My name is María Parra Rodríguez Armijo. I am part of the Computational Health Informatics Group at Virgen del Rocío University Hospital, within the Andalusian Health Service (SAS). My work focuses on data interoperability, FAIR principles and the preparation of clinical data for research and innovation.
What do I do in INDICATE?
I contribute to the methodological guidance developed in WP2, designing the ETL dataflow and translating interoperability standards into practical instructions that hospitals can apply when preparing their ICU data.
What am I up to during INDICATE?
I am part of Work Package 2 (WP2), which focuses on defining the INDICATE Common Data Models and supporting data providers in preparing their ICU data for the federated infrastructure. Within WP2, I am responsible for drafting the Data Provider Handbook, which provides the methodological and technical guidance that data providers will follow when preparing and transforming their data. I also support coordination across WP2 to ensure that the guidance is coherent, feasible and aligned with the needs of the clinical use cases.
What motivates me to be part of INDICATE?
I am motivated by the challenge of making complex data harmonisation processes accessible and supporting the adoption of shared methodologies across hospitals.
I am originally from California and hold both a BA and MSc in Political Science, specializing in Public Policy and Governance. During my studies, I participated in the UCDC program and completed a semester abroad at Bocconi University. My background combines academic training in politics, law, and governance with experience in international and policy-oriented environments.
What do I do in INDICATE?
Within INDICATE, I work as a Project Administrator supporting the Project Manager, Lisanne van Prooyen Schuurman, and the coordination team. My role focuses on the day-to-day administrative and organizational support of the consortium, including assisting with technical and financial reporting, organizing meetings and preparing minutes, supporting communication between partners and with the European Commission, and helping track project milestones and deadlines.
What motivates me to be part of INDICATE?
I am motivated by contributing to an international research collaboration that focuses on improving intensive care through ethical and privacy-preserving data use. INDICATE’s federated approach to health data is particularly meaningful, as it enables collaboration across Europe while ensuring patient data remains protected within hospitals. I value being part of a project that combines governance, innovation, and real-world healthcare impact.
What do I expect to accomplish within INDICATE?
I aim to support the smooth implementation of the project by ensuring that coordination, communication, and administrative processes run effectively across the consortium. I also hope to strengthen my experience in supporting large-scale European collaborations and contribute to maintaining clear structures that help the project meet its milestones and deliverables.
How does my background or expertise contribute to INDICATE’s goals?
My academic background in Political Science and Public Policy and Governance provides a strong foundation for understanding institutional structures, governance frameworks, and multi-stakeholder collaboration within European projects. My professional experience across policy, legal, and organizational environments has strengthened my ability to support structured communication, manage detailed processes, and work across diverse teams. This allows me to contribute to the effective coordination and administration that supports INDICATE’s goal of building a secure federated infrastructure for intensive care data across Europe.
On 25th and 26th November, the INDICATE Training & Education Workgroup gathered in Athens for a productive two-day workshop focused on advancing activities according to the ADDIE model (Analysis–Design–Development–Implementation–Evaluation) such as needs assessment, content and resource design, selection of methods and activities according to the expected outcomes.
These steps are essential building blocks for developing specialised and targeted education tracks that will support successful implementation and use of the INDICATE federated infrastructure for ICU data. The tracks are developed for clinicians, researchers, innovators, data providers, data users, service providers and infrastructure providers across Europe.
The meeting opened with a roundtable introduction, where all attendees briefly presented themselves, setting the stage for cross-disciplinary collaboration. Day one featured a showcase of the INDICATE knowledge platform, a review of the needs-assessment activities, and the breakout sessions of the three working groups.
Day two kicked off with great energy, as the groups shared their initial findings and continued shaping key priorities for the first topics and educational activities to be developed and delivered by June 2026. The sessions concluded with a concrete planning of the next steps for the Training & Education Workgroup.
Key highlights:
Productive alignment on the needs assessment activities, ensuring the educational solutions address learner requirements.
Strong collective commitment to advancing the development of critical resources for the INDICATE community such as a common glossary and repository, ensuring alignment on definitions and evidence-based insights that reflect the need for education on AI-driven critical care across Europe.
Clear prioritisation of educational topics on the Legal Framework and Data Models, expected outcomes, methods, activities and timeline to take the next steps in developing education tracks and training materials.
A big thank you to Maria Theodorakopoulou and Despina Nikolopoulou (HSICM) for hosting us these two days!
And also thank you to all who joined! Michel van Genderen (INDICATE PI), Jan van den Brand (Erasmus MC) Joel Alexandre (ESICM), Maurizio Cecconi (ESICM), Maria Theodorakopoulou (HSICM), Maarten Ligtenberg (Cradeq), Melania Istrate (ESICM), Aliza Bos (Erasmus MC), Elisa Vera (ESICM), Despina Nikolopoulou (HSICM), Giovanna Mercurio (FPG), Celia Alvarez (SAS), Bert Cappelle (UZGhent), Mark Driessen (KPMG) and Philogirl.
This collaboration strengthens our shared European reach and accelerates progress toward secure, interoperable ICU data sharing, fully aligned with the ambition of the European Health Data Space (EHDS).
ESICM will be represented by Maurizio Cecconi in the External Expert Advisory Board of INDICATE.
Step into the future of Intensive Care innovation by participating in our Hackathon on ICU federated data usage. This dynamic event invites ICU clinicians, engineers, data scientists, and startups from the INDICATE and EIT Health network to co-create a vision for a global, real-time federated data infrastructure.
Together, we’ll explore how to securely link ICU data across national and EU systems using anonymization techniques and federated learning. While ensuring full compliance with EU regulations and the AI Act. Participants will gain hands-on experience implementing Equitable AI Models Across Diverse European ICU Populations and help us build the Value-based proposition of Federated ICU Data Usage, guided by expert mentors. Expect rich cross-pollination of ideas and help shape ethical frameworks for deploying clinical and research algorithms.
Join us for this collaborative opportunity to discuss how to better implement the ICU federated data infrastructure on Thursday 5th of February from 8:00hrs to17:00hrs in Amsterdam. The Hackathon will be a part of the 2026 ESICM Intensive Care Innovation Forum. Let’s build the future of ICU data. Secure, smart, and shared.
INDICATE Technical Lead Jan van den Brand joins EU panel on Virtual Human Twins in Brussels
The high-level event on Virtual Human Twins (VHTs), held on the 21st of October in Brussels, Belgium, brought together leading voices from the European Commission, academia, industry, and patient organisations, all united by a shared goal: accelerating innovation in health through AI, data, and trustworthy digital ecosystems.
End of September: INDICATE Design Workshop in Rotterdam at KPMG. Lots of bright minds in the room thinking about how we can advance patient-centered care and promote the use of Intensive Care data by developing and implementing responsible and trustworthy AI-models.
Interview with INDICATE co-lead Michel van Genderen on NOS Nieuwsuur
Recently, INDICATE co-lead Michel van Genderen shared his expertise on the Dutch national news program NOS Nieuwsuur, discussing the risks associated with AI tools such as Delphi-2M, which predicts the likelihood of developing diseases.
Healthcare institutions possess vast amounts of untapped data that could drive innovation and improve patient outcomes. As much as 97% of health data world-wide is not re-used. With INDICATE we aim to unlock this potential by building a federated data infrastructure for Intensive Care Units (ICUs) across Europe.
But how can you analyze data without accessing it directly? The answer lies in INDICATE’s design, specifically in its first development phase due for delivery in August 2025.
INDICATE’s federated analysis architecture enables data users, such as researchers, innovators, and policy makers, to derive insights from ICU data across multiple institutions, regions, and European countries.
At the II National Congress on Innovation for the Advancement of Health Data Management and Evaluation (INNODATA 2025), held on 24–25 September 2025 in Seville (Spain), the Computational Health Informatics Group from the Virgen del Rocio University Hospital, as part of the Andalusian Health Service (Servicio Andaluz de Salud-SAS), presented their work on advancing federated integration of ICU data in Europe.
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AI tool predicts diseases: ‘The risk is that we might interpret it the wrong way.’
Recently, INDICATE co-lead Michel van Genderen shared his expertise on the Dutch national news program NOS Nieuwsuur, discussing the risks associated with AI tools such as Delphi-2M, which predicts the likelihood of developing diseases.
How much risk does someone have of developing a disease like cancer? Or of having a heart attack? The Delphi-2M system can predict that. But does it really help us? Or does it also come with risks?
“When I read about it, I thought: yet another prediction model. Research shows that only two percent of all AI innovations are actually used in healthcare. Innovations often don’t fit well with real-world practice,” says Michel van Genderen, internist-intensivist and co-founder of the AI ethics lab REAiHL, a collaboration between Erasmus MC and TU Delft.
Van Genderen and his colleagues advise the World Health Organization (WHO) on the use of AI in healthcare: “Embracing AI in healthcare will go wrong if there are no moral ground rules. It must be safe and ethical.”
Read the full article here (in Dutch) or watch the news itemhere(in Dutch). The item starts at 30:30 minutes.
This collaboration strengthens our shared European reach and accelerates progress toward secure, interoperable ICU data sharing, fully aligned with the ambition of the European Health Data Space (EHDS).
Together, we aim to support Intensive Care Units across Europe in responsibly connecting data, advancing research, improving clinical decision-making, and ultimately enhancing patient care. A key element will be the development of a federated data infrastructure, enabling hospitals to collaborate without moving data outside the hospital, while maintaining privacy, trust, and local control.
ESICM will be represented by Maurizio Cecconi in the External Expert Advisory Board of INDICATE.
