Speakers
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SPECIALISTS
SPEAKERS BEING UPDATED

The Netherlands
Lucien Engelen
CEO
Transform. Health
He’s assisted organizations, corporations, and governments worldwide for over 30 years to prepare for healthcare’s future. After a career in acute healthcare, he now bridges vision, strategy, and practice to advise top stakeholders on their innovation and transformation strategies in this dynamic era, and continues to work in healthcare institutions.

Sweden
Jolanda van Vliet
Senior Innovation manager
Innovation Skåne, Sweden
Experienced leader in public health and innovation with 20+ years across municipal and regional levels. Ph.D. in paediatrics, M.Sc. in nutrition. Skilled in cross-sectoral collaboration and co-creation, with deep insights into both hurdles and success factors for health system transformation.

The Netherlands
Mira Zuidgeest
Associate Professor
University Medical Center Utrecht
Mira Zuidgeest is Associate Professor at the UMCU. Trained as pharmacist and epidemiologist, with a PhD in pharmacoepidemiology, her work focuses on clinical trial innovation, the interaction between methodology and operations, the generation of RWE in trials, decentralised trials and diversity of participants. She is academic lead of IMI Trials@Home and board member of the GetReal Institute.

Hungary
Antal Kuthy
Founder & CEO
E-Group ICT Software
Founder & CEO of E-Group, visionary behind key tech projects, closely collaborating with academia. With deep knowledge of EU, US & Asian innovation, he aims to strengthen EU hi-tech via Sovereign Data & AI, with healthcare as a key area. Direct partner & industry board member in EU IPCEI-CIS; E-Group leads the FedEU.ai project.
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The Netherlands
Dena Kasraian
Assistant Professor
Eindhoven University of Technology
Dr. Dena Kasraian is an Irène Curie fellow and tenured assistant professor with expertise in architecture, urban planning and design, and transport. She uses mixed methods to study interactions between the built environment and health-related behavior such as travel behavior and children’s outdoor play. She also examines the health and equity impacts of urban and mobility planning interventions.

Spain
Jennifer Clawson
Partner & Director
Boston Consulting Group, Spain
Jennifer Clawson is a Partner & Director at BCG, coordinating the firm's value-based health care program. She co-authored The Patient Priority, led the BCG team to establish ICHOM – a global, not-for-profit for health outcomes measurement – and leads the training programme development for the European Health Union Fellowship, among a broad range of client work across health organisations.

Portugal
Ricardo Cruz-Correia
Professor & entrepreneur
Porto University
Ricardo is Assistant Professor at FMUP’s Department of Community Medicine, Health Information and Decision (MEDCIDS) and Principal Investigator of the Entrepreneurship for Innovative Health Solutions group at RISE-Health. His research in health information systems has translated into impactful entrepreneurial ventures, resulting in the creation of companies such as HealthySystems, VirtualCare, and IS4Health. These initiatives reflect his commitment to transforming academic innovation into practical, market-oriented digital health solutions. He also contributes as a board member of E-mais.

Portugal
Inês Sanches
Hospital Consultant
ULS Gaia Espinho
Pulmonologist at ULS Gaia Espinho, holding an integrated Master’s degree in Medicine (FMUC) and currently a Master's student in Medical Informatics (FMUP). Associate Editor of the Pulmonology Journal. Focused on digital innovation in respiratory health and sleep medicine, she combines clinical practice with research and emerging technologies.

Marco Aiello
Senior Researcher
SYNLAB SDN
Senior researcher at IRCCS SYNLAB SDN. MS in Physics and a PhD in Computer Science. He achieved the National Scientific Qualification as a Full Professor in both Applied Physics and Healthcare Professionals Science. He coordinates the Image Processing Laboratory at IRCCS SYNLAB SDN.
Italy

Hélder Palheira
Nurse
HC Healthcare
Currently developing a Master’s thesis in Medical Informatics: “Exploring Data Models: Use of RWD and OMOP CDM for a Wound Management Dashboard.” Creator of a project at HC Healthcare focused on professional management and home care services. Member of the Digital Nursing and AI Working Group at the Portuguese Nurses’ Association. Advocate for the use of technology in clinical practice.
Portugal

United Kingdom
Wafaa Hassan
Senior Analyst
GlobalData Healthcare
Wafaa is a Senior Analyst in the Strategic Intelligence Pharma team at GlobalData’s London office. She specializes in delivering in-depth analysis and reports on key pharmaceutical industry themes, with a focus on advanced technologies such as digital health, AI, and big data. She holds a BSc degree in Biomedical Engineering and an MSc in Healthcare Management from City, University of London.

Portugal
Alexandre Lourenço
CEO/Chairman
ULS Coimbra
CEO of ULS Coimbra, a pioneering integrated delivery service with over 10,000 staff members. He teaches at the NOVA School of Public Health and heads the WHO Collaborating Centre on Health Management. With over 20 years of experience in healthcare leadership and WHO consultancy, he has significantly contributed to global health reforms. He holds a PhD from the NOVA SBE and has led several NGO.

Portugal
Inês Sá Dantas
Healthcare Lead
Microsoft
Inês Sá Dantas is currently the Healthcare Lead at Microsoft, pushing for digital transformation in the healthcare sector as a means for efficiency, access and quality. Previously, she served as a Specialist in the Cabinet of the State Secretary for Healthcare in the Portuguese government, coordinating cross sector digital transformation.

Hugo Marques
Director of Digital Health, AI, and Automation
Siemens Healthineers Portugal
Healthcare leader driving the humanization and efficiency of care through digital innovation. With 20 years of experience, he leads the Digital & Automation area at Siemens Healthineers. Passionate about medical technology and sports, he applies high-performance team values to advance a patient-centered vision.
Portugal

Portugal
Carlos Sousa
CEO
OPVANCE
Carlos Sousa served as IT Director in several public and private hospitals over a span of 30 years. With a degree in Computer Science, he also holds a postgraduate qualification in Health Information Systems from the Catholic University. He is currently a founding board member of HL7 Portugal and the e-MAIS association. Additionally, he is a guest lecturer at ISCTE, ENSP, and ESSCVP.

Hungary
Ákos Tényi
Head of Smart Data Product Line
E-Group ICT Software
Creative and innovation-driven product and team leader with a PhD in bioinformatics and 6+ years’ experience driving AI/ML innovation from concept to market. I specialize in building and scaling data-driven products, such as federated AI platform and agent based trustworthy AI chat engine, managing cross-functional teams, and leading multi-national projects.

Portugal
Liliana Sá Correia
Health Interoperability Consultant
Timestamp, SA
Liliana Correia, with a master’s degree in Medical Informatics and certified in HL7 v2.x, HL7 FHIR Foundation, and Proficiency, is a senior Health Interoperability Consultant at Timestamp. She works as an interoperability architect and analyst, as well as an integration developer, and leads the S3 interoperability project at SPMS. She previously worked at Glintt as a Product Owner and was a researcher at CINTESIS.

Portugal
Rui Costa Cunha
Medical Doctor and Senior Devops
Asklepic
Rui Cunha is a Medical Doctor and Senior Developer with over 15 years of experience. He specializes in DevOps, Cybersecurity, and Backend development, and has served as a Scrum Master, Penetration Tester, and Head of Cybersecurity. Currently, he focuses on agentic autonomy solutions for healthcare, involving AI and LLMs, with strong expertise in Machine Learning and infrastructure design.

Portugal
Tomé Pedroso
Advisor to the Board of Directors
MultiHealth
Tomé Pedroso is an insurance expert and manager with national and international experience. Currently, he is an advisor to the Board of Directors at Fidelidade. With a background in Economics from UCP, an MBA from INSEAD and a Master in Actuarial Sciences from ISEG, he was a board member of several companies and led multiple areas at companies such as La Positiva, Tranquilidade, Açoreana, AdvanceCare and Esumedica. He also chaired different Technical Comittees at APS (Health, Workers Compensation, Liabilities, Property) and was the vice chair of the Accidents Committee at Insurance Europe.

Slovenia
Tjasa Zajc
Founder/Host
Faces of Digital Health
Tjaša Zajc is a digital health expert, moderator, and host of the Faces of Digital Health podcast. With a background in journalism and healthcare IT, she brings sharp insights into policy, technology, and ethics. Known for her thoughtful interviews, she helps global experts unpack complexity and drive meaningful conversations.

Portugal
Sandra Dias
Senior Interoperability Consultant
HealthySystems, Portugal
Sandra is a physiotherapist and she studied for a Master's degree in Medical Informatics at FCUP/FMUP, where she got really interested in how health information systems can work together. She's a Senior Interoperability Consultant at HealthySystems, where she works as a functional analyst. Her focus is on the specification and implementation of international standards, namely HL7 v2 and HL7 FHIR.

Portugal
João Almeida
Chair
HL7 Portugal
João Almeida is a pharmacist with a PhD in Health Data Science. He chairs HL7 Portugal and is part of the Technical Coordination Team (TNT) of HL7 Europe. He is an assistant professor and researcher in AI, causal inference, and interoperability, and CSO at PharmaDataHub, focusing on HL7 FHIR and semantic health data innovation.

Germany
John Butler Ransohoff
Pharmaceutical R&D
Independent Consultant
Dr. John Butler is an independent consultant in the pharmaceutical industry. Formerly VP Global External Innovation at Bayer, he has over 35 years’ experience from early discovery to clinical development and EU-funded R&D. A chemist by training (Heidelberg, Rockefeller), he is Visiting Professor of Immunology at St George’s, University of London.

Kerstin Kaspar
AI Certification Manager
TÜV AI.Lab
Kerstin Kaspar is Certification Manager at TÜV AI.Lab, a joint venture of leading certification bodies. She contributes to the European research project TEF Health, focusing on certification of AI systems. TÜV AI.Lab develops conformity criteria and test methods for trustworthy AI. Kerstin holds an M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering from TU Berlin.
The Netherlands

Alfredo Budillon
Scientific Director
National Cancer Institute Pascale Foundation – IT
He has Italian National Qualification as Full Professor of Medical Oncology; of Health professions and applied medical technologies; of General Pathology. Author of over 200 articles published in peer reviewed journals and of two international diagnostic tools patents. The Career H-Index Scopus (2024) is 53 (>8000citations)
Italy

Portugal
Sérgio Laranjo
Deputy Director
Nova Medical School
Pediatric cardiologist at Hospital Santa Marta and Assistant Professor of Physiology at NOVA Medical School. With a PhD in cardiovascular physiology, he leads Pediatric Arrhythmology units and focuses on digital biomarkers and AI, coordinating European projects on telemonitoring. He also serves as Deputy Director of D³@NOVA and Academic Director of the MedTech Knowledge Centre at NMS.

United Kingdom
Ana Luísa Neves
Associate Professor in Digital Health
Imperial College London
Dr Ana Luisa Neves is a Clinical Associate Professor in Digital Health and Director of the Global Digital Health Unit (GDHU), a research hub for innovation and entrepreneurship in health care. Dr Ana Luisa Neves leads a team of doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, conducting research on the use of digital technologies to deliver safer, more effective, and patient-centred care.

Xavier Aldeguer
Councilor/ Medical Doctor
Ajuntament de Girona
MD, PhD Gastroenterologist. Councilor for Innovation, Talent & Health, Girona City Hall. Innovation coordinator, Hospital Dr Trueta of Girona. Professor School of Medicine, Girona University. Former Tech-Transfer Director, Catalan Ministry of Research & Universities. Former Fellow of Upenn, Philadelphia, GoodGut Biotech Company co-founder.
Spain

Júlio Oliveira
Chairman of the Board of Directors
IPO Porto
JO concluded his graduation in Medicine at the ICBAS. Since 2011 he is Medical Oncologist specialized in Clinical Pharmacology. JO created and become responsible for the Early Phase Clinical Trials. He also coordinated an innovative program in the field of genomics, the Precision Oncology Program and the Molecular Tumor Board. Since October 2022 JO is the board president of IPO Porto.
Portugal
Francisco Goiana
da Silva
Physician, Manager, University Professor, Health Commentator
Graduated in Medicine from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon and holding a PhD in "Health Policy, Global Health Innovation" from the Imperial College Faculty of Medicine, he has been intensively dedicated to the areas of health promotion and disease prevention.

Portugal