In this new series, Meet exquAIro, we introduce the people behind exquAIro, as well as our partners and participants in our training programs. We kick off with Marnix Bügel, co-founder and board member of exquAIro. In this conversation, he shares his role within exquAIro and his vision for the future of AI in medicine.
Personal Motivations
Bügel has a strong personal drive to use AI for medical advancements. “In 2006, I founded the company Rewire, which now employs 150 econometricians and mathematicians. As a company, you are in a privileged position, and I have always believed that we should also use our talent to contribute to society. In 2018, we chose to focus on the medical sector because medical data is the largest and fastest-growing data source in the world. This offers enormous opportunities to achieve new medical breakthroughs in serious diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and Alzheimer’s.”
A Thoughtful Start
Bügel co-founded exquAIro together with Gerard Koppelman, Professor of Pediatric Pulmonology at the University of Groningen / UMCG, but not without thorough preparation. ExquAIro emerged from a collaboration between Rewire and UMCG. “In a four-year program leading up to the foundation, we investigated whether this multidisciplinary collaboration could lead to medical breakthroughs. The answer was: yes!”
Key Role
Marnix Bügel plays a crucial role in the further development and growth of the organization. “Within exquAIro, I am responsible for fundraising and our market proposition. With our foundation, we have developed a unique formula to achieve medical breakthroughs with AI, including through the intensive training of physician-researchers. At the same time, exquAIro is a relatively small organization, which means I take on other roles as well. I teach at our own exquAIro Academy and support the development of research plans.”
The Power of an Entrepreneurial Mindset
Bügel has brought valuable business perspectives into exquAIro. “One of the things is my experience in transforming blue chip companies to benefit from the power of AI & Data. This experience is relevant as AI is transforming the medical field right now as well. From this experience I know how important education is; not only of the staff of companies but also of the management, in our case physicians themselves. However it was Gerard Koppelman who identified this educational strength within the services of Rewire.
Furthermore, I introduced more focus in collaboration between different specialties but also between University Medical Centres. With these collaboration we can mobilize more power to create medical breakthroughs.”
The way impact is measured also differs between academia and business. “In the academic world, people are cautious about making claims regarding research impact. In business, you are used to selling your plans and quantifying potential impact. What could a breakthrough mean in terms of healthy life years gained? That way of thinking helps demonstrate the relevance of projects. On the other hand, I also appreciate that academic institutions take a more thorough approach and ask more fundamental questions.”
Ambitious Goals
ExquAIro has set ambitious goals. “We want to achieve medical breakthroughs that demonstrably extend people’s healthy life years. That is the beauty of the medical sector: if we develop a new algorithm in the Netherlands to make diagnoses more precise, it can be applied internationally.”Bügel also sees opportunities to contribute to healthcare cost savings through prevention.
Medical Breakthroughs
ExquAIro already has several promising projects underway. “We have just been awarded a grant to use AI to detect congenital heart defects, led by pediatric cardiologist Menno Douwes. A second grant focuses on improving risk assessment for cardiovascular diseases, led by nephrologist Martin de Borst.”
Other concrete results have also been achieved. “One of our training participants, Joost Groen, has developed an algorithm to detect a specific metabolic disorder (GSD Ia). This could potentially play a role in identifying the cause of sudden infant death syndrome. If further validated, it could, for example, be included in newborn screening.”
Additionally, there are plans for AI algorithms focused on Alzheimer’s disease in collaboration with the Netherlands Brain Institute. These examples make AI applications in medicine tangible and relevant. “Many people see AI in medicine as something abstract. But when you explain that it can help prevent a serious disease, it becomes concrete.”
Collaboration and Recognition
Although exquAIro was founded within UMCG, the organization is aiming to collaborate with other University Medical Centres. “In our second class, we already had an oncological surgeon from the LUMC. Furthermore, the cardiology department of the Radboud UMC will be joining exquAIro as of the third class in 2025.”
The feedback from physicians and researchers who have participated in exquAIro’s bootcamps and training programs has been remarkably positive. The first cohort rated the program an average of 8.6, which exceeded expectations. The second cohort even reached an average of 8.9. Bügel is proud of this: “These scores are proof of the value and effectiveness of our program, both for us and for the participants.”
‘We Are Just at the Beginning’
Finally, how does Bügel see the future of exquAIro and AI in healthcare? “New data sources and algorithm techniques, such as Generative AI and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), will play a major role in the future of AI in healthcare. The great thing is that we are right at the heart of these developments, and we can immediately integrate the knowledge we gain from our research programs into our own training.”With his expertise, Bügel is dedicated to using AI as a driver of medical progress. “The impact we can make is enormous, and we are just at the beginning.”
Get in Touch with Marnix
Would you like to connect with Marnix Bügel to learn more about exquAIro, training opportunities, or funding research projects? Feel free to contact him at marnix@exquairo.com.