Events

Digital Twins have advanced various fields in engineering for decades and are now entering clinical care, posing several critical challenges.

A digital twin, built of data from a patient and the environment, aims to mimic the structure and behavior of the physical patient, is  dynamically updated with new data, and seeks to make predictions about the patient and inform decisions.  But how should such digital entities be regulated, and how do and will they affect clinicians, clinical decisions, and patients? 

This multi-disciplinary workshop brings together leading experts – data scientists, clinicians, ethicists, legal scholars and others – to explore these complex and growing cutting edge clinical, ethical and legal questions.

This was part of the Frontiers in Data Science and AI initiative at the Data Science Institute, Columbia University, and was co-sponsored by the Columbia University Masters of Bioethics Program and the Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub.

Event Details

Monday, April 27, 2026 (9:00 AM - 5:00 PM)
Location: Columbia School of Social Work (Room C05)

Agenda

Monday, April 27, 2026 - Hybrid Event

9:00 AM: Welcome Remarks (10 min)

• Robert Klitzman, Professor of Psychiatry (in Sociomedical Sciences), Columbia University Irving Medical Center; Program Director, Bioethics Program, School of Professional Studies, Columbia University

9:10 AM: Introduction: What are digital twins and why are they important? (20 min)

• Florence Hudson, Executive Director, Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub

9:30 AM: Current Clinical Uses I: How are DTs now being used in clinical care, and what clinical, provider, patient, regulatory, ethical or legal challenges arise? (75 min)

• Moderator: Florence Hudson, Executive Director, Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub (in-person)
• Dan Isaacs, GM & CTO of the Digital Twin Consortium, Chief Strategy Officer, Object Management Group (in-person)
• Eric Stahlberg, Executive Administrative Director for the Institute for Data Science in Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center (in-person)
• Grace Peng, Director of Mathematical Modeling, Simulation and Analysis, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) within the National Institutes of Health (virtual)
• Chakra Chennubhotia, Associate Professor of Computational and Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Chief Executive Officer, PredxBio, Inc. (virtual)

10:45 AM:  Break

11:00 AM: Clinical Uses II and Clinician Perspectives (75 min)

• Moderator: Charles E. Binkley, Director of AI Ethics and Quality, Hackensack Meridian Health; Associate Professor of Surgery, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine; and Lecturer in Bioethics, School of Professional Studies, Columbia University (in-person)
• Nancy Lee, MD, Radiation Oncologist and Early Drug Development Specialist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (virtual)
• Florence Doo, Assistant Professor, Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Director of Innovation, University of Maryland Medical Intelligent Imaging (UM2ii) Center; and Faculty, University of Maryland-Institute for Health Computing (UM-IHC) (virtual)
• Kristin Myers, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia Engineering (in-person)
• Caroline Chung, Vice President and Chief Data & Analytics Officer and Co-Director of the Institute for Data Science in Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center (virtual)
• Martin Genet, Professor, Mechanics Department & Solid Mechanics Laboratory, École Polytechnique (in-person)

12:30 PM: Lunch and Discussion (1 hour)

1:30 PM: Other Stakeholder Perspectives (2 hours)

• Moderator: Robert Klitzman, Professor of Psychiatry (in Sociomedical Sciences), Columbia University Irving Medical Center; Program Director, Bioethics Program, School of Professional Studies, Columbia University (in-person)
• Orlando Lopez, Director of the NIDCR Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial (DOC) Biomaterials, Devices, and Clinical Technologies Program, Division of Extramural Research (virtual)
• Matthias Braun, Director of the Department of Social Ethics, University of Bonn (virtual)
• Nancy Berlinger, Senior Research Scholar, The Hastings Center for Bioethics (in-person)
• Glenn Cohen, James A. Atwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law; Deputy Dean of Harvard Law School; Faculty Director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology & Bioethics at Harvard (in-person)
• Jodyn Platt, Associate Professor of Learning Health Sciences, Medical School Associate Professor of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health, University of Michigan Medical School (in-person)
• Sean Whiteley, Founder, Axomem Private Limited (virtual)

DSI Frontiers Awardees & Hosts

• Robert Klitzman, Professor of Psychiatry (in Sociomedical Sciences), Columbia University Irving Medical Center; Program Director, Bioethics Program, School of Professional Studies, Columbia University
• Florence Hudson, Executive Director, Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub

Contact

[email protected]