Summer School 2024
13 Mars, 2025 2025-03-14 16:33Summer School 2024
SS2024
Overview
The 4th International Summer School on Digitalization for Health and Social Impact took place from May 27-31, 2024, at Heimerer College in Pristina, Kosovo.
Organized by Heimerer College, the event brought together 28 students (19 international and 9 local) alongside renowned experts across various fields.
Focused on the exploration and explore the intersection of digital technology, healthcare, and social welfare. Four key tracks provided participants with a complete overview of healthcare digitalization:
- Disease Detection and Diagnosis
- Personalized Treatment Plans
- Remote Patient Monitoring
- Cognitive Health and Brain Training
Participants engaged in workshops, keynote speeches, and field trips to equip them with the knowledge, skills, and perspectives necessary to leverage digitalization for positive health and social outcomes.
Project Implementation
Embark on a transformative journey at this year’s Summer School at Heimerer College, where the potent fusion of AI and healthcare technologies illuminates the path to graceful and vibrant ageing.
This 5-day summer school was a dynamic exploration into the multifaceted applications of AI in promoting health, well-being, and resilience across the ageing spectrum.
Goals of the Summer School
The event aimed to:
- Promote scientific research and evidence-based migration policies
- Disseminate knowledge through proceedings
- Foster practical research projects via project-based learning
- Generate ideas for future health and migration projects, focusing on circular migration
- Encourage cultural interaction and break down socio-cultural barriers
- Facilitate networking and group collaboration
Participants
The program welcomed students from Croatia, Poland, Germany, and Kosovo. A mix of activities engaged participants, deepening their understanding of digitalization for health and social impact.
Learning Topics
The following topics were covered:
- Digital Health Foundations
- Data Quality in Healthcare
- Wearable Technologies and Health Management
- Big Data and Decision-Making in Healthcare
- Digital Innovation in Medical Education and Patient Safety
- Technology for Social Welfare
- Community Engagement and Digital Inclusion
- Digital Solutions for Mental Health
- Impact of Digitalization on Language Disorders
- Pitching and Developing Digital Solutions for Social Impact
- AI and Digitalization in Career Development
- Public Perception and Ethical Implications of Digital Health
Extracurricular Activities
Cultural activities included visits to:
- City Tour of Pristina – Exploring local attractions.
- Field Trip to Prizren – Visiting historical sites including:
- Stone Bridge
- Prizren Castle
- Sinan Pasha Mosque
- Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour
- Old Bazaar (shopping for handmade crafts and textiles)
- HiTalk Session at RADIX – “SheTalks: Women Leading Digitalization and Entrepreneurship“
- Social Activity: Visit to Pristina Observatory & Planetarium
- HiTalk Session at TechPark Prishtina – “The Transformative Role of AI in Career Pathways“
- Movie Night at OpenAir Cinema (501 Terrace) – Screening of “HIVE”
Profiles of International and Local Lecturers
Prof. Dr. Olav Götz
Apollon Hochschule
Prof. Dr. Olav Götz is a professor of Health Care Consulting at APOLLON University of Applied Sciences, specializing in healthcare management, process modeling, and simulation. He studied business administration with a focus on health economics at the University of Greifswald and the University of Latvia and earned his doctorate in 2013 on simulation-based analysis of healthcare operations.
His expertise includes process management in hospitals, cost analysis, and human resource management, particularly in an international healthcare context. Beyond academia, he serves as a consultant for healthcare institutions and advises international organizations like GIZ and KfW on healthcare financing and workforce management.
PhD. Kushtrim Kuqi
University of Oxford
Kushtrim Kuqi is a product leader and strategist with extensive experience in building and scaling product organizations to drive business growth. He specializes in enterprise SaaS, B2B, B2B2C, and B2C products, particularly in healthcare technology and insurance.
He has played a key role in developing digital health solutions at companies like M*Modal (3M), GoHealth, RallyHealth (UnitedHealth Group), and 1upHealth. His work includes speech recognition for EHRs, benefits administration platforms, and consumer-facing healthcare solutions for care access, pricing, and payment. At 1upHealth, he contributed to a data platform for claims and clinical data exchange, advancing healthcare interoperability.
Beyond healthcare, he has also led distribution products at Clearcover, an API-first car insurance company, overseeing D2C, partnerships, and brokerage channels. He thrives on problem-solving, iterative development, and leveraging failure as a tool for innovation.
Prof. Andrea Aliverti
Politecnico di Milano
Kushtrim Kuqi is a product leader and strategist with extensive experience in building and scaling product organizations to drive business growth. He specializes in enterprise SaaS, B2B, B2B2C, and B2C products, particularly in healthcare technology and insurance.
He has played a key role in developing digital health solutions at companies like M*Modal (3M), GoHealth, RallyHealth (UnitedHealth Group), and 1upHealth. His work includes speech recognition for EHRs, benefits administration platforms, and consumer-facing healthcare solutions for care access, pricing, and payment. At 1upHealth, he contributed to a data platform for claims and clinical data exchange, advancing healthcare interoperability.
Beyond healthcare, he has also led distribution products at Clearcover, an API-first car insurance company, overseeing D2C, partnerships, and brokerage channels. He thrives on problem-solving, iterative development, and leveraging failure as a tool for innovation.
Prof. Giovanni Stilo
University of L’Aquila
Prof. Giovanni Stilo is a Computer Science and Data Science professor at the University of L’Aquila, where he leads the Master’s Degree in Data Science and the Artificial Intelligence and Information Mining Collective. His research focuses on machine learning, data mining, and AI, particularly on trustworthiness aspects such as bias, fairness, and explainability.
He obtained his PhD in Computer Science (2013) and was a visiting researcher at Yahoo! Labs (2014). He heads the GRETEL project, which explores Graph Counterfactual Explainability and temporal evolution in AI models. Additionally, he coordinates activities in Responsible Data Science and Training within the PNRR SoBigData.it project and leads the FAIR-EDU project, promoting fairness in education institutions.
Prof. Stilo has co-organized top-tier international events (2016-2024) in Machine Learning and Data Mining and serves on editorial boards of leading journals, including IEEE, ACM, Springer, and Elsevier. With over ten years of teaching experience, he has supervised 40+ national and international theses and taught university-level courses on ten different topics in Computer and Data Science
PhD Ariana Bytyçi-Katanolli
Swiss TPH-Accessible Quality Healthcare Project
Dr. Ariana Bytyçi Katanolli is a public health specialist and health services researcher specializing in lifestyle behaviors and the epidemiology of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). She holds a PhD in Epidemiology and Public Health from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) / University of Basel and previously studied in the United States, contributing to research at New York University (NYU) in epidemiology and health promotion.
Since 2016, she has worked on the Accessible Quality Healthcare (AQH) project at Swiss TPH in Kosovo, leading quantitative and qualitative research studies, including the Kosovo Non-Communicable Disease Cohort (KOSCO) study. She also supports the National Institute of Public Health of Kosovo in developing Clinical Guidelines and Protocols.
In addition to her research, she teaches in the Master’s Programme for Digital Health at Heimerer College, bringing expertise in public health interventions, healthcare system strengthening, and NCD prevention.
Prof. Valerio Pellegrini
Gregoriana University & Link Campus Univesity
Valerio Pellegrini is a Policy Lead in Innovation and the Future of Work for 89 Global. He is also a jurist and Professor of Legal Philosophy at the Pontificia Università Gregoriana of Rome. He also works as a columnist for the Italian national newspaper “il Riformista.” Previously, he worked at Link Campus University as a Project Officer at the EU Intellectual Property Office in intellectual property and at the European Patent Office in labor law. Among his latest publications is a monograph in which he develops a new global theory of law, “The Universal Rights of the Communities: From the Globalization of Indifference to a Generative Version.” Valerio has a PhD in sustainability and peace in the post-global era.
Workshops
The workshops covered during the summer school were the following:
- Digitization in Medical Education, Patient Safety and Health Services (Holders: Wioletta Janecka and Renata Wiśniewska of The Mazovian University in Plock)
- Exploring Wearable Technologies (Holder: MSc. Toon Colman of Thomas More University of Applied Sciences)
- Community Engagement through Digital Solutions (Holders: Prof. Patrick Jahn and PhD. Jenny Victoria Steindorff, Universitätsmedizin Halle (Saale))
- Pitching Social Impact Projects (Holder: Msc. Ardian Hoxha of Heimerer College)
- Language Disorders in Children (Holders: Prof. Lien Van Rompaey and Prof. Ine Francke of Thomas More University of Applied Sciences)
