Interests:

Biomedical and health informatics, artificial intelligence in health, digital health, global health informatics, health information systems, clinical and public health informatics, health data science, responsible and trustworthy AI, digital health governance, health data governance, interoperability and health information standards, electronic health records, telehealth and telemedicine, mobile health (mHealth), implementation science; sociotechnical systems, digital transformation of health systems, digital public infrastructure for health, AI-enabled diagnostic systems, medical imaging and machine learning, digital health in low- and middle-income countries, health equity, and capacity building and workforce development in digital health.

Background:

Dr. Walter H. Curioso is a physician, public health professional, and biomedical and health informatics scientist with more than 20 years of experience spanning biomedical informatics, digital health, artificial intelligence, public health, health systems, and technology policy. He earned his MD from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Peru and his MPH and PhD in Biomedical and Health Informatics from the University of Washington. He has been affiliated with the University of Washington faculty since 2005 and currently serves as Affiliate Professor in Biomedical and Health Informatics in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education (BIME), University of Washington School of Medicine.

Dr. Curioso’s career spans academic research, health-system leadership, international technical cooperation, and science and technology policy. His research addresses artificial intelligence for health, mobile health, telehealth, electronic health records, health information systems, interoperability, digital health governance, health data science, and implementation science. His work focuses on translating advances in biomedical informatics, digital health, and AI into equitable, sustainable, interoperable, and scalable solutions for real-world health systems.

His early research was part of the pioneering wave of mobile health innovation globally, beginning with the development in Peru of Cell-PREVEN, an early real-time public health surveillance system using cell phones and the Internet to collect and transmit adverse-event data. He subsequently developed Cell-POS, a theory-informed mobile health intervention using text messaging to support treatment adherence among people living with HIV, with particular attention to user engagement, privacy, and confidentiality. His research then expanded to WawaRed, an integrated mobile health and electronic medical record intervention for maternal health, and to Peru’s online live birth registration system, extending his work toward national-scale digital health transformation. Together, these initiatives marked an evolution from early mobile health interventions toward integrated digital health solutions embedded in real-world health systems. His subsequent research has included AI-enabled approaches for tuberculosis diagnosis using convolutional neural networks and sociotechnical systems that integrate frontline health workers, physicians, digital platforms, medical imaging, and AI into clinical workflows.

Beyond academia, Dr. Curioso has held senior public-sector leadership positions in Peru, including Vice Minister of Policies and Social Evaluation, Advisor to the Minister of Health, and Director General of Statistics and Informatics at the Ministry of Health. In these roles, he contributed to national digital health transformation through electronic health records, telemedicine, health information systems, and other nationwide digital health initiatives. He has also served in senior leadership roles at Peru’s National Council of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation (CONCYTEC). His career bridges biomedical informatics research with implementation, policy, governance, and digital transformation at national scale.

Internationally, Dr. Curioso has collaborated with the World Health Organization (WHO), Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). He previously served on the WHO Roster of Experts on Digital Health and is an elected Fellow of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics (IAHSI). His work emphasizes the responsible and equitable application of digital technologies and AI to strengthen health systems, particularly in Latin America and other low- and middle-income settings.

Research:

Dr. Walter H. Curioso’s research spans biomedical and health informatics, artificial intelligence, digital health, global health, public health, and health-system transformation. Across more than two decades, he has focused on translating emerging technologies, data, and computational methods into solutions that improve health and health systems, particularly in Latin America and other low- and middle-income countries. His work encompasses technology development and evaluation, implementation, governance, capacity building, and digital transformation.

His early research focused on mobile and ubiquitous computing for public health. His work included Cell-PREVEN, part of the pioneering wave of mobile health innovation globally and an early real-time surveillance system using cell phones and the Internet in Peru. This was followed by Cell-POS, an NIH R01-funded, theory-informed mobile health intervention using text messaging to support treatment adherence among people living with HIV. Developed through participatory design, Cell-POS emphasized behavioral theory, user needs, privacy, and confidentiality and became the focus of his doctoral research at the University of Washington. His research subsequently expanded to WawaRed, an integrated mobile health and electronic medical record initiative for maternal health in Peru, initially supported by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). These projects illustrate an evolution from early mobile health interventions toward integrated digital health solutions embedded in health systems.

His subsequent research has examined artificial intelligence and data-driven approaches for health, particularly in resource-constrained settings. He collaborated on convolutional neural network approaches for detecting tuberculosis manifestations in chest X-ray images and on eRx, an NIH- and NSF-supported sociotechnical approach to accelerate tuberculosis diagnosis in Peru. eRx integrated AI, medical imaging, mobile technologies, health workers, and physicians within real-world diagnostic workflows. This work reflects a broader principle: algorithmic performance alone is insufficient to determine health impact. Successful AI implementation also requires trustworthy data, human oversight, interoperability, effective workflows, governance, and health systems capable of sustaining innovation.

Dr. Curioso also has a longstanding commitment to building biomedical informatics and digital health capacity in Latin America. He contributed to NIH/Fogarty-supported research and training initiatives, including the AMAUTA and QUIPU programs, which strengthened interdisciplinary capacity in Peru and the region. His work continues to emphasize interdisciplinary collaboration among universities, governments, health systems, researchers, and communities.

Another major focus is translating biomedical informatics into health-system transformation. Drawing on experience across research, academia, government, and international technical cooperation, his work addresses electronic health records, telehealth, interoperability, health information standards, digital public infrastructure, health data governance, digital maturity, and responsible AI. He is particularly interested in moving digital innovations beyond isolated pilots toward scalable, sustainable, interoperable, and equitable health systems.

Current interests include responsible and trustworthy AI for health; AI implementation and governance; AI-enabled diagnostics; health data governance and interoperability; digital public infrastructure; digital-health maturity; electronic health records; telehealth; health information standards; implementation science; and workforce capacity. His overarching goal is to bridge technological innovation and health-system impact, with particular attention to equity and low- and middle-income countries.

Other Roles:

International Consultant, Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), Evidence and Intelligence for Action in Health: technical cooperation in digital health, health information systems, interoperability, digital maturity, health data governance, and implementation of international health information standards.

Member, Directive Council, National Council of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation (CONCYTEC), Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Peru: contributing to national science, technology, innovation, research, and international cooperation policy.

Fellow, International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics (IAHSI), International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA).

Member, National Academy of Medicine of Peru.

Former Vice Minister of Policies and Social Evaluation, Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion, Peru; former Advisor to the Minister of Health; and former Director General of Statistics and Informatics, Ministry of Health of Peru.

Former member, World Health Organization Roster of Experts on Digital Health.

Editorial and scientific service has included editorial-board roles with journals in biomedical informatics and digital health and peer review for international journals and research funding organizations.

Current projects:

• Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Health: research and international collaboration on trustworthy, equitable, and context-appropriate AI implementation in health systems, with particular attention to governance, implementation, health equity, and low- and middle-income countries.
• AI-Enabled Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Sociotechnical Systems: development and evaluation of AI-supported approaches integrating chest radiography, convolutional neural networks, mobile technologies, frontline health workers, physicians, and remote clinical workflows to strengthen tuberculosis diagnosis in resource-constrained settings.
  Interoperability and Health Information Standards: work on semantic interoperability, health information architecture, electronic health records, and implementation of international health information standards, including ICD-11 and standards-based information exchange.
• Digital Health Governance and Health Data Governance: research and technical cooperation addressing governance, privacy, security, data quality, responsible data use, and the institutional foundations required for trustworthy digital health and AI.
• Digital Health Capacity Building in Latin America: development and evaluation of educational strategies and international collaborations to strengthen competencies in biomedical informatics, digital health, health data science, AI, and health information systems among health professionals and decision-makers.
• Global Health Informatics and Implementation Science: research on how digital health interventions can be designed, adapted, implemented, evaluated, and scaled across diverse health-system and resource settings.

Teaching:

Dr. Curioso’s teaching and mentoring focus on biomedical and health informatics, digital health, artificial intelligence in health, health information systems, public health informatics, health data science, interoperability, implementation science, research methods, and responsible innovation. He brings to teaching a combination of academic research, health-system implementation, senior government leadership, and international technical-cooperation experience, using real-world cases to connect informatics theory with implementation and policy.

A major theme of his educational work is capacity building for digital health in Latin America and other resource-constrained settings. He has contributed to interdisciplinary training initiatives that bring together health professionals, informaticians, data scientists, public-health practitioners, researchers, and decision-makers. His teaching emphasizes not only technical competencies, but also the sociotechnical, ethical, organizational, governance, equity, and implementation dimensions required to translate emerging technologies into measurable improvements in health systems.

Dr. Curioso is particularly interested in mentoring students and early-career researchers working at the intersection of biomedical informatics, global health, AI for health, digital transformation, implementation science, and health equity, including researchers interested in Latin America and low- and middle-income countries.

Other:

Honors and Recognition

• Fellow, International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics (IAHSI), 2024
• Member, National Academy of Medicine of Peru
• Stanford/Elsevier World’s Top 2% Scientists
• Fogarty International Center/NIH fellowships supporting MPH and PhD training at the University of Washington
• National and institutional recognitions for public-sector digital transformation and health information initiatives in Peru

Representative publications:

• Curioso WH, Karras BT, Campos PE, Buendia C, Holmes KK, Kimball AM. Design and implementation of Cell-PREVEN: a real-time surveillance system for adverse events using cell phones in Peru. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2005;2005:176–180. PMID: 16779025.
• Curioso WH, Kurth AE. Access, use and perceptions regarding Internet, cell phones and PDAs as a means for health promotion for people living with HIV in Peru. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2007;7:24.
• Curioso WH, Peinado J, Rubio CF, Lazo-Escalante M, Castagnetto JM. Biomedical and Health Informatics in Peru: Significance for Public Health. Health Info Libr J. 2009;26(3):246–251.
• Curioso WH, Fuller S, Garcia PJ, Holmes KK, Kimball AM. Ten Years of International Collaboration in Biomedical Informatics and Beyond: The AMAUTA Program in Peru. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2010;17(4):477–480.
• Liu C, Cao Y, Alcantara M, Liu B, Brunette M, Peinado J, Curioso W. TX-CNN: Detecting Tuberculosis in Chest X-ray Images Using Convolutional Neural Network. In: 2017 IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP). 2017:2314–2318. doi:10.1109/ICIP.2017.8296695.
• Curioso WH. Building Capacity and Training for Digital Health: Challenges and Opportunities in Latin America. J Med Internet Res. 2019;21(12):e16513. doi:10.2196/16513. PMID: 31850849.
• Alcantara MF, Cao Y, Liu B, Liu C, Zhang N, Zhang P, Griffin T, Curioso WH, Ugarte-Gil C, Brunette MJ. eRx – A technological advance to speed-up TB diagnostics. Smart Health. 2020;16:100117. doi:10.1016/j.smhl.2020.100117.
• D’Agostino M, Marti M, Otero P, Doane D, Brooks I, Garcia Saiso S, Nelson J, Tejerina L, Bagolle A, Medina Mejia F, Luna D, Curioso WH, Lourenço V, Malek V, de Cosio G. Toward a holistic definition for Information Systems for Health in the age of digital interdependence. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2021;45:e143. doi:10.26633/RPSP.2021.143. PMID: 34840555. PubMed
• Gutiérrez-Aguado A, Curioso WH, Machicao JC, Eguia H. Strengthening capacities of multidisciplinary professionals to apply data science in public health: Experience of an international graduate diploma program in Peru. Int J Med Inform. 2023;169:104913. doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2022.104913. PMID: 36410127. PubMed
• Barbosa da Silva Júnior J, Garcia-Saiso S, Marti M, Salas D, Contreras M, Velandia-Gonzalez M, Luna D, Nelson J, Fitzgerald J, Bascolo E, Talavera Romero IL, Chomali M, Curioso WH, Plazzotta F, Otero C, Lopez Osornio A, Lennemann T, Salinas K, D’Agostino M. Vaccine Certificates Must Go Digital: An Urgent Call for Better Public Health Outcomes. JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2024;10:e65740. doi:10.2196/65740. PMID: 39591512.