On Monday 28 April 2025, VPHi welcomed dr. Borys Brzezinski in the setting of the University Hospital Leuven to talk about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be applied in healthcare to give Europe a competitive edge.
The meeting topics included the wider research and technology context for AI in healthcare, specifically focusing on digital twins in healthcare, the Virtual Human Twin and the related policy challenges.
The meeting, facilitated by our policy partner Altertox, started with an overview of the VPH Institute's work in promoting in silico medicine through scientific activities, policy engagement, and regulatory efforts. Subsequently, a range of success stories were discussed, developed by academic partners and currently migrating towards spin-offs. These applications included cardiovascular clinical decision support systems, intensive care unit glycemic control, workplace mental wellbeing, pharmacogenomics, and tuberculosis clinical trials. For each of these applications, the current status was discussed as well as EU policy challenges that could slow down or complicate the uptake in clinical practice. Finally, the discussion moved to the unmet needs of both industry and clinicians in adopting AI for health, such as access to resources, regulatory clarity, and integration into clinical workflows.
This meeting formed the starting point of a conversation that will ensure a mutual benefit between developers of AI-for-healthcare applications on the one hand and policy makers on the other hand, in order to enhance the care we deliver to our patients while concomitantly improving Europe’s competitiveness.
