“Data that saves lives: the power of AI in healthcare” brings together experts in artificial intelligence and medicine at the Valencia Medical Association

The conference showcased applications of artificial intelligence in medical diagnosis, neurorehabilitation, biomedical imaging, mental health, and data protection, highlighting its impact on personalised medicine and the new ethical and technological challenges facing the healthcare sector.

Valencia, 14 October 2025. This morning, the Valencia Medical Association hosted the conference ‘Data that saves lives: the power of AI in healthcare,’ an event promoted by ValgrAI (Valencian Graduate School and Research Network of Artificial Intelligence) in which leading researchers and professionals demonstrated how artificial intelligence is transforming medicine, from diagnosis and rehabilitation to mental health and clinical data management.

The session began with a presentation entitled ‘AI and Health’ by Sergio Esparcia, head of education at ValgrAI, who highlighted the role of artificial intelligence in the early detection of diseases, the reduction of diagnostic errors, and the optimisation of hospital resources. Esparcia also reflected on the ethical challenges and personal data protection issues involved in the use of medical AI, and presented ValgrAI’s new course, ‘AI Applied to Health,’ which includes three micro-credentials aimed at healthcare professionals and biomedical researchers, scheduled to begin in November 2025.

Next, Juan M. García-Gómez, director of the Biomedical Data Science Lab (BDSLab) at the UPV, presented projects involving massive data analysis that enable personalised treatments and improved medical care. He discussed various projects in which data science is used to analyse large volumes of health information—from mortality records to medical images and data collected by mobile phones—to improve diagnoses, optimise hospital resources, and personalise treatments in areas such as oncology, chronic diseases, and emergency care.

In addition, García-Gómez highlighted his team’s progress in European projects, the creation of spin-offs, and the generation of scientific knowledge. The presentation also emphasised the importance of data quality, algorithm transparency, and human supervision to ensure patient safety and the protection of their fundamental rights.

Of particular interest was the presentation by Vicente Quiles Zamora, a researcher at Miguel Hernández University, who gave a talk entitled ‘Brain-machine interfaces in neurorehabilitation: from the laboratory to practice’. In it, he explained how artificial intelligence and neuroscientific technologies are transforming recovery processes after a stroke. Quiles showed the evolution of traditional therapies towards more advanced models that integrate robotic exoskeletons and brain-machine interfaces (BCI), capable of interpreting the patient’s neural signals to facilitate motor rehabilitation in a more precise, personalised, and motivating way. During his presentation, he shared the results of projects carried out in collaboration with the National Hospital for Paraplegics in Toledo and the Hospital de los Madroños, where AI algorithms are used to analyse the patient’s attention and mental state, control robotic devices through motor imagination, and detect unexpected events during treatment.

María de la Iglesia Vayá, director of the Joint Unit for Biomedical Imaging and Artificial Intelligence (UMIB-IA) at FISABIO-CIPF, also spoke, presenting innovations in medical image analysis using AI, early detection of prostate cancer, and the use of augmented reality in surgery. De la Iglesia discussed her team’s pioneering work in developing predictive models, segmentation algorithms, and clinical data anonymisation systems to ensure patient privacy and improve diagnostic accuracy. UMIB-IA combines deep learning, natural language processing, and federated learning technologies to build secure, standardised databases that enable large-scale biomedical research. During her presentation, the researcher highlighted projects such as PROST-AID, focused on the accurate detection of prostate cancer using AI, and the use of augmented reality to assist in surgical procedures. She also presented advances in the use of radiomics and the integration of clinical, genetic, and imaging data to create personalised medicine models.

The presentation ‘AI at the service of therapists: enhancing clinical practice in mental health’, given by Aarón Picó Pascual from the Valencian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (VRAIN) at the UPV, showed how artificial intelligence can become an ally for mental health professionals. Picó highlighted that, given the global increase in psychological problems and difficulties in accessing care, AI-based tools are being developed—such as apps, chatbots, and session analysis systems—to support therapeutic work, improve patient follow-up, and reduce the administrative burden on professionals.

The presentation also explored the development of intelligent affective agents capable of recognising emotions, detecting cognitive distortions, and adapting their response to the user’s emotional state. These models are designed with an ethical approach, in which the therapist always maintains control of the process, ensuring privacy and data security. The aim is to enhance the effectiveness of psychological treatment, free up time for personalised care, and move towards more accessible and technologically advanced mental health care.

The conference concluded with a presentation by Professor Javier Plaza Penadés, Data Protection Officer at the University of Valencia, who analysed the legal and ethical challenges of using personal data in the healthcare sector, emphasising the need to strengthen security, transparency, and accountability in the use of AI-based technologies. Overall, the programme highlighted the importance of consolidating a responsible healthcare innovation ecosystem, in which artificial intelligence becomes a tool at the service of health, science, and people.

ValgrAI (Valencian Graduate School and Research Network of Artificial Intelligence) is a non-profit foundation formed by the Valencian Regional Government, the five public universities of the Valencian Community (UV, UPV, UA, UJI and UMH) and companies in the sector. It coordinates study and research in artificial intelligence in the Valencian Community to respond to the technological needs of companies and promote the creation of new talent in artificial intelligence, thereby renewing the productive model of the Valencian Community.

The project seeks cooperation between knowledge generators (teachers and researchers), companies and productive sectors interested in this technology, with the aim of turning the Valencian Community into a centre of excellence in Artificial Intelligence technologies.

More information:

Esther Cerveró

esther.cervero@valgrai.eu

614161052

“Data that saves lives: the power of AI in healthcare” brings together experts in artificial intelligence and medicine at the Valencia Medical Association

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