Tom Goffin

Tom Goffin is an associate professor in Health Law at Ghent University and one of the founding members of the interfaculty and interdisciplinary research platform METAMEDICA of Ghent University.

He has obtained a master in law and a doctor in law (medical law) from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), where he started his profession experience as a research assistant in the Centre for Biomedical Ethics and Law of the Faculty of Medicine (2006-2012). From 2012 until 2018 he worked for the legal service of the National Council of the Belgian Order of Physicians. 

Since August 2014 until he started at Ghent University in January 2019, he was project manager for the reform of the health professions regulation in Belgium. He is expert on health law of the Belgian Superior Health Council and member of the Belgian Advisory Committee on Bioethics. Tom is president of the Belgian Federal Commission on Patient Rights,  editor of the European Journal of Health Law and  associate editor of the international encyclopeadia on medical law.

Tom teaches courses at Ghent University in health law. Within HINT.GENT, he is WP leader of WP4 “Ethics & Law”. He is legal advisor of the Ethics Committee of the University Hospital UZGent.

Domains of expertise

  • Legal position of patients & healthcare professionals
  • AI-regulation
  • Medical device regulation
  • Professional secrecy
  • Organisation of health systems
Selected projects and research platforms
  • Metamedica (www.metamedica.ugent.be)

The METAMEDICA platform is aimed at facilitating interdisciplinary academic research and integrated education in health law, health privacy law and medical ethics. METAMEDICA aims to support patients, clinicians, policy makers, legal scholars, ethicists, lawyers and other stakeholders confronted with  medical innovation and role changes in healthcare, with the proliferation of health related data and with new models to process and protect these data.

Key scientific and digital developments lead to role-changes in healthcare, the proliferation of health-related data and new data protection and research data management frameworks. In view of these evolutions, the Metamedica Platform conducts and facilitates interdisciplinary academic research and provides integrated education in health privacy, health law and biomedical ethics relevant for patients, clinicians, policy makers, lawyers, ethicists, and other stakeholders. Particular topics of interest include predictive genetic research, precision medicine, trustworthy AI, big data, and electronic health records.

The three steering members represent three faculties at Ghent University. Tom Goffin, associate professor in Health Law, represents the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Griet Verhenneman, assistant professor in Health Privacy Law represents the Faculty of Law and Criminology and Heidi Mertes, associate professor in Medical Ethics represents the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy.

  • Ensuring a trustworthy use of medical AI from a legal perspective

Over the last four years research was conducted by and together with Sofia Palmieri on the legal aspects of ensuring a trustworthy use of medical AI. In order to ensure the trustworthy use of AI in healthcare, a focus should be placed on three pillars: safety, patient centeredness and quality of care. Each of these three pillars ensures from a different legal perspective the trustworthiness of AI in healthcare.

  • Human oversight on AI in healthcare

Guaranteeing human oversight on AI in healthcare is crucial for its general acceptance within the health system. Ongoing research wants to clarify the different perspective on human oversight. Determining the different roles and legal responsibilities that needs to be taken into account.

Selected publicationsµ

  • Goffin, Tom, and Sofia Palmieri. “Regulating Smart Healthcare Robots : The European Approach.” Research Handbook on Health, AI and the Law, 2024, pp. 75–91, doi:10.4337/9781802205657.00011.
  • Palmieri, S., & Goffin, T. (2023). A blanket that leaves the feet cold : exploring the AI Act safety framework for medical AI. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH LAW, 30(4), 406–427. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718093-BJA10104
  • Palmieri, S., Walraet, P., & Goffin, T. (2021). Inevitable influences : AI-based medical devices at the intersection of medical devices regulation and the proposal for AI regulation. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH LAW, 28(4), 341–358. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718093-bja10053

Work details