Book excerpt: This book gathers the proceedings of MEDICON 2019 – the XV Mediterranean Conference on Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing – which was held in September 26-28, 2019, in Coimbra, Portugal. A special emphasis has been given to practical findings, techniques and methods, aimed at fostering an effective patient empowerment, i.e. to position the patient at the heart of the health system and encourages them to be actively involved in managing their own healthcare needs. The book reports on research and development in electrical engineering, computing, data science and instrumentation, and on many topics at the interface between those disciplines. It provides academics and professionals with extensive knowledge on cutting-edge techniques and tools for detection, prevention, treatment and management of diseases. A special emphasis is given to effective advances, as well as new directions and challenges towards improving healthcare through holistic patient empowerment.