Join the Critical Tech Talk series to hear about how “vibe coding”, a flexible, intuition-driven approach to prototyping can empower people from non-computing backgrounds to shape the medical tools they actually need.
About the talk
As AI becomes increasingly embedded in healthcare and creative workflows, the boundary between expert and end-user is blurring. This talk explores how “vibe coding”, a flexible, intuition-driven approach to prototyping can empower people from non-computing backgrounds to shape the medical tools they actually need. Drawing from experience building fast, lightweight AI utilities for cancer detection and clinical documentation, the speaker examines how small-scale code experiments can unlock agency and challenge institutional inertia. In this session, the speaker hopes to generate discussion on how personal toolmaking can offer an alternative to extractive models of technological development, fostering more grounded and human-centered applications of technology in medicine and beyond.
About the speaker
Dr. Josh Del Papa is a resident physician in Diagnostic and Molecular Pathology at the University of Western Ontario. He completed medical school at Queen’s University and holds a PhD in biochemistry with a specialization in human and molecular genetics from the University of Ottawa. His research bridges diagnostic dermatopathology, physician-centered interface design, and artificial intelligence, with a focus on transparent, clinician-empowering tools. He is currently developing a fully offline AI platform that classifies skin cancers in real-time. The system is designed to augment intraoperative consultations through a human-in-the-loop approach, without relying on the cloud or opaque black-box systems.
Respondents
Dr. Helen Chen is Director of the Professional Practice Centre in Health Systems and serves as Program Lead of the Master of Health Informatics and Analytics program. Her expertise lies in health data analytics and the interoperability of health information systems. Dr. Chen’s research explores the application of machine learning and generative AI to enhance the accessibility and usability of real-world health data, supporting evidence-based decision-making in healthcare and public health.
Dr. Jim Wallace is Professor in the School of Public Health Sciences with a cross-appointment in the Cheriton School of Computer Science. His research explores the intersection of human-computer interaction and health. He has published widely on topics including human-centered design, games for health behaviour change, and AI support for qualitaitve research. His work has received awards at the CHI and CSCW conferences, and is funded by NSERC, NRC, and CFI-JELF.
Dr. Plinio Morita is Director of the Ubiquitous Health Technology Lab (UbiLab). His research interests are in the areas of population-level surveillance using IoT data, mHealth and wearable technology design, ubiquitous sensors for smart homes, usage data and health data analytics, precision medicine, and technology for aging. He focuses on personalized medicine technologies that can prevent unnecessary visits to hospitals and drive our healthcare system toward community care and telehealth.
Moderator
Dr. Marcel O'Gorman, University Research Chair, professor of English, and founding director of the Critical Media Lab (CML), University of Waterloo. Professor O'Gorman leads collaborative design projects and teaches courses and workshops in critical media studies and responsible innovation. He has published widely about the impacts of technology on society, and he has an international portfolio of exhibitions and performances.
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