by improving tools and techniques for the detection, prevention and treatment of disease. This special issue is based on a selected number of papers under the main theme “Systems Medicine for the Delivery of Better Healthcare Services” that were presented in the XIV Mediterranean Conference on Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing – Medicon 2016, March 31st-April 2nd, 2016, that was organised in Cyprus (http://​medicon2016.​org/). The goal of Medicon 2016 was to provide updated information on the state of the art on Medical and Biological Engineering and provided a common platform for the cross fertilization of ideas, and helped shaping the knowledge and scientific achievements by bridging complementary disciplines into an interactive and attractive forum under the conference theme that was the same as the theme of the special issue. …