How Digital Twins are Becoming the GPS for Healthcare

Professor Alejandro Frangi features in the latest Columbus Global report “Life Sciences: Navigating the Digital Future”, contributing a fresh and accessible perspective on AI and digital twins in healthcare. He describes current healthcare as like reading a paper map, static and retrospective, and positions digital twins as the GPS equivalent, combining data with a physics-based understanding of human anatomy to predict and adapt in real time. The article makes a strong case for pairing data-driven AI with mechanistic modelling to keep clinical outputs interpretable, and highlights in silico trials as an ethical and inclusive alternative to traditional device testing. These ideas sit within a broader conversation across the report, where experts agree that AI’s true value lies not in speed alone but in asking better questions, integrating data across the full value chain, and keeping the patient at the centre of every decision.