PANEL 1 AI & Healthcare

PANEL DESCRIPTION

In 2020, the European Commission envisioned AI as a life-changing force  by improving healthcare. Nowadays, AI applications have become integral to the provision of healthcare and medical research. Qualified as medical devices, numerous medical AI applications have been approved by the regulatory authorities both in the EU and the US across various domains such as radiology, cardiology, ophthalmology, gastroenterology, and neurology. The panel will discuss the state-of-the-art advancements and utilisation of AI in healthcare. It will explore the existing regulatory landscape of AI applications, along with the remaining ethical and legal challenges, as well as the role of the AI Act in addressing them. Speakers representing patients, healthcare professionals and institutions, regulators, and policy-makers will share their experiences and perspectives, thus facilitating a cross-sectoral dialogue and fruitful exchange of ideas.

Sarah Neville

Sarah Neville is the FT's global health editor. She covers the NHS, and healthcare developments around the world. In more than 23 years at the FT, she has held a variety of editing and reporting roles including weekend news editor, analysis editor, UK news editor, public policy editor and global pharmaceuticals editor.

Immediately before joining the FT she spent a decade reporting on Westminster, latterly as political editor of the Yorkshire Post. In 1995 she was awarded the Laurence Stern Fellowship on the Washington Post.

Anastasiya Kiseleva

Anastasiya Kiseleva is a researcher in law, health and technologies, working at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Faculty of Law, LSTS and HALL research groups) and CY Cergy Paris University (Faculty of Computer Science, ETIS lab). She carries out research on different topics, including AI in healthcare, the European Health Data Space, AI-based medical devices, genetic testing and editing with AI. Her papers in the mentioned areas were top listed by the publishing journals and cited by the European Parliament and the European Commission. Anastasiya acts as an external AI Policy Expert at EUMASS (the European Union of Medicine in Assurance and Social Security). She is a member of Ethics Advisory Boards in several EU-funded projects such as DigiCare4You and Marvel. Since June 2023, she joined the Editorial Board of the European Health & Pharmaceutical Law Review. Anastasiya is the holder of the EUTOPIA grant – PhD co-tutelle program of excellence and academic mobility and carries out international (Belgium and France) and interdisciplinary (law and data science) research on the transparent development and use of AI in healthcare.

Milana Trucl

Milana Trucl is a Policy Officer at the European Patients’ Forum. She develops and guides the policy and advocacy work in the area of digital health. Her goal is to ensure that the patient perspective is integrated into EU policies, initiatives and projects on digital health and artificial intelligence in healthcare, and to shed light on the importance of patient engagement, health literacy and equitable access to digital services and solutions.

Rudolf Wagner

Rudolf Wagner is a distinguished executive leader with over 15 years of experience in the Pharma and Medical Devices industry, including Software and AI in Digital Health. As the Global Director Head of Quality and Regulatory Affairs EVP, Wagner has a proven track record of success in overseeing all aspects of quality and regulatory affairs, compliance management, team leadership, and P&L responsibility. He has led the QARA team to significant achievements, such as securing EU MDR Class IIb and US FDA 510(k) certification for innovative medical solutions within record time. Wagner's expertise spans strategic planning, business growth, team development, and cross-functional collaboration, having led teams across all five continents and registered medical devices in over 132 countries. He is multilingual, with proficiency in English and German, and is recognized for his ability to drive business expansion and navigate complex regulatory landscapes globally.

Thierry Geerts

From 2011 to 2024, Thierry Geerts has been heading Google in Belgium and Luxembourg, the company that has become much more than just a search engine. He graduated from the VUB as a Solvay Business Engineer and soon became general manager of an industrial laundry company. With the advent of the internet in the mid-1990s, he reoriented himself towards the media industry and held various management positions at VUM (now Mediahuis), publisher of newspapers such as De Standaard and Het Nieuwsblad.
His book Digitalis (2018), in which he describes the possibilities of the digital world, has meanwhile sold more than 25,000 copies. In 2021 he published his new book, Homo Digitalis, about the impact of the digital revolution on people and society.