Marco Spruit

Marco Spruit is a Professor of Advanced Data Science in Population Health at Leiden University, holding dual appointments at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and the Faculty of Science's Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS). His research focuses on translational data science, integrating machine learning, natural language processing, and healthcare applications to bridge fundamental and applied research. He leads the Translational Data Science & AI Lab (TDS Lab), aiming to establish a national infrastructure for Dutch health data science.

Education & Leadership: Spruit earned his PhD in computational linguistics from the University of Amsterdam. He has led numerous initiatives, including the Data Science strategy at Utrecht University and the Translational Data Science research theme at Leiden. His leadership style emphasizes mentorship and collaborative innovation.

Grants & Collaborations: Key projects include UNCAN-Connect (€30M EU grant for cancer research), INSAFEDARE (synthetic data for regulatory decisions), and Phaeton (pandemic preparedness platform). He collaborates with institutions globally, including Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia.

Research Interests: Spruit specializes in federated learning, synthetic data generation, clinical NLP, and AI-driven healthcare solutions. His TDS Lab addresses challenges in data engineering, analytics, and eHealth implementation, with applications in mental health, diabetes management, and elderly care.

Awards: He received the ALLC Bursary Award (2005) for computational linguistics research. His work emphasizes ethical AI and responsible data practices.

Lab & Teams: The TDS Lab includes 1 assistant professor, 2 postdocs, 6 PhD students, and 4 external collaborators. Monthly meetings foster academic and social cohesion, with a focus on mentorship and innovation.