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Prof Arcot Sowmya

Professor Arcot Sowmya is the latest addition to the Tyree IHealthE Steering Committee. As Head of School, Computer Science and Engineering, she brings extensive expertise and insights; in the August 2023 issue of IHealthE News she shares her reflections on successful innovative research.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself

I started as a Mathematics major and detoured into Computer Science, which was very much in fashion at the time. I obtained all my degrees in India then moved into a Lecturer position at UNSW and worked my way up. I have worked in a variety of areas within Computer Science, and have focussed on Machine Learning in Computer Vision for many years. Biomedical imaging and health informatics has been a major focus in this time, including both imaging and non-imaging medical data analytics. I have taught the full gamut of computer science courses from fundamental courses like concurrent computing and data structures to software engineering to disciplinary elective courses in computer vision, pattern recognition, and AI.

What excites you most about your role as the Head of the School of Computer Science and Engineering?

The Head of School role, in my experience, is a very broad role spanning multiple areas from finance and strategy to personnel management. I really enjoy the variety of challenges and the breadth of experiences that this role brings.

Collaboration is a key aspect of your work. How do you foster successful partnerships with industry, hospitals, and other researchers to advance machine learning solutions?

The million dollar question! The partnerships have occurred in many different ways - the end users approaching me to help solve a problem they have experienced, my reaching out to ask about datasets, colleagues bringing new introductions, the whole works. Once the connection is made, it is always about the work, the mutual interest, and complementary strengths. So long as this is in balance, the collaboration works!

What do you think enables projects and innovations to succeed in the health technology space?

There has to be a strong need that our research fills. Complementarity in expertise and strengths is important. The all-important ingredient in successful projects is mutual trust, and all of this takes time and effort to build.

Do you have any resources or ideas that you would like to share with readers?

Many tertiary hospitals have small or large research groups that hold their own regular seminars. It is a good idea to find these opportunities and offer to give a talk to the relevant research group.