PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Paul Suetens

Also known as Paul L. Suetens

Paul Suetens is a medical imaging researcher and professor emeritus at KU Leuven whose work on medical image computing draws on computational science and machine learning. He wrote the textbook Fundamentals of Medical Imaging, which has editions from 2002, 2009 and 2017, and co-founded the KU Leuven spin-offs Medicim in 2002 and icometrix in 2011. From 2004 to 2019 he was associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, and in 2018 he told a radiology congress in Vienna that image computing and deep learning were starting a revolution. In 2020 he co-chaired the Global Partnership on AI's AI & Pandemic Response subgroup with Alice Oh. He is professor emeritus at KU Leuven.

Now at
KU Leuven
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Timeline

  1. 2002

    Medicim and a first textbook

    He co-founds the KU Leuven spin-off Medicim in 2002. The first edition of his textbook Fundamentals of Medical Imaging also appears in 2002.

  2. 2004–2019

    Editing IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging

    From 2004 to 2019, he is associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, and he serves as a member of several research councils and commissions.

  3. 2009

    Second edition of Fundamentals

    The second edition of Fundamentals of Medical Imaging appears from Cambridge University Press in 2009. Hilde Bosmans, Bruno De Man, Stefan Sunaert, Johan Nuyts and Jan D'hooge write the radiography, CT, MRI, nuclear medicine and ultrasonography material with him, and Frederik Maes and Dirk Vandermeulen write the image analysis and visualization material.

  4. 2011

    Co-founding icometrix

    He co-founds the KU Leuven spin-off icometrix in 2011.

  5. 2017

    A 2017 edition from Cambridge

    Cambridge University Press publishes the third edition of Fundamentals of Medical Imaging in 2017. Its eight chapters run from digital image processing and radiography to medical image computing and visualization for diagnosis and therapy.

  6. 2018

    Deep learning at a radiology congress

    At the European Radiology Congress in Vienna in 2018, he says that image computing, including artificial neural networks and deep learning, is starting a revolution and offers an opportunity to radiologists who use it. He heads the Division Image and Speech Processing in the Department of Electrical Engineering at KU Leuven, chairs the Medical Imaging Research Center at University Hospital Leuven, and has authored more than 500 peer-reviewed papers.

  7. 2020–2021

    Co-chairing GPAI pandemic response

    In September 2020, he and Alice Oh of KAIST introduce the Global Partnership on AI's pandemic response work as co-chairs of its AI & Pandemic Response subgroup. In 2021, as professor emeritus at KU Leuven, he co-leads the project "AI-powered immediate response to pandemics" with Michael O'Sullivan of the University of Auckland, which aims to support impactful and practical AI initiatives against the COVID-19 pandemic.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor emeritus at KU Leuven

    He is professor emeritus at KU Leuven, where he was full professor and Head of the Division Image and Speech Processing in the Department of Electrical Engineering. His research on medical imaging and medical image computing belongs to the domains of computational science and machine learning.

Career

  1. NowKU LeuvenFull Professor
  2. 2020–2021Global Partnership on Artificial IntelligenceCo-chair
  3. From 2011IcometrixCo-founder
  4. From 2002MedicimCo-founder
  5. University Hospital LeuvenChair

From the biography.

  1. Of 216 AI researchers who entered public life, 83 held advisory seats and 58 took public rolesIncludes Paul Suetens. Of 216 AI researchers who entered public life, 83 held advisory seats and 58 took public roles. Another 97 people moved from public careers into AI organizations or research, with 62% of dated records starting from 2020 on.
  2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes KU Leuven. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  3. Universities keep AI researchers for a median of 6 years, compared with 2 years at frontier labsIncludes KU Leuven. Across 15,811 dated work stays (6,529 people), median role tenure runs from 6 years at universities to 2 years at frontier labs. We compare all five organization types, starting decades from the 1970s to the 2020s, and the organizations that keep people longest.
  4. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes KU Leuven. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Paul Suetens yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Paul Suetens : AI Expert - OECD.AI oecd.ai. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. AI image analysis: Opportunity or threat? • healthcare-in-europe.com healthcare-in-europe.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Fundamentals of Medical Imaging | Journal of Nuclear Medicine jnm.snmjournals.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. X-ray Computed Tomography (Chapter 3) - Fundamentals of Medical Imaging cambridge.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Paul Suetens – Studium Generale Universiteit Utrecht sg.uu.nl. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. An introduction to the Global Partnership on AI’s Pandemic Response - OECD.AI oecd.ai. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. GPAI’s AI and Pandemic Response Working Group work in 2021 - OECD.AI oecd.ai. Checked 22 October 2026.