How Painting Shapes Leadership and Empathy

In this special episode of SpreadLove in Organizations, produced in partnership with the MIT Club of Boston BioSummit, Naji Gehchan welcomes Dimitrios Skaltsas, CEO and co-founder of Intelligencia AI. Founded in 2017, Intelligencia is a pioneer in applying artificial intelligence, data science, and biomedical expertise to transform decision-making in pharmaceutical R&D. Dimitrios shares his remarkable journey from studying law in Greece to leading one of the most innovative companies in healthcare AI. Inspired by his roots and driven by a deep sense of purpose, he reflects on the pivotal moments that shaped his career — from consulting at McKinsey to discovering a passion for innovation in life sciences — and how love, family, and giving back have guided his mission.

Dimitrios dives into the origins of Intelligencia AI and the crucial problem it set out to solve: improving R&D productivity and redefining how risk is assessed in drug development. By building machine learning models to predict the probability of clinical success, Intelligencia provides pharmaceutical companies with a robust decision-support tool, helping them prioritize programs, optimize portfolios, and ultimately bring new therapies to patients more effectively. Dimitrios emphasizes that AI should complement, not replace, human judgment, serving as a powerful tool to support intuition with data-driven insights. As the company continues to grow, it is expanding into new therapeutic areas, geographies, and functionalities, with a focus on making drug development smarter, faster, and more predictive.

The conversation also explores the human side of leadership and innovation. Dimitrios shares how his love of painting — from abstract canvases to portraits of people he knows - mirrors his leadership philosophy: balancing big-picture creativity with deep human connection. He defines leadership as a responsibility to serve others and sees clinical trials as both a blessing and a challenge; essential for patient safety but ripe for innovation. On AI, he is optimistic yet cautious, recognizing its transformative potential alongside its risks if not guided by ethics and discipline. This episode offers a rich exploration of purpose-driven leadership, the intersection of art and science, and the future of AI in reshaping how life-changing medicines are discovered and developed.

"AI is a huge opportunity for life sciences, but without ethics, it can mislead us."

MEET OUR GUESTS Ditrios Skaltsas Co-Founder & CEO, Intelligencia AI.

As the CEO and co-founder of Intelligencia AI™, Dimitrios Skaltsas drives the AI-driven technology organization's business and investment growth strategy while overseeing critical functional areas of the multidisciplinary global team. Founded in 2017, Intelligencia AI leads the way in leveraging proprietary data, biomedical expertise and artificial intelligence (AI) with its patented technology to address significant challenges in the pharmaceutical industry. These challenges include lengthy drug development timelines, excessive costs, and unsustainable return on investment (ROI). Its suite of AI-powered solutions delivers actionable insights crucial in mitigating risks and enhancing decision-making associated with drug development by providing an accurate, unbiased assessment of a drug’s probability of success. 

In 2024, the company received a U.S. patent for its accurate and transparent probability of drug success assessments. It also earned its inaugural spots on the Inc. Regional (Northeast) and Inc. 5000 for the first time. The Healthcare Technology Report recognized it as one of the Top 100 Healthcare Technology Companies. In 2021, the company completed its Series A funding and was named one of Forbes's Top AI Companies to Watch. During this time, Dimitrios played a pivotal role in establishing a strategic partnership with ZS, a global professional services company. Before tapping into his entrepreneurial spirit and co-founding Intelligencia AI, Dimitrios spent over a decade in various leadership roles within the healthcare and life sciences sectors.

He holds an MBA from INSEAD and a law degree from University College London (UCL) and the University of Athens. In his leisure time, you can find him painting or enjoying the Greek countryside.