Alexander Gaiger

Prof.Gaiger has studied medicine and philosophy in Vienna. He is a medical doctor, tenured professor of medicine and head of the department of cancer rehabilitation as well as director of telemedicine, e-health, big data analyses and psychooncology at the Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna. He has over 32 years of experience in the field of internal medicine, specialized in hematology, oncology, psychotherapy and cancer rehabilitation. He spent 6 years as visiting scientist, senior fellow, at the Division of Oncology, University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, USA. 2000-2002 he was chair of Hematology Research, Senior Scientist, at Corixa Corp, a Seattle based biotech company (Seattle, USA) focusing on the development of WT1 cancer vaccine and the decoding of the genome of hematological malignancies. He received several awards and grants and published over 190 patents and peer reviewed research articles. As a principle investigator he lead several phase III trials in in hematological malignancies and conducted big data analyses encompassing biological and psychosocial data.

The experience gained as a doctor and scientist in treating cancer patients for over 32 years has enabled Alex to understand the wider needs of patients with chronic diseases and in healthy ageing, resulting in the development psychosocial support and rehabilitation programs supporting independence and overcoming social isolation, in addition to supporting the delivery of healthcare. Alex is passionate about how digital solutions can help the improve efficiency and outcomes in the health and social care domain, and how it can help Europe to face increasing demand on care within a contained budget. For Prof.Gaiger e-health solutions are the ideal tool to deliver health care from bench to bedside into the real world- the patients and care givers world- to allow patients to thrive despite disease.