Professor Harald Schmidt is a physician, pharmacist, researcher, and a prominent visionary shaping the future of medicine, systems medicine, and healthcare innovation across Europe.
Harald Schmidt explains why the current healthcare system is reaching its fundamental limits and how advancements like precision medicine, artificial intelligence, and cause-based disease models will revolutionize medicine, the pharmaceutical sector, and healthcare infrastructures.
With international experience in Germany, the USA, Australia, and the Netherlands, he merges scientific expertise with strategic insights relevant to business, politics, and healthcare systems.
As the author of ‘The End of Medicine as We Know It’ and a highly requested keynote speaker, Prof. Harald Schmidt addresses topics such as the future of medicine, pharmaceutical and biotech innovation, precision medicine, AI, and the systemic barriers present in today’s healthcare systems.
Prof. Harald Schmidt’s speaking topics
- The Future of Medicine
Why the current healthcare system is unsustainable
- AI, Systems Medicine and Precision Diagnostics
How emerging data models are reshaping medicine
- Healing rather than treating
The shift in focus from symptoms to underlying causes
- Misaligned incentives in the healthcare system
Why systemic issues often hinder innovation
- Innovation in Pharma and Biotech
How novel scientific approaches are transforming drug development
Prof. Harald Schmidt serves as editor of a drug therapy textbook, featuring a foreword and afterword by Eckart von Hirschhausen, who also endorsed his latest book. He has conducted research with future Nobel laureate Ferid Murad and has led international teams, institutes, and research centers in Germany, the USA, Australia, and currently the Netherlands.
He coordinates major European innovation initiatives, including REPO4EU under Horizon Europe, and is recognized as a leading authority in systems medicine and network pharmacology.
Digitalisation in medicine – everyone is talking about it…
However, the crisis in medicine is far deeper, as is its potential for innovation. The goal should not be merely to digitalize the current state of medicine. Nor is increased healthcare spending the solution – quite the opposite. Digitalisation alone is not the answer.
As a critical thinker, Prof. Harald Schmidt identified the broad conceptual crisis in medicine and became a pioneer of systems medicine—a comprehensive redefinition of what constitutes a ‘disease,’ how medicine is organized, and how big data can be used to heal rather than just treat, and to prevent rather than cure.
Harald Schmidt is an engaged and sought-after panellist, podcaster, screencaster, and founder of the German-language platform patientenwiewir.de.
His interests include sports—having been a football referee for many years—and social engagement, such as his involvement with Rotary International, particularly supporting the homeless through initiatives like the Homeless World Cup. Harald Schmidt is also passionate about socially critical and political contemporary art; he has begun creating his own works (realitychanges.de) and has held his first exhibitions.
