Clinical perspectives on the virtual human twin: an overview of engagement and adoption challenges.

Abstract

Digital twins (DTs) in healthcare have the potential to transform patient care, but their adoption depends critically on the perspectives of clinical professionals, pa-tients, and the public. As part of the Ecosystem for Digital Twins in Healthcare (EDITH) initiative, we undertook a programme of targeted engagement to under-stand, explore and integrate these perspectives into the development of the Euro-pean Virtual Human Twin (VHT). Methods included surveys, breakout sessions at public ecosystem meetings, and three dedicated workshops with clinicians and pa-tient representatives covering cardiovascular and musculoskeletal applications. Key findings emphasised the need for early and sustained end-user involvement to ensure that DTs in healthcare address unmet clinical needs, improve patient out-comes, and demonstrate cost-effectiveness. Participants identified practical chal-lenges in data access, validation, regulation, and integration into hospital systems, as well as broader socio-economic and trust-related concerns. Opportunities were also recognised for using digital twins to influence patient behaviour, enhance pre-ventive care, and support medical education. From these insights, we identified recommendations across six themes: inclusion, clinical relevance, integration and validation, trust and equity, patient involvement, and incentives. The outcomes of this work provide an important step towards im-proving clinical interest, engagement, and eventual uptake in DTs in healthcare. Incorporating these perspectives into the VHT roadmap has strengthened its alignment with real-world clinical priorities and patient needs, supporting EDITH's vision of a sustainable and clinically impactful digital twin ecosystem. Further work is needed to extend this research across a wider range of clinical and patient stakeholder groups, and additional complex, multi-parametric clinical environments such as oncology.