Translating AI to Clinical Practice

Susanne Wegener is a Senior Physician at the Department of Neurology at University Hospital Zurich (USZ) and SNF Professor at the University of Zurich. She specializes in stroke and neuroangiology, with clinical expertise in duplex sonography, headache, EEG, cerebral imaging, and both primary and secondary cardiovascular prevention - particularly in women’s health. Her academic career includes medical and doctoral training in Hamburg, research posts at the Max Planck Institute and UC San Diego, and a habilitation from the University of Zurich.

Her research focuses on translational stroke science, including prediction of recovery in acute stroke, the role of microcirculation and neuroplasticity (KFSP Stroke), and mechanisms of reperfusion failure. She also investigates optoacoustic imaging in cerebrovascular disease and the specific cardiovascular risks faced by women. With numerous publications to her name, she actively contributes to the field’s advancement and outreach.

Combining clinical excellence with innovative research, she plays a leading role in bridging basic neuroscience and patient care, with the goal of improving outcomes and prevention strategies in cerebrovascular disease.

Gunnar Rätsch heads the Biomedical Informatics Group at ETH Zurich’s Institute of Machine Learning. He also serves as Adjunct Faculty at University Hospital Zurich and is a Core Faculty Member at the ETH AI Center.

His team tackles complex biomedical challenges with cutting-edge machine learning. Current projects include algorithms for medical time series, multi-modal single-cell and spatial data, and biological sequence analysis. He has led local, national and global research efforts, such as the RNA analysis working group of the International Cancer Genome Consortium, working groups in the Swiss Personalized Health Network and the LOOP Biomedical Informatics platform.

Mary-Anne (Annie) Hartley (Prof MD) is the director of LiGHT (Laboratory for Intelligent Global Health and Humanitarian Response Technologies) based at EPFL School of Computer Science with active sites in the U.S. (Harvard School of Public Health), Rwanda (C4IR) and India (Ashoka University).

Her work integrates AI, clinical research, and humanitarian response, including leadership in vaccine trials and epidemic modeling. With experience spanning Ebola outbreaks to COVID-19 trials, she has collaborated with ministries of health and global NGOs. Her mission is to bring intelligent, scalable solutions to underserved health systems worldwide.