AI as a catalyst for Virtual Human Twins in European healthcare

On 11 February 2026, VPH – The Society for In Silico Medicine co-hosted the first EU Health Policy Platform Live Webinar titled “AI as a facilitator for realising the vision of the Virtual Human Twin”. This event brought together researchers, clinicians, policymakers and patient representatives to discuss how artificial intelligence can accelerate the development and adoption of Virtual Human Twin (VHT) technologies in healthcare.

The webinar opened with an overview of the Virtual Human Twin initiative and AI in healthcare by VPH’s director Liesbet Geris who introduced key VHT technologies and highlighted the roadmap developed within the EDITH project, outlining steps toward integrating digital twins into clinical practice.

Sketching the emerging EU Member states landscape on Virtual Human Twins, Irène Vignon-Clementel from INRIA, presented a series of French initiatives, across the entire healthcare value chain. The high level overview presented tangible examples on:

• Policy, public and patient perspectives on digital twins,
• Ongoing advancement through scientific projects – e.g. Meditwin,
• Regulatory pathways and reimbursement mechanisms for digital twins

While the overview from France, presented pathway for adoption of digital twin solutions, the value addition for various stakeholders within EU healthcare spectrum started to emerge.

A panel discussion followed, chaired by VPH’s scientific officer Janaki Raman Rangarajan, with Gernot Marx (University Hospital RWTH Aachen), Gözde Briggs (European Patients’ Forum and Data Saves Lives), Margherita Fanos (EC, DG CNECT) and Yiannos Tolias (EC, DG SANTE).

• Gernot Marx emphasised the AI’s potential in intensive care, particularly for sepsis management and lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic;
• Gözde Briggs stressed that digital twins must support, never replace, human clinical judgement as basic requirement for trust;
• Margherita Fanos presented the EU’s AI Continent Action Plan, including the European Health Data Space, regulatory frameworks such as the EU AI Act and the investments supporting the Virtual Human Twin ecosystem;
• Yiannos Tolias discussed barriers to AI deployment from data standardisation and interoperability to legal challenges, and introduced the COMPASS-AI initiative to support equitable AI adoption across European hospitals.

Over 100+ participants joined the webinar, actively engaged in discussion and responded to interactive polls. Their responses indicated that the awareness was highest for data-driven modelling and personalised medicine and that respondents saw the discovery of new health technologies and early prevention as priority areas for VHT-AI applications.

This event marked a successful engagement with the EU Health Policy Platform members, where the Thematic network on Virtual Human Twins, introduced and framed the key adoption challenges. A second webinar session will focus on real-world case studies and dialogue with regulators, Health Technology Assessment bodies and payers to map the path towards clinical adoption.

To view the slide deck from this session, follow this link.