Pieter De Leenheer

Cofounder, Collibra

Search every verified Pieter De Leenheer interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Pieter De Leenheer, CTO at 1upHealth and cofounder of Collibra, has recently discussed the role of data in transforming healthcare. In a May 2024 interview at FTI SuperNova, he stated that the U.S. healthcare system costs about $5 trillion annually, nearly 20% of GDP, and argued that digitalizing clinical and claims data could help shift the system from fee-for-service to value-based care. He also noted that healthcare data is often locked in silos and that paper records remain widely exchanged, citing companies that profit from storing physical patient records. De Leenheer emphasized the need for data governance and privacy controls, comparing patient data to bank investments that should be transparent and used for the patient’s benefit. In an April 2024 podcast episode, De Leenheer discussed the scale of health data, saying it grows at a compound rate of 36% per year and exceeds data produced by other industries. He suggested that using data to identify correlations and causations between risk factors and disease could help guide behavior changes such as diet, sleep, and lifestyle. He also spoke about balancing human judgment with machine calculation, proposing that AI could act as a co-pilot for doctors by analyzing patient data within relevant cohorts rather than relying solely on averages. In a 2021 MIT CDOIQ symposium session, he discussed open data and digital ecosystems, referencing technical standards like Solid and the GDPR’s data portability provisions as mechanisms that could enable data sharing and reuse across organizations.