Beyond technology: VPH research explores the broader dimensions of in silico medicine
During the VPH2026 Conference, members of the VPH team presented original research exploring how emerging healthcare technologies are communicated, understood and integrated by healthcare professionals, the media and patients.
As in silico medicine moves closer to real-world healthcare applications, understanding how these technologies are communicated and how patients can meaningfully contribute to their development becomes increasingly important. During the VPH2026 session ‘Trusted AI and modelling in health and care: ethical, legal and societal dimensions’ members of the VPH team presented original research exploring these questions from complementary perspectives.
Our social scientist, Zita Van Horenbeeck, examined the role of patients in in silico medicine research. While the field often envisions digital technologies as enabling more personalised, empowering and participatory healthcare, early findings suggest that patient involvement in current research practices does not always fully reflect this vision, pointing to a socio-technical misalignment. Closing this gap is not simply a matter of technological fixes, it also means zooming in on the human actors developing these tools, the assumptions they bring to that work, and the impact of broader institutional structures they work within.
Our science communicator, Davide Montesarchio, together with Zita Van Horenbeeck and Mona Del Piero, presented ongoing research into how in silico medicine has been portrayed in the media over the past decade. The analysis points to a growing presence of the field in the media, alongside an increasing focus on artificial intelligence and differences in how newspapers discuss the potential and broader implications of these technologies.
These presentations reflect the broad scope of VPH activities: alongside connecting and representing a community of scientists developing new healthcare technologies, VPH also supports research into the social, communicative and practical dimensions of their development and application, helping to explore how these innovations are perceived and used by healthcare professionals, patients and society more broadly.
The overall session, co-chaired by Michele Barbier (Inria) and Zita Van Horenbeeck (VPH Society), aimed to open the discussion beyond the technical aspects of digital twin development. Further contributions covered a wide range of topics, from how digital twins fit within the EU regulatory framework, the role of human agency and oversight, and privacy by design across the AI lifecycle. Others addressed the implications of in silico methods for healthcare systems, future pathways for patient involvement, and embedding ethics in virtual human twin development.
The strong interest in the session, reflected in both the number of abstract submissions and the attendance on the day, showed a growing focus in the non-technical dimensions of digital twin technologies. It is also a sign of a maturing community, one that increasingly recognises responsible integration into healthcare as just as crucial to its success as technical development.
