The world population increased from 2.5 billion in 1950 to over 8 billion in 2022. Thanks to many of the advancements in Science and Technology, life expectancy for the average person in the world has also steadily increased. As individuals live longer, more chronic conditions manifest in their lifetimes, which translates in unsustainable increases in healthcare expenses, towards the end of life.

Urban and suburban areas keep growing demographically and their population densities are becoming “hot spots” for the transmission of infectious diseases, that could decimate entire populations. Prevention is key to lowering the costs while improving quality of life. Urbanization and overpopulation have created huge amounts of garbage, not just plastics, but toxic waste, water, air and soil. According to the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health the vast majority of the pollution deaths occur in poorer nations and in some, such as India, Chad and Madagascar, pollution causes a quarter of all deaths. It kills at least nine million people and costs trillions of dollars every year, and warns the crisis “threatens the continuing survival of human societies”.

The effects of climate change create additional strains and challenges to our systems. Simultaneous droughts, fires, and floods worldwide, not only affect agriculture and food production but the accelerated melting of existing glaciers has an impact on the availability of drinking water in critical and overpopulated areas around the world. In addition, rising land temperatures and rising sea levels are producing major forced migration problems to many nations. Climate change and global warming are two factors that society cannot ignore since the future conflicts will be caused by the availability of water, food, and energy, all required for human survival.

Dr. Luis Kun, IEEE Life Fellow, Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering, and the International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine, the 2023 and 2024 IEEE President for the Society on Social Implications of Technology and a Distinguished Emeritus Professor of National Security (CHDS/NDU). He is the founding Editor in Chief of Springer's Journal of Health and Technology 2010-2020. He spent 14 years at IBM and was the Director of Medical Systems Technology at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. He formulated the IT vision and was the lead staff for High Performance Computers and Communications program and Telehealth. In July 1997, he was an invited speaker to the White House and was largely responsible for the first Telemedicine Homecare Legislation signed by President Clinton in August 1997. As a Distinguished Fellow at the CDC and an Acting Chief IT Officer for the National Immunization Program, he formulated their IT vision on 10/2000. In 2009, he was named "Profesor Honoris Causa" by Favaloro University, (Argentina) and "Distinguished Visitor" by City of Puebla, Mexico in 2013. Since 2014, he serves as an Honorary Professor of the Electrical Engineering Department at the School of Engineering of the University (UDELAR) in Montevideo, Uruguay. He received the Medal of Merit on October, 2016 in Mexico by the National Unit of Engineering Associations and was named Visiting Professor by the National Technological University of Buenos Aires, Argentina in October 2017. Among others, Dr. Kun developed and taught the courses for the Homeland Security curricula including Protection of Critical Infrastructures. He was invited to lecture to the US Congressional Staffers on Public Health Threats and Vulnerabilities, Risk and Crisis Management during Disasters and Cybersecurity. He was a Subject Matter Expert to the Health, Medical and Responder Safety Subgroup of the Inter Agency Board for Emergency Preparedness and Response (dealing with CBRNE threats).