Pioneers in Healthcare: Collaboration and Innovation for Better Care

Of the 37 proposals submitted, 10 were selected this year, each receiving a €60,000 grant. These projects deal with various medical challenges and technological innovations, aiming to improve patient care and increase healthcare efficiency. The projects starting this year focus on diagnoses such as sleep apnea and endometriosis, heart failure, asthma, cancer and technologies such as advanced AI systems, innovative imaging and 3D printing.

During the evening, Anneriet Dassen and Maureen Guichelaar, both medical specialists at MST, presented the results of their research for which they received a PIHC voucher in 2022. Their work shows the impact the vouchers have on improving diagnostics and personalised care. Maureen Guichelaar developed an AI model based on MRI data to predict a specific form of liver cancer early. This model prevents unnecessary medical tests for most patients and provides improved diagnostics via MRI to those patients who need it. This will lead to faster diagnosis of liver cancer, with better treatment options and survival rates.

Anneriet Dassen presented her research on the digital Patients-Like-Me (PLM) dashboard, which helps breast cancer patients choose the best-fit treatment together with their healthcare provider. This dashboard combines prognoses with long-term outcomes, such as pain and fatigue, and makes this data transparent to patients. This enables patients to make better-informed decisions.

Miriam Vollenbroek, member of the Board of Directors of MST, stressed the importance of the PIHC vouchers: ‘Collaboration between academic institutions and healthcare organisations is important. By developing innovative solutions together, we shape healthcare transformation. The PIHC grants are a good incentive in the collaboration.’

More information about the PIHC innovation fund and summaries of the awarded proposals can be found on the PIHC website