PhD student Medical Informatics

Job description

The Department of Medical Informatics at Erasmus MC invites applications for a PhD position at the forefront of health AI and data science. Join our innovative, multidisciplinary team engaged in international collaborations, including the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) initiative, a global consortium dedicated to harnessing the value of health data via large-scale analytics, and the SYNTHIA project, a Europe-wide multidisciplinary initiative focused on advancing privacy-preserving healthcare solutions through the development and validation of tools and methods for synthetic data generation across diverse data types and clinical use cases.

As a PhD candidate, you will conduct research at the intersection of clinical data science and artificial intelligence, with a strong focus on the generation and evaluation of structured synthetic health data. You will also explore the application of large language models (LLMs) to healthcare data and terminology systems.

Your key research areas may include:

• Developing and evaluating methods for generating synthetic healthcare data from real-world primary care sources.
• Assessing the utility of synthetic data for population-level characterization and patient-level risk prediction.
• Advancing the extraction, retrieval, and standardization of information from clinical texts.

Throughout your research, you will address critical challenges in large-scale, federated observational studies and contribute to the advancement of multimodal synthetic data methodologies and analytic approaches in health data science.

Work environment

At Erasmus MC, we are dedicated to fostering a healthy population and achieving excellence in healthcare through pioneering research and outstanding education. Our institution prides itself on conducting groundbreaking research, pushing boundaries, and setting new standards in medical science, education, and patient care.

The Department of Medical Informatics specializes in unlocking the potential of routine healthcare data and plays a central role in building and coordinating EU-wide and global federated data networks. Our projects offer PhD candidates the opportunity to engage in cutting-edge developments alongside leading experts. Supervision and mentorship will be provided by Tom Seinen, Erik van Mulligen, and Peter Rijnbeek, each bringing a wealth of expertise and experience in the field.

Joining our team means becoming part of an inspiring and supportive community, committed to making meaningful contributions to the future of healthcare.

Qualifications and skills

You hold a Master’s degree in a relevant field such as one of the Natural Sciences (e.g. mathematics, physics, biology, statistics), Computer Science, Medical or Health Informatics, Econometrics, or Data Science, or a closely related discipline. You bring:

• A strong interest in data mining, machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, large language models, regression analysis, and programming (Python, R, or SQL).
• High motivation, a proactive attitude, and the ability to take initiative in assigned tasks.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, the ability to understand Dutch text is preferred.

Before you apply please check our conditions for employment.

Terms of employment

• You will receive a temporary position for 4 years.
• The gross monthly salary is € 3.108,- in the 1st year and gradually increases to € 3.939,- in the 4th year (scale OIO), based on a full-time working week of 36 hours.
• Excellent fringe benefits, such as a 13th month that is already paid out in November and a individual travel expense package.
• An International Office which aids you in preparing for your arrival and stay.
• Pension insurance with ABP. We take care of approximately 2/3 of the monthly contribution.
• Special benefits, such as a incompany physiotherapist and bicycle repairer. And there is also a gym where you can work on your fitness after work.
• This is an in-office position.

More information

Make this job your next career move! Apply now using the application button. It all starts with taking action.

Do you have questions about the role? Feel free to reach out to Ilse Schuemie, secretary departement of Medical Informatics, via mail.

No agencies please.