Digital Twins in Medicine: Sven Hirsch Featured in DIZH Podcast
What if physicians could first test a treatment on a virtual model before applying it to a real patient? This is precisely the idea behind so-called digital twins in medicine.
In a recent episode of the podcast Schampar digital, Prof. Dr. Sven Hirsch – a member of the Core Team of Digital Health Zurich and Head of the Institute of Computational Life Sciences at ZHAW – discusses the potential of this technology for personalized medicine.
Digital twins are data-driven simulation models of a patient or a disease. They integrate information from medical imaging, vital parameters, and lifestyle data, and can be used to simulate disease progression, identify risks at an early stage, and support therapy decisions.
In the podcast, Hirsch explains how such models are developed, what types of data they require, and which challenges still need to be addressed – including issues related to data protection, technical standards, and integration into clinical practice. One example is the European research project GEMINI, which develops digital twins for stroke treatment in order to accelerate and improve clinical decision-making.
The episode illustrates that while digital twins are technologically complex, they also have the potential to fundamentally transform healthcare – from treatment planning to prevention.
Listen to the podcast:
https://www.dizh.uzh.ch/en/2025/07/22/digital-twin-medicine-of-the-future-or-sci-fi/