Speakers
Michel Dumontier
Dr. Michel Dumontier is the Distinguished Professor of Data Science at Maastricht University, founder and executive director of the Institute of Data Science, co-founder of the Department of Advanced Computing Sciences, and co-founder of the influential FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) Data Principles. His research focuses on computational learning and reasoning towards drug discovery and personalized medicine. He is coordinator for the REALM project to build a regulatory sandbox for (AI) medical software devices, Principal Investigator (PI) for the AIDAVA project to create an AI assistant in the curation of personal health knowledge graphs, PI for the ARPA-H CHARM project, and a PI for the iCare4CVD IHI Project. He is the editor-in-chief for the journal Data Science and is internationally recognized for his contributions in bioinformatics, biomedical informatics, and semantic technologies. His commitment to responsible discovery science and data-driven healthcare solutions positions him as a leading figure in the digital transformation of health and medicine.
Carlos Cardenas
Dr. Carlos Cardenas is an Associate Professor and Director of Automated Treatment Planning in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and also serves as the Director of Artificial Intelligence Research and Development for the Marnix E. Heersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation at UAB. His research centers on leveraging artificial intelligence and medical image analysis to streamline and enhance radiotherapy treatment planning. In particular, he has contributed significantly to automated planning tools—helping translate these AI-driven methods into clinical use to improve efficiency and quality of care. Dr. Cardenas has co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications on the development, validation, and implementation of AI-based solutions in medical imaging and radiotherapy.
Lars Eijssen
Dr. Lars Eijssen is an Assistant Professor at the faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences at Maastricht University, working at the departments of Translational Genomics and Psychiatry & Neuropsychology, and closely collaborating as a supervisor with many other academic and clinical departments. Having a background in both medicine and applied mathematics, he has focused on data analysis in biomedical research throughout his career. Initially studying genetic diseases and developing bioinformatics workflows for omics data processing, he and his teams currently focus on integrative multi-omics systems biology and the application of machine learning approaches for the study of multifactorial as well as rare diseases. Applications are in various domains, with a core focus on neuroscience and mental health and disease. Lars coordinates courses for multiple Bachelor, Master and postgraduate programmes, bridging biomedical and data sciences. He has co-authored more than 50 papers related to bioinformatics and analyses in various biomedical domains.
Jarno Koetsier
Jarno Koetsier is a PhD candidate in the Department of Biochemistry at Maastricht University, where he applies systems biology approaches to unravel the molecular mechanisms driving the pathogenesis of Rett syndrome, a rare neurodevelopmental disorder. His research integrates multi-omics data to advance our understanding of this neurological disorder. Prior to his doctoral research, he worked on the early prediction of cognitive impairments and dementia using the blood’s DNA methylation profile. With a strong interest in AI-driven biomedical research, Jarno’s work aims to shed light on neurological disease mechanisms and contribute to the development of novel diagnostic and prognostic tools.
Alphons Vincent
Alphons Vincent, MD is currently Medical Director for the Cardiac Rhythm Management division of Medtronic in Western Europe. He is with Medtronic for 34 years and held several positions in marketing, business, clinicals, education and medical affairs. His experience includes positions in Vitatron, a pacemaker company within the Medtronic corporation, Cardiac Surgery (heart valves), Subcutaneous Diagnostics and Monitoring (implantable cardiac monitors) and Cardiac Rhythm Management.
He is a graduate (MD) of the Medical School at the University of Nijmegen (NL) and holds bachelor’s degrees in Management Information Systems and Economics at the University of Tilburg (NL). In his current role he is responsible for physician advisory boards, scientific symposia, clinical evidence strategy, Office of Medical Affairs and professional relations with the medical societies. He plays a coordinating role in managing the relationships with key opinion leaders in Europe.
Rachel Cavill
Dr Rachel is an Assistant Professor in systems biology and applied mathematics within the Department of Advanced Computing Sciences, Maastricht (DACS). After receiving her MMATH in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of York in 2002, she continued at the same institution and received her PhD in 2007, developing bio-inspired machine learning algorithms. During her postdoc years, she transitioned into the field of bioinformatics and spent four years working at Imperial College London. Currently, she and her team, collaborate extensively with biomedical researchers to explore how machine learning and data science approaches can allow us to integrate biological datasets from different sources.
Henry Woodruff
Dr. Henry Woodruff began his academic journey studying physics and astronomy at the University of Bonn, Germany, later earning a PhD in astrophysics in Sydney, Australia. He then transitioned to medical physics and image analysis, ultimately relocating to Maastricht in 2017 to focus on AI-driven medical imaging analysis. Since 2019, leading The D-Lab at the Department of Precision Medicine, he oversees the development of algorithms for detection, prediciton, diagnosis, and progonisis of various diseases ranging from cancer to mulitple sclerosis. Henry now focuses on the implementation of these AI models in clinical practise. He is also active in education, being involved in the planning and execution of programs to teach AI to students at FHML, as well as the integration of generative AI in teaching.
Konstantia Zarkogianni
Konstantia Zarkogianni received her MEng in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2003), an MSc in Electronic and Computer Engineering from the Technical University of Crete (2005), and a PhD from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) (2011). In 2017, she became a permanent laboratory teaching staff member at NTUA. In 2023, she was appointed as Associate Professor of Human-Centered AI at the Department of Advanced Computing Sciences, Maastricht University. Her research focuses on AI-driven decision support systems and intelligent user interfaces. She has published 17 journal papers, 3 invited editorials, a book chapter, and more than 30 conference papers. She has participated in Greek (ENDORSE, smarty4covid) and EU-funded (MOSAIC, VOXReality) projects. She is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (ΙΕΕΕ).
