A new buzzword has emerged across the health tech space in the last decade: digital twins. Originating from the field of product engineering, a digital twin is a virtual model designed to accurately reflect a specific physical object. Typically, this takes the form of a computer model informed by real-time data collected from sensors that can simulate the behavior of the object under alternative conditions. Within healthcare, however, the term “digital twin” is being used in a variety of ways — from AI-based simulations of disease progression, to mechanistic models of organ or cellular function, and even as a synonym for a patient’s electronic health record.
This panel brings together industry leaders from the digital twin frontier to cut through the complexity and get at the essence of what digital twins are and how they can be applied within healthcare.
Simon Sonntag holds a doctorate in medical engineering and has over 10 years of experience in the field of computer-aided modeling and simulation for medical device development and regulatory approval. He is a board member of various societies and associations, including the European Society of Artificial Organs, and the Avicenna Alliance. In 2019, he co-founded Virtonomy as CEO with the mission to replace animals and humans in clinical trials through the use of digital patient twins coupled with multi-physics simulation.
François-Henri holds an MSc in Management from ESSEC Business School. Prior to founding NOVA, he spent four years with investment bank Lehman Brothers in London and Tokyo where he developed an expertise in financial engineering, deal structuring & execution. François-Henri has participated in securitization deals across a wide range of assets representing total completed financings in excess of $500 million USD in Europe and Asia. As NOVA’s co-founder and CEO since 2010, François-Henri has honed a variety of skills ranging from corporate structuring to business development and people management.
Jonathan co-founded DeepLife in 2019, establishing the first ever Digital Twin platform for cells and biological systems to support the life sciences industry. He has multiple experiences in entrepreneurial companies, as well as over a decade of experience in technical roles in the aeronautical industry. His education includes a degree in Business from the Mays School at Texas A&M University, as well as Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Complex System Engineering.
Charles is a scientist with interests at the intersection of physics, machine learning, and computational biology. Previously, Charles worked as a machine learning engineer at Leap Motion and a computational biologist at Pfizer. He was a Philippe Meyer Fellow in theoretical physics at École Normale Supérieure in Paris, France, and a postdoctoral scientist in biophysics at Boston University. Charles holds a Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard University and a B.S. in biophysics from the University of Michigan.
Arsalan Arif is a news media entrepreneur who set out in 2015 to build his vision of an independent biotech news company at Endpoints News.