E43: Data to Impact: Connecting the Future of European Pediatrics with Alberto Tozzi

In this episode, Dr. Alberto Tozzi shares his vision for how data, AI, and innovation can transform pediatric healthcare across Europe—from improving diagnosis to enabling large-scale clinical research. He discusses the challenges of regulation, data sharing, and cultural adoption, emphasizing that the real barrier isn’t technology, but people, collaboration, and ambition. The conversation highlights the critical role of patients, families, and real-world data in shaping a more connected, responsive, and human-centered healthcare system.

This episode is brought to you by BevelCloud—powering distributed AI in healthcare and driving the Pediatric Moonshot forward. Learn more at BevelCloud.ai."

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, or buenosera to everyone. Welcome to another uh edition of the Pediatric Moonshot Podcast series. Today I'm very pleased to have Dr. Alberto Tosi join us. Uh Dr. Tosi uh is head of predictive and preventative medicine research unit at Bambino Jesu Children's Hospital in Rome, or as I have learned, technically in the Vatican. He's served as the chief innovation officer there since 2017. He has been the president of ISPY, the International Society for Pediatric Innovation. He's been an international public health leader with many years at the Italian National Public Health Institute, collaborations with WHO, European CDC on infectious diseases, and a longtime supporter of the pediatric moonshot. Welcome, Alberto.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Welcome and uh hello to everyone.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

I I'm gonna kick ourselves off with you you were you're one of the OG. You're one of the early supporters of the pediatric moonshot. In fact, as some people know, uh one of our first zones in Europe was actually at at Bambino J Su. So you've been such a supporter of this work. I gotta ask you why.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Well, you know, the very first time that I listened to your story and actually to the potential of the things of the pediatric moonshots in terms of uh clinical reach out, patients involved, and uh achievements, I thought uh that was a crazy mission. It was crazy. It's really the the right word. Because I thought this is impossible. We are struggling for having this kind of results every single day in our career, and we didn't find much for uh having these results. Then I started thinking, well, but this is similar to other technological solutions. Why don't we think about the potential of starting small and expanding gradually to larger networks? And then I suddenly realized that this is really possible. And I thought, this becomes a powerful tool, and this can be applied to a number of applications. So what surprised me was the number of different things uh in which the pediatric moonshot can play. Uh, not only uh finding out the right diagnosis and improving the access to healthcare of children, which is one of the most important things uh we feel uh important for the pediatric moonshot, but also uh improving clinical research and improving having an impact, a real impact on pediatric patients, uh multiplying things that are usually completely disconnected. That was the power of your story, actually. And that was why I was pretty convinced after a few hours, I would say, just thinking about that.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Well, I wish everybody was that inspired, but uh can we uh I'm curious, you know, uh AI is obviously a top of mind in almost every conversation. You talk to me a little bit about where you see, and you know, you could speak as broadly as you choose, AI in healthcare in Europe. Where are we today? Where are we headed? Yeah, could you speak to that?

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Yeah, uh as we as we discussed very frequently, we suffer a lot of regulations, which might not be a bad thing actually, but several times the interpretation of these regulations is uh too severe, I would say, because um everybody feels like uh it's extremely difficult to share data, to stay together, I would say, in the same um research team. And this slows down uh all the activities that might be now very mature. That's one of the things that we feel. That's a very important thing happening because uh recently the um uh European Union uh started working on the European health data space, which uh conceptually is uh a crossroad for every single country in the European Union trying to exchange data. And exchanging data is not only for um actually uh supporting patients going from one place to another, but also using uh secondary data for clinical research. This is extremely important because um this approach uh means that uh data providers, hospitals, for example, will have to show catalogs of data that will be available to other entities for creating multi-center studies and possibly uh creating uh more knowledge for clinical research. So the missing T the missing thing in this story is how do we connect all this data catalog as usual, and that's why uh again uh I've been extremely uh uh interested in the solutions that the European Union is uh trying to propose, but I've not seen yet anything concrete. So uh I think we will be coming to the right uh solution, it will be very gradual, we will be slow as usual, but uh we are ready because actually, if we uh will be uh ready to expose and to offer uh good quality data uh data sets, that will be perfect, and then any solution will be uh uh uh absolutely useful. Now, uh what I think is still missing is a little bit of ambition uh from the European point of view, because I think we should run faster, and also a little bit of uh, you know, we should be a little bit more brave, I would say, because uh uh, you know, we're exploring an area which uh is not uh familiar for anybody. Uh it's something new, and we must explore something that is uh, however, extremely powerful and useful for our patients. So why don't we make experiments, don't make uh laboratories for trying to understand what's going on? This is the area where we are trying to invest more because we feel that with experiments will come new knowledge and uh uh new tools for doing the usual things, being a good medical doctor.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Yeah, well, amen to that. I actually, you know, I I forgot, I just kind of ran through the fact that you're a Bambino Jesus, which I obviously am very aware of, but I don't know that our listeners are. Could you just do a little bit about uh what that hospital is, where it is, and uh, you know, you guys I know support much of Europe, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Well, Bamino Jesus is a place uh uh in Rome. Uh it's uh really downtown, uh very close to St. Peter Church. Uh so for those familiar with uh uh with Rome, with the city, um it's owned by the Vatican, it's one of the largest uh pediatric hospitals in Europe. We have uh some 700 beds only uh for children, all specialties, and a lot of facilities. Actually, uh we have different sites because it's uh there's a site which is really downtown in the middle of uh the the real, you know, where all the traffic all the traffic jams happened. This is Bambino Jesus more or less. And the story was very interesting because it was the the the the building were donated by a family uh to uh to the Vatican, and then the Vatican decided to support this activity. And the Bambino Jesus is uh has grown up as uh uh starting as a small hospital, a tiny hospital, and uh today we have some 2 million 2,500,000 encounters per year, which is crazy. And uh we uh have a lot of people coming from abroad, um many from Eastern Europe, uh many from from the Mediterranean area, but also from other continents. This is becoming to be real. And there are cutting-edge technologies and uh uh groups working very hard in several specialties, uh, you know, oncology, cardiology, surgery, and so it's really uh a fortune being at Bambino Jesus because you see so many things and you can play with so many projects in this. So if you uh will be uh coming around, please give me a call. I'll be happy to show you some of the fancy things of Bambino Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Well, you know, I uh I you you invited me and I did have the privilege of of showing up there. It's uh it's quite something to go there. So uh yeah, I I I uh second anybody's interest in in showing up and visiting. Uh and obviously the food's good. We'll we'll we'll drop back into uh into AI and medicine. Where you know you've you're uh you've been in innovation. Uh where do you see we're headed? You know, you crystal ball us, where are we going?

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Well, um now that I'm old, you know, and I some experience in in this field, uh, you know, when we started thinking about uh implementing innovation activities at the innovation lab and other things, we were thinking that everybody will be would be happening in one, two years. This is impossible because the problem is not having the right tools and the right technology. This is easy. This is absolutely easy. The problem is having the right people on board and having the right relationships. Uh so I think that uh uh we we had a very bad time after the pandemic, that that was a really um a problem, a barrier to improving uh our activities, especially in the innovation area. Everybody was scared, and because you know, investing in risky business is not a popular sport. You know, this is you know, uh, however, I think that we are gradually going back to the idea that without innovation we can't grow up. We can't, absolutely. Uh so anybody um thinking that quality improvement is the only solution for uh improving uh healthcare will be uh absolutely frustrated in a short time because uh this will be not going to the things, to the objectives and to uh the mission that we want to achieve. We want to make uh a better life for children, we want to uh fight uh diseases that we can't uh uh actually uh diagnose or uh or support uh today. And we now have the right tools. We have to understand how to use them. So I think that gradually we getting back to um the idea that exploring new uh areas and being real innovators is something that we need, maybe not um with the same uh uh you know uh feeling that we had at the beginning, that with enthusiasm and uh let's invest a lot of money and so on. But gradually we are getting back to the right feeling. And I hope that this will be the right time to achieve the right things that we have in mind. I'm I'm optimist in this respect, I would say.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Uh, you know, uh obviously AI is uh you know in the water at this stage, everybody talks about it. I I'm curious uh how you react to some people, I would say, are thinking about AI in a Terminator future, and some people are thinking about AI in a Star Trek future.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Well, I would say one more one simple thing. Uh AI is based on data, data is uh uh what is representing ourselves, so we are AI. So I think that it's very, very difficult that uh we will be in a you know fiction uh scenario in which uh there will be a terminator uh a way of interpreting AI or other things. This will be some something that will be extremely useful if we will understand how to use that. Again, for doing that, we must explore and making experiments, but uh I believe that uh we are understanding more and more that it's this is something that is absolutely under the the human control. And the the the important thing is that people should understand perfectly what are the uh actual elements, uh uh the foundations of AI exactly for making the right governance of this kind of technology. Once you understand how it works, it will be easy. So we are just uh going into this transition phase, but I don't think that will be uh the the end of the word, actually. I don't think so.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Good. Uh I um uh I am struck by the fact that you we were just having a conversation about uh nurses and parent groups. I think uh I'll say you and I have developed a cadre of we'll call it the medical doctor MD PhD cohort who all believe in this future we're talking about. Could you talk a little bit about what your conversations have been like with parent groups as well as with nurses?

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Uh well, what I you know, I must say uh if I think uh to what happened when I was young, I was uh grown up in the epidemiology space. And one of the karma, well, one of the, I would say not all the karma, is that the epidemiology says that the decisions in the clinic should be taken together with patients. And the karma is that it never happens. So this is something that we never felt as a gap for trying to connect what are the uh ideas and the decisions of the clinical uh personal and the feelings of other patients. This is still uh a problem, and uh, whenever I have the opportunity to speak with patients or families, they always ask for some or more information about what happens, what's the diagnosis, what is this therapy. Please explain. This is the one of the most important things. And uh, if we don't uh try to be on their side, uh they will be doing uh by themselves a lot of uh um activities, including uh, for example, asking Chat GPT what is this disease and how should uh manage that? Uh that would be uh something uh uh problematic for the relationship between the medical doctors and the and the families. So uh the other point that I feel is important is that families and patients are anxious to be supportive. Can we make something with you? And we completely disregard this power, which is a superpower. Actually, uh you you have the experience with the our friends at iSpy of seeing children uh explaining and proposing beautiful and wonderful ideas. Why don't we use them? It's simple, they just want to be uh actually in the same place, and this is another point that is very important. And the third uh point I think is very important is uh listening more carefully to what the patients and families say. We often uh with our nurses say we should listen even to the things that are unspoken. Uh, because you know, when patients uh stay with us and they sometimes maybe don't tell one word, but if you stay with them for a while, you understand a lot of things, and this is again information, data, something that is ready for action. So I feel like this area will be going up and exploring possibly. Um also because uh there's another uh simple observation AI needs data. Well, what happens between two uh medical visits we never know. But if patients will be able to provide this information uh with their uh stories, but also with their uh you know devices, wearables, this will be a really uh important. And this data will be dynamic, will be very granular, would be a lot of data. So I feel like this would be fun.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Well, fun. That's a good place to you know get ourselves towards the end of this. Uh, you know, you're you've recently I like to say retired from your full-time role.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

I'm not sure because it seems like I I'm uh I'm busy, really busy.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

I I don't even I don't know that we can tell that that's happened, but um what do you see on the horizon? What's next for Dr. Totsey?

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Uh well uh well I never uh think that I will be with without my curiosity, I will never uh stay, you know, safe, I would say. What I'm trying to uh make every single day is finding out novel things and novel solutions uh and novel areas to um make uh some advances and trying to understand how we can make something better for our patients. This is fun, exactly, because actually I'm free to explore every kind of thing. So it's not just studying and exploring the medical literature or making research projects, it's also trying to be focused on the potential solutions and trying to catch uh signals from other disciplines. This is real fun, absolutely, and I will continue to make it until I will be tired and I will be maybe on a beautiful beach and to drink something and just looking at the sea.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

That sounds ideal. Uh if people want to learn more, contact you. What what what should we tell them to do?

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Well, they can uh write me, drop me an email whenever they want. My email address is alberto.dotcy at gmail.com. If uh anybody wants to have more information, happy to chat and provide uh signals or other things that come in our hands.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

And for all of you on LinkedIn, uh Alberto's on LinkedIn as well. So hey, you know, uh a real pleasure to have you on the pediatric moonshop happiness. Thanks for being part of the OG and being a uh ambassador for the uh for the effort. So uh have a good evening.