Our team
We are a comprehensive mix of experienced scientists and entrepreneurs. Our team brings together expertise in medical sciences, artificial intelligence and different life sciences industries.
100+ years
Our software team together holds over a century of experience in AI development
80%
Over 80% of the Aiforia team have degrees in medical sciences or software development
4 locations
Finland, United States, the Netherlands, United Kingdom
15+ annotators
We have an in-house annotation team supporting all AI projects
Jukka is the CEO of Aiforia and prior to joining the company he held various executive positions over the past 25 years in international IT and software businesses such as at SAP and HP. Some of the wealth of experience includes: leading enterprise software sales for healthcare industries as well as overseeing global business development, building strategic partnerships and scaling-up growth companies. He holds an MSc degree in Economics.
Jukka Tapaninen Chief Executive Officer
Kaisa Helminen is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Aiforia. Kaisa joined Aiforia in 2014 and has previously worked for international companies Sartorius, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and a Finnish biotech company Finnzymes Oy. Kaisa has a strong background in life science sector where she has gained almost 20 years of experience in the global business. She has a wealth of experience in global sales, marketing and strategic product management in life science businesses. She holds an MSc degree in Biochemistry.
Kaisa Helminen Chief Operating Officer
Tuomas Ropponen, MSc Tech, is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Aiforia. Tuomas has extensive experience in developing deep learning AI and machine vision based systems and cloud infrastructures. He has previously worked for more than 20 years in international companies Outotec and Sartorius Biohit. Tuomas was one of the founders of Delta-Enterprise, known today as Roima Intelligence Inc.
Tuomas Ropponen Chief Technology Officer
Veli-Matti is the CFO of Aiforia and holds over 20 years experience in the financial sector in several different managerial positions. He has been involved in ECM and DCM deals, equity listings, IPOs, deal structuring and capital raisings. Veli-Matti also has been involved in venture capital and early growth companies as an investor, advisor and a board member.
Veli-Matti holds a M.Sc in Economics from University of Turku and CEFA from Hanken School of Economics.
Veli-Matti Parkkonen Chief Financial Officer
Thomas received his PhD in cancer biology, focusing on the cell cycle and transcription, from the University of Helsinki Medical School in Finland. He completed a post-doctoral EMBO fellowship at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, researching the genomics of breast and prostate cancer. Tom joined Aiforia to advance the new potential of cancer biology, pathology, big data, and artificial intelligence.
Thomas Westerling-Bui, PhD Chief Commercial Officer, Americas
Pekka is the CEO of Desentum Oy. He holds board positions in several biotech and pharmaceutical companies. He is one of the founders of the Finnzymes Group and served as its CEO for 25 years until its acquisition by Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2010.
Pekka Mattila Chairman of the Board
Johan is one of the co-founders of Aiforia as well as a Research Director at the Finnish Institute for Molecular Medicine (FIMM) at University of Helsinki and Professor of Medical Technology at Karolinska Institute.
Johan Lundin, MD, PhD Board Member
Dr. Mari Fe Paz de Paz holds an MD, PhD and MBA. She has over 20 years of technical, entrepreneurial and leadership experience in healthcare innovation and biotechnology, over 15 years experience in strategic advice to major global pharmaceutical, biotech and diagnostic companies, on top of more than 10 years experience in advising investors, investment Funds and Venture capital groups.
Dr. Mari Fe Paz de Paz, MD, PhD, MBA Board Member
Jerry Jian Hong, MBA is currently the CEO of Ascend Capital, Managing Director Ascend Tapio/Artemis S.a.r.L, since 2020. He holds over 12 years experiences in sourcing, global project management, OEM sales and marketing and in addition he has over 10 years experience in business development focusing on overseas M&A and strategic development at the executive level.
Jerry Jian Hong, MBA Board Member
Dr. Bui is a Professor of Pathology and the Scientific Director of Analytic Microscopy Core at Moffitt Cancer Center in the United States. She was the President of the Digital Pathology Association in 2019. She is recognized as an impactful leader in pathology. Dr. Bui's expertise ranges from sarcoma pathology, cytopathology, digital pathology, and cancer biomarker testing.
Marilyn Bui, MD, PhD Moffitt Cancer Center
Dr. Madabhushi is an endowed Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio in the United States and also serves as the Director of the University’s Center for Computational Imaging and Personalized Diagnostics (CCIPD). He is also a Research Scientist at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center and holds an affiliate appointment at the Cleveland Clinic.
Anant Madabhushi, PhD Case Western Reserve University
Dr. Yagi is the Director of Pathology Digital Imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York in the United States. She received her PhD from Tokyo Medical University in Japan and soon after won a Nikon Fellowship for two research years in teleradiology and pathology at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. in the United States.
Yukako Yagi, PhD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Professor Knowles is a global opinion leader in personalized medicine. He is currently a visiting Professor in Personalized Health Care at FIMM (Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland) at the University of Helsinki and a visiting Professor at the University of Oxford, UK. He also serves on the boards of a number of biotech companies and major academic centres. Most notably he was the President of Group Research for the Roche Group for 12 years until 2010 and more recently the Chairman of the Board of both Adaptimmune Ltd and Immunocore Ltd.
Jonathan Knowles, PhD Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland and University of Oxford