Alexandre-Pierre Gaspar

Alexandre-Pierre Gaspar (b. 1960 in Paris, France) is a French Internet pioneer best known as the founder of Q.O.A.C.H (Question Oriented Approach for Common Health) which makes medical knowledge easy understandable and usable by the public via the Internet.

University
After studies in mathematics, Alexandre-Pierre Gaspar attended in 1979 what was at that time a refuge for multidisciplinary students in Paris: the medical school Necker - Enfants Malades (University of Paris V: René Descartes). He quickly got interested in medical data computing, expert systems and artificial intelligence. He achieved several projects with Pr Pierre Debray-Ritzen and Pr Yves Pélicier, neuro-psychiatrists interested by the brain-computer analogy, and finished his research and doctorate work with the authorization of the dean at the Center for Multidisciplinary Studies of Belgrade University, under the direction of his friend Dr Zoran Bozovic, a biophysician member of the DECUS (Digital Equipment Computer User Society). He programmed for that occasion the first medical expert system available on a micro-computer, making a diagnosis on a electrocardiographic wave.

Doctorate of medecine and computer science
Medicine, expert systems: finitude, incompletude. Université Paris V, 1997. .

Birth of Q.O.A.C.H
Alexandre-Pierre Gaspar's idea of a public oriented health system raised very early at the university, but after several attempts with the Minitel (the French Videotext system), he left the idea for some time. In 2006, the birth of a social Internet opened new possibilities and the trade mark was created simply replacing the C of coach with a Q, standing for "question": the system is question-based, requesting the user's memory to train him with a good health attitude. Behind the scene, a non profit organization raised in 2007 to collect scientific information and start specifically needed studies on prevention and longevity: The Longevity Project.