In the second article of our Meet exquAIro series, we have a conversation with Gerard Koppelman, co-founder & chair of the board of exquAIro and Professor of Pediatric Pulmonology at the UMCG. This time we dive into the scientific and educational vision behind the initiative. Koppelman shares his personal motivation, his vision for data and AI in medicine, and how he sees the future of medical training.
Scientific curiosity
Koppelman’s journey into data science and AI was sparked by scientific curiosity and a drive to improve patient care. After earning his PhD in Groningen on the genetics of asthma and allergy, he trained as a pediatric pulmonologist and combined clinical work with research throughout his career.
“My focus has always been on asthma and allergy in children,” he explains. “Working with large datasets involving genetics, epigenetics, and biomarkers, I wanted to extract meaningful insights to improve diagnostics and treatment. Traditional methods reached their limits, and that’s when I discovered the power of artificial intelligence to uncover patterns we couldn’t detect before.”
A carefully prepared launch
His journey into data-analyses and AI sparked a collaboration with Marnix Bügel, then director at Rewire, who decided to dedicate part of his expertise and time to nonprofit. Like Bügel, Koppelman emphasizes that exquAIro didn’t appear overnight. “We spent years experimenting with AI within existing research programs,” he says. “Together with colleagues like Martijn Nawijn and Wim Timens at the UMCG, we explored whether AI could genuinely add medical value, and it could. Only after building that foundation of experience and trust we formally launched exquAIro.”
Making knowledge accessible
Seeing the potential of AI in medicine, Koppelman and his colleagues knew they had to share the initiative more broadly. “I find it incredibly rewarding to make this knowledge accessible to others,” he says. “It’s inspiring to see clinician-scientists and researchers from different disciplines come together during our bootcamps — to learn new techniques, collaborate across fields, and sometimes even form real friendships. The energy is tangible. People work hard, support each other, and there’s plenty of laughter too.”
Bridging the gap: empowering medical professionals with AI
The growing exquAIro team learned how to bridge the gap between AI experts and biomedical professionals to achieve impactful results. “We saw a true explosion of data in the biomedical field,” says Koppelman. “Yet the techniques needed to analyze these data effectively were not widely accessible. Most clinicians and researchers aren’t trained in AI or advanced statistics. That was true for me as well, at the start of my career. So if we want to make real progress, we need to train the people who are actually working with patients and data every day.”
At exquAIro, the mission is to equip these professionals with the knowledge and tools to understand and apply AI techniques themselves—and to collaborate meaningfully with full-time data experts. “Unlike many initiatives that isolate AI in a separate department, we believe in empowering the field experts. They are best positioned to see where AI can make a difference. If they can work fluently with data scientists, real breakthroughs happen.”
From classroom to clinic
Koppelman has already seen early signs of this approach bearing fruit. “Within UMCG, we’re seeing AI tools being adopted in clinical care: automated summaries in patient records, chatbots, and smart assistants that generate consultation notes,” he explains. “These developments are still in their early stages, but they show exactly why it’s so important to involve clinicians directly in the AI journey. With exquAIro, we’re preparing them not just to understand these tools, but to help shape them.”
Looking ahead
In the coming years, Koppelman sees exquAIro expanding, both within UMCG and across other medical centers. “We’re currently exploring how many people you need to train within a department to truly trigger an ‘AI transition.’ Some departments are already forming internal working groups and small communities.”
ExquAIro is also building connections beyond Groningen. The second bootcamp already included a participant from Leiden, and Radboud UMC will join the third cohort in 2025. Strengthening the funding pipeline is also a key goal: “We want to ensure that the ideas our participants develop don’t remain on the shelf: whether through funding, advice, or mentorship.”
Medical education in the slipstream of AI
And what is in store for exquAIro in the future? AI is developing at lightning speed, and exquAIro evolves along with it. “Our first bootcamp focused heavily on classical machine learning,” Koppelman says. “But in the second round, we added large language models like GPT and multimodal AI—systems that can learn from different types of data, like text and images.”
One current trend that excites Koppelman is AI agents: intelligent systems that can perform tasks autonomously and collaborate with one another—for example, automatically scheduling a consultation based on a patient’s query. “These kinds of applications make healthcare both more efficient and more human, because professionals can focus on what they do best: truly connecting with their patients.”
Want to connect with Gerard?
Do you have questions about exquAIro’s vision, medical research, or training opportunities? Feel free to reach out to Gerard Koppelman: check his details on our page or send him an email (gerard@exquairo.com).