The GenoMed4All Journey: Interview with Anna Rizzo (Datawizard)
Anna Rizzo is a Research Project Manager at Datawizard in Italy. Her current expertise in dissemination and exploitation for EU-funded projects, particularly related to e-health, draws from a combined academic and professional background in biology, data science and science journalism.
As part of our new series of interviews with GenoMed4All partners, Anna reflects on the role she’s had during the project, her contributions and main learnings, and her expectations for the project’s impact after it’s officially completed in June 2025.
Work package leadership and interdisciplinary collaborations
As a healthcare IT company with a strong focus on telemedicine applications and data standardisation, at Datawizard we’ve had the privilege of contributing to both the early and final phases of the project.
Our involvement began with data modelling, gathering requirements from clinicians and technical partners and translating those needs into functional and technical specifications for the GenoMed4All platform. One of the core challenges was selecting a coherent data model that could support the complex needs of the project, alongside harmonising and standardising diverse data sources.
We also worked closely with the clinical partners to support the characterisation of data flows across the project; this was essential for ensuring ethical and legal compliance, particularly under the GDPR, and towards the final phase we’ve also been focused on aligning our work with emerging frameworks like the EU AI Act and the technical standards being developed by bodies such as CEN-CENELEC.
Another key contribution was supporting the exploitation strategy. At Datawizard, we operate at the intersection of research and market implementation. We’re not only committed to advancing innovation at the European level but also to turning those innovations into usable products for hospitals and industry, particularly in telemedicine. In GenoMed4All, we took on the role of bridging the gap between research and the market; we’ve worked with partners to review project outcomes, identify potential use cases, and support efforts to give those results a life beyond the project — whether through further research, new funding opportunities, or early-stage market pathways.
Impact on precision medicine for hematology
One of the most common challenges with EU-funded research is that excellent work often remains confined within project boundaries. We’ve tried to counter that by helping bring GenoMed4All innovations closer to real-world application — or, as we like to say, closer to the patient’s bedside.
One major advantage has been our strong connection to ERN-EuroBloodNet, the European Reference Network for Rare Hematological Diseases. Through this collaboration, we’ve been able to ensure wider dissemination, support training programmes and, most importantly, lay the groundwork for the GenoMed4All platform’s sustainability.
Two new networks are currently being developed as part of the project’s legacy. The first, led by Vall d’Hebron Research Institute, focuses on non-oncological hematological conditions like Sickle Cell Disease; the second, led by Humanitas Research Hospital, is dedicated to hematological cancers. These networks will act as central nodes, connecting clinical centres with academic and private-sector partners who are developing AI-driven decision support tools.
The goal is to enable those partners to refine and validate their solutions using high-quality clinical data from the network. If we succeed, this will represent a major step forward in advancing precision medicine in hematology.
The legacy of GenoMed4All going forward
From the beginning, we understood that the GenoMed4All platform wasn’t meant to become a commercial product. Its value lies in its structure, its collaborative ecosystem, and the quality of its data. That’s why we’ve agreed within the consortium that the platform’s long-term stewardship should rest with ERN-EuroBloodNet and the clinical centres involved. They are best positioned to ensure continued research, support solution development, and train the next generation of tools and professionals.
This handover represents both an honour and a responsibility for the clinical centres. But with the support of the consortium and the broader ERN-EuroBloodNet community, it also marks the beginning of a federated research network in clinical AI. That, to me, is one of GenoMed4All’s most important achievements.
Main takeaways from this 4-year journey
There are always lessons to be learned from working on exploitation. One recurring challenge is getting partners, especially those from academia, to engage with the idea of exploitation. Many are focused on publishing results and advancing research, which is entirely valid, but they often have little experience or comfort with the concept of valorising those outcomes beyond academia.
This disconnect extends to relationships between academia, clinical centres, and industry. These groups often operate with very different goals and expectations. But for exploitation to succeed, we need to understand who the future users and buyers of our solutions might be — whether hospitals, companies or funding agencies.
Even when solutions are still at an early technology readiness level, we should think ahead: What does success look like beyond the lab or the pilot? Who might benefit from this innovation, and how can we bring them into the conversation early? That kind of forward-thinking is essential if we want our research to have a real impact, and I hope it’s a mindset we continue to cultivate across EU-funded projects.
The GenoMed4All Journey: Interview with Nathan Lea (i~HD)
Nathan Lea is the Information Governance Lead at The European Institute for Innovation through Health Data (i~HD). Drawing from his 25+ years of experience in Digital Health, backed by a masters in Computer Science and a PhD in Information Governance and Security, Nathan has become a widely renowned figure in regulatory affairs for clinical data and patients’ privacy rights.
As part of our new series of interviews with GenoMed4All partners, Nathan reflects on the role he’s had during the project, his contributions and main learnings, and his expectations for the project’s impact after it’s officially completed in June 2025.
Work package leadership and interdisciplinary collaborations
Over the past few years, I’ve been deeply involved in leading Work Package 2, looking after compliance, data governance and ethics.
My main focus has been to help the consortium develop a complete understanding of what we’re trying to achieve, how we’re doing it, and why it matters. That starts with understanding how data flows through the project, but it goes far beyond that. It’s about building a shared sense of purpose, ensuring that everyone, regardless of their role, understands what’s being done, with what data, and toward what end.
In multi-partner projects like this one, it’s easy for teams to get siloed. But GenoMed4All really brought together people who might never have collaborated otherwise, and we managed to create something cohesive, something greater than the sum of its parts. Even those not directly involved in data governance came to appreciate the importance of, for example, how informed consent at the beginning of a process affects tool development further down the line.
That kind of mutual understanding doesn’t come from compliance checklists or rigid directives. It comes from dialogue. From saying, “Let’s figure this out together.” That’s the approach we’ve taken throughout WP2 — not as enforcers, but as facilitators of shared responsibility and practical alignment.
Building a shared understanding to protect clinical data
I’ve been constantly impressed by the humility and collaboration within this consortium. Our partners brought extraordinary experience — deep knowledge of diseases, research protocols, patient engagement — but never once used it to dominate a conversation. Instead, they offered their insights in ways that strengthened what we were doing together. It created an environment where it felt safe to explore uncertainties and work toward clarity as a group; that’s not something I take for granted.
A lot of our work came down to experience and practicality. We didn’t start from scratch; instead, we used proven tools like data protection impact assessment (DPIA) templates that have been refined over years of working with clinical and health data. We also leaned on existing resources from the European Commission, such as their templates for joint controller agreements.
The goal was never to burden partners with extra processes, but to help legal, regulatory and data protection teams do their work more effectively — having worked in one of those teams myself, I know how overstretched they can be. Offering well-prepared templates, asking who their data protection officers are, and building relationships early on made it easier to move quickly while still doing things properly.
Ultimately, we were able to support a governance model that respected both innovation and institutional due process. We made it clear that while we would conduct a project-wide DPIA, each partner still had to do their own. We weren’t dictating from the top, we were building a toolkit for everyone to adapt and use.
Main takeaways from this 4-year journey
Personally and professionally, GenoMed4All has left a lasting impression on me. It’s deepened my appreciation for due process — not as red tape, but as the structure that enables meaningful innovation. In the rush to develop AI and data-driven tools, it’s easy to dismiss procedure as a barrier. But in truth, those processes are what make responsible, impactful work possible.
This project has also reinforced the importance of humility and collaboration. Though I’ve often said “I lead this” or “I lead that,” the truth is that leadership in GenoMed4All has always been shared. Every success we’ve had has come from people stepping up with their own expertise and contributing to something bigger. It’s a model I’ll carry with me, and one I hope to replicate in future work.
And perhaps most importantly, this project has reminded me that governance itself must evolve. We can’t apply outdated, intrusive models to fast-moving, collaborative, digital health environments; we need innovation in ethics and data protection too. GenoMed4All has shown that it’s possible, and I’m proud to have been a part of this journey.
The legacy of GenoMed4All going forward
As the GenoMed4All project draws to a close, I’ve found myself reflecting on what we’ve built together and what we’re leaving behind. Now, as we finalise our deliverables and recommendations, I hope the tools and insights we’ve developed will serve as a foundation for others navigating this space, particularly as new regulations like the AI Act begin to take shape.
We may not fully understand the impact of that legislation for another few years, once implementing acts are in place and case law starts to form, but the work we’ve done here gives people a chance to begin thinking critically about how AI can and should be used in healthcare — and just as importantly, what its limitations are.
The GenoMed4All Journey: Interview with Teresa García Lezana (CRG)
Teresa García Lezana is a Scientific Project Manager at European Genome-phenome Archive, which is part of the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) based in Barcelona. Among her many duties, she provides support for the implementation of fair principles for genomic data management in European projects, especially in healthcare and medical R&I initiatives like GenoMed4All. Her background in translational medicine is supported by a degree in Biology, a PhD focused on liver diseases, and her current postdoctoral research in liver cancer genetics.
As part of our new series of interviews with GenoMed4All partners, Teresa reflects on the role she’s had during the project, her contributions and main learnings, and her expectations for the project’s impact after it’s officially completed in June 2025.
Involvement across work packages and interdisciplinary collaborations
In Genomed4All, the CRG team leads the Work Package 8, which aims to enhance the value of what has been done in the rest of the technical work packages by other project partners.
Our core function revolves around genomic standardization, and the final outcome is the development of the genomic standardization guidelines. For this, we have been interviewing and collecting information from the bioinformaticians involved in the project, to really understand. So we really need what kind of data analysis and formats they’ve been working with.
Through a process of sequencing and standardization, we have created this guide so other peers outside GenoMed4All can understand what has been done in the project, and can follow the same procedures, so eventually they could integrate their data with the data from GenoMed4All. Essentially, this activity allows for our data to be more interoperable and reusable.
Impact on precision medicine for hematology
As part of the CRG team, our main contribution has been towards achieving the fair usage of the data. By working together with other partners in our work package, we’ve created protocols for data access so it can be ethically found and used by other researchers.
Achieving the interoperability of the data – so it can be understood, reused and integrated by others – is a big advancement towards achieving a well-established system for precision medicine in hematology in Europe. Our hope is that the genomic standardization guidelines we’ve created will be a useful resource for the healthcare and medical community in general.
Main takeaways from this 4-year journey
GenoMed4All has made me more aware of how heterogeneous genomic data is, and how complex it is to use and reuse data that has been generated in a clinical context.
When working with different hospitals, different infrastructures and formats, the integration of this data is really complex and there are many challenges that we still need to address; so through this experience I’ve come to realize about the state in which we are in as a community in terms of data standardization.
Also, on a personal level, I’ve learned about the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration. Without the constant cooperation between researchers, clinicians and other key stakeholders, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve what we have done in GenoMed4All.
The legacy of GenoMed4All going forward
One of main legacies of GenoMed4All will be the data that have been created and curated, and that will be accessible to others.
I think the project is also setting some ground for the development of AI and precision medicine that will be used by other projects; all of us together, as a consortium, have created everlasting knowledge that can inspire others and pave the way for future developments in this area.
The GenoMed4All Journey: Interview with Catalina González (Dedalus)
Catalina González Martín is an International Project Manager at Dedalus. With a background in biomedical engineering, she now manages several projects focused on the design and integration of software solutions to aid the digitalization of healthcare systems worldwide.
As part of our new series of interviews with GenoMed4All partners, Catalina reflects on the role she’s had during the project, her contributions and main learnings, and her expectations for the project’s impact after it’s officially completed in June 2025.
Involvement across work packages and interdisciplinary collaborations
Dedalus has been working mostly across two work packages (WPs): as a leader for WP5 and as a collaborator on WP4.
These two were closely related and required direct collaboration with some of our partners, especially Humanitas Research Hospital and Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM), and of course all the rest of partners that have been providing the data — which has been crucial for the success of both work packages.
Our main work has been related to the development, the deployment and the validation of the federated learning platform and the homogenization platform. These two platforms serve as the foundation for the implementation, the anonymization and the training of the data models and the algorithms that have been developed in the other WPs that are part of GenoMed4All.
We have also worked very extensively in the treatment of the different data that the hospitals and the other clinical partners have been providing throughout the project, to make sure it could be integrated with the platform while following careful procedures to standardize and anonymize the data.
Impact on precision medicine for hematology
Both work packages have significantly helped the advancement of the federated learning platform, whose ultimate goal is to enhance personalized medicine strategies for hematological diseases. For example, the anonymization of the data is crucial to safeguard the patient’s privacy and for the clinical partners that have provided this data to feed the algorithms.
Even though we have already seen some positive results before the end of the project, I believe the true impact of our work will likely be perceived over time, especially if the platform continues to be trained with new data, or with new models being implemented.
Main takeaways from this 4-year journey
GenoMed4All has been one of the largest and most heterogeneous projects I’ve been involved in. I have certainly learned a lot, both technically and functionally.
As a Project Manager, for me it’s all about organization and coordination. In such a large project as this one, I have learned that your greatest strength can sometimes also be your greatest weakness if you don’t manage things correctly. So I have realized that when you have many different partners from many different countries, languages, background, different professional profiles, the biggest challenge is to know how to manage all this potential together
The main highlight for me has been taking on this challenge, and I think that we have managed to overcome it and to get the best out of each collaborator.
The legacy of GenoMed4All going forward
Through the collaboration and the connection of all the partners in Europe, in GenoMed4All we have created a very powerful tool, and it’s really important to take care of this legacy. Scientifically and functionally, we’ve brought together so many different expertises, and I believe the involvement of such a diverse group of professionals has enriched the evolution of the project from the very beginning.
Also, thinking about the formation of the algorithms and the joint work we’ve done to create the platform, makes this a tool with great potential, one that can be further explored and tested even after the project has finished. So I definitely would like to see that it continues being implemented in the hospital nodes where it has already been deployed, and they continue training it with different new data models, different algorithms and taking advantage of all its full potential.
GenoMed4All's Women In Science - A chat with Marilena Bicchieri
On the occasion of International Women Day and the ongoing #WomenInScience campaign, we want to celebrate the amazing women of GenoMed4All.
And that's why we sat down with our colleague Marilena Bicchieri, GenoMed4All's Scientific Coordinator and Healthcare Project Manager at Humanitas Research Hospital. Here's what she had to say about her role in our project, together with her experience building a successful and meaningful career and navigating the highs and lows of STEM as a woman.
What is your role as a scientific coordinator: from both a personal and professional point of view?
As scientific coordinator, my role is both stimulating and challenging. From a professional perspective, I am responsible for keeping up-to-date with the progress of the project and identifying any gaps or needs of each involved partner to ensure the project moves forward smoothly and efficiently. I serve as a bridge between the technical experts and the clinicians, who often have different perspectives. Therefore, I must be able to understand both points of view and effectively communicate shared information.
From a personal perspective, I understand the importance of constantly learning and improving to excel in my role. By continually enhancing my knowledge and skills, I can provide valuable feedback, advice, and insights to my colleagues, helping to steer the project in the right direction. I am also driven by my ambition to achieve outstanding results, which motivates me to stay proactive and engaged every day.
What is your experience in GenoMed4All? (As part of a team? Your vision of the project as a whole?)
GenoMed4All is an ambitious project that requires a high level of expertise and coordination across a diverse group of partners. As a member of the team, I feel privileged to be part of such a dedicated and talented group of individuals. The consortium is composed of experts from various fields, including researchers, clinicians, technical experts, and industry partners, who all bring unique perspectives and skills to the table.
Working together as a team is essential to the success of the project, and I believe that everyone is committed to this shared goal. While it can be challenging to stay on the same track, the sense of unity and purpose within the team makes the difference. I am continually impressed by the dedication and professionalism of everyone involved in the project.
I believe that GenoMed4All has the potential to be a game-changer in the field of personalized medicine, thanks to the exploitation of -omics data, and will provide one of the first federated platform implementation in the healthcare sector. By leveraging the latest advances in AI technology and applying them to the study of haematological diseases, we can gain new insights on diagnosis and prognosis while developing more effective treatments with the ultimate goal to improve patient outcomes and quality of life. This is incredibly motivating for everyone involved and I am excited to be part of this initiative and look forward to seeing the impact that it will have on the field of haematology and technology.
Could you share some of the main challenges (and highlights!) you have experienced in your career?
As women in STEM, I feel incredibly fortunate to have had a positive, supportive and respectful environment throughout my career. However, it's important to consider that being a woman in a male-oriented society can come with additional challenges, such as breaking stereotypes and biases.
I've sometimes had to work hard to prove myself which, as positive effect, has helped me to grow stronger and more resilient. Indeed, it is important to focus on the rewards that come with overcoming these challenges rather than feeling defeated. Many steps forward have been made in our society and what I have experienced is the result of many years of battles for woman emancipation. I still believe that pursuing a career in STEM can be demanding and require a great deal of responsibility, but with the right approach and a commitment, it can also be incredibly rewarding.
To succeed in STEM, it is essential to be motivated. Motivation will lead you to be open to learning, taking on new challenges, and importantly being willing to take risks. Self-improvement is crucial, as it allows you to grow and develop your skills and expertise. Lastly, setting clear goals and working towards them is necessary to stay focused and driven.
What would be your inspiring words to encourage girls and women to pursue the STEM path?
One of the important advice I would give to girls and women committed to a STEM career is to be brave. Don't be afraid to take on new challenges, even if they seem daunting at first and never be afraid to drive important decisions. Surround yourself with supportive colleagues and mentors, who can help guide you along the way. And remember that the work you do in STEM can have a significant impact on the world around you: by pursuing a career in STEM, you have the opportunity to make a real difference and drive important advancements in science and technology.
I encourage all girls and women interested in STEM to follow their passions and believe in themselves. By doing so, we can keep up to break down the barriers that still exist in the field and pave the way for a more diverse and inclusive STEM community, especially in the most impactful apical roles, where the presence of women is significantly statistically underrepresented.
The world needs more female scientists, engineers, and innovators at the top of the society and I am confident that the next generation of girls will continue to make important contributions to the field.
Interview courtesy of Marilena Bicchieri, PhD - Healthcare Project Manager at Humanitas Research Hospital