Meet the SMEs at MOHR: Q&A with Matt Kuperholz

At My Occ Health Record (MOHR), we’re not just building smarter health technology—we’re building it with the help of subject matter experts who understand the complex intersections of health, safety, data and innovation.

One of those experts is Matt Kuperholz, a renowned Artificial Intelligence scientist and advisor who has spent more than three decades applying AI to solve real-world challenges. From government to mining, retail to insurance, Matt has led high-impact analytics and AI transformations across industries—many with a strong focus on workplace safety.

Matt has held leadership roles as Chief Data Scientist at PwC, Advanced Analytics Leader at Deloitte and Professor of Practice at Deakin University’s Centre for AI and the Future of Work. He’s also received national recognition, including the highest award from the Analytics Industry Body of Australia in its inaugural year.

We sat down with Matt to learn more about his background, what drew him to MOHR, and how he sees AI reshaping the future of occupational health and safety.

Q&A with Matt Kuperholz

Can you tell us a bit about your background?

I’m an Artificial Intelligence scientist and advisor with over 30 years of experience applying AI to real-world client challenges. My passion has always been about optimising humanity with technology. Over the years, I’ve led advanced analytics practices at Deloitte and PwC and worked as a Professor of Practice with Deakin University.

I’ve spent two decades pioneering the application of AI in marketing, customer understanding and human insights. For the last eight years, my focus has been on Responsible AI—specifically ethics, performance management and governance. I’ve developed and implemented solutions across government and private sectors, both in Australia and internationally.

Throughout my career, I’ve shared insights on the impact of AI and I’m proud to have been recognised by the Analytics Industry Body of Australia as the top analytics leader when they first awarded the prize.

What drew you to get involved with My Occ Health Record?

It was close to 20 years ago that I started pioneering the use of AI to make workplaces safer, while leading the advanced analytics practice at Deloitte. Since then, I’ve led safety analytics projects for large organisations like BHP, Rio Tinto and ACC New Zealand—aligning operational data with incident, accident and claim data to improve workplace safety.

The premise of this approach is simple: There is valuable data being collected across systems as people do their work. That data can and should be repurposed and analysed with AI to drive better safety outcomes. We use that evidence to inform policy changes, optimise training and even prescribe safer rostering and interventions.

Dean, approached me after I presented on this topic at a safety conference. He recognised that my experience could help guide how MOHR uses the unique and valuable data it collects. That made the opportunity to collaborate a perfect fit.

Where do you see the biggest opportunity for innovation in occupational health today?

The biggest opportunity is in using data to prevent incidents and reduce the severity of injuries in the workplace.

What does “impact” mean to you when working on projects like this?

Using analytics to ensure everyone comes home from work safe. That’s impact.

From a technology standpoint, what excites you most about the future of platforms like MOHR?

What excites me is the ability to increase the value of existing data assets with advanced analytics. When we apply those techniques to data already being collected, we can avoid injuries and maximise health outcomes. That’s a win for both employees and employers.

What do you see as the biggest challenges in building scalable, secure systems for health data—and how can they be overcome?

We’ve already solved many of these challenges and we continue to improve on them. That includes robust security, earning and maintaining the trust of customers and individuals as well as being able to work with large volumes of diverse data.

We’re increasingly seeing unstructured data and technologies like computer vision are unlocking new ways to analyse and apply it. The key is combining these innovations with trust, governance, and transparency.

Final Thoughts

Matt’s answers speak for themselves—when data is used well, it has the power to prevent injuries, improve safety, and drive real change.

That’s exactly what we’re building at MOHR: a platform informed by experience, guided by experts, and designed to make a difference.