Dear participants of the IEEE HEALTHCOM 2014 conference,

On behalf of the IEEE HEALTHCOM 2014 Organizing Committee, it is our great pleasure to welcome all of you to the 16th IEEE International Conference on e-Health Networking, Application and Services (IEEE HEALTHCOM 2014) held on October 15-18, 2014 and hosted in the wonderful Natal, one of the five biggest tourist destination in Brazil.

We are very glad to have the opportunity to take part in the organization of a conference that gathers researchers and professionals from academia and industry to share experiences and new ideas in such a dynamic area as eHealth technologies. In the new emerging knowledge based technologies and with the increase in life expectancy, it is crucial to find out new solutions to improve health services and applications, offering safe, comfortable, inexpensive, and reliable solutions. Close collaboration between industry and the scientific and academic community is a key success factor in the current highly competitive global marketplace. This cooperation is essential for industry, academia, and society, in general.

IEEE HealthCom is the flagship conference of the IEEE Communications Society Technical Committee (TC) on eHealth. As general chairs of this conference, it is our great honor to organize a high-level conference in our country. IEEE HealthCom 2014 is fully sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society and technically sponsored by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.

After the 1st conference in Sydney, Australia, in 1999, IEEE HealthCom conferences have been successfully held yearly. We are greatly honored that this year’s conference is hosted for the very first time by our country, Brazil. I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all the people involved in the conference organization who have worked very hard for its success.

The conference offers an excellent program addressing the new frontiers of eHealth technologies and brings together experts from all over the world who come to Natal to share their expertise and new ideas. We received contributions from 48 countries and a total of 174 papers submitted for the main conference. The acceptation ratio is about 48.9%. The program includes sixteen technical sessions and a poster session, a demo session, three panels, four keynote speeches, five tutorials, four workshops, and industry Exhibition. The conference also promotes a social program to offer participants the opportunity to visit the beautiful city of Natal and its wonderful coastline.

It is our privilege to convey the community's gratitude to the conference patrons, namely to Cisco, IEEE Standards Association, CGI.br/NIC.br, and CAPES, as well as to the local support from UFRN, Cabo Telecom, and Natal Convention Bureau, exhibitors and to the countless other volunteers who contributed in numerous ways to the success of the conference.

We hope our participants enjoy the technical discussions and the meetings with colleagues and discover the local culture and beauty.

I look forward meeting you all in person here in Brazil for an excellent event.

Sincerely,

Augusto Venâncio Neto
Professor, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
Researcher, Instituto de Telecomunicações, Portugal
General Chair, IEEE HEALTHCOM 2014

José Neuman de Souza
Professor, Federal University of Ceará, Brazil
General Co-Chair, IEEE HEALTHCOM 2014