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 TeamPerMed project, an initiative together with the University of Tartu to advance personalised medicine and healthcare transformation. 

As a PhD candidate, you will conduct research at the intersection of clinical data science and artificial intelligence, with a strong emphasis on extracting structured information from clinical narratives, semantically identifying high‑risk patients, and developing and evaluating informed artificial clinical reasoning systems. Your research will focus on:

• Developing and evaluating methods for temporal and longitudinal reasoning for automated disease validation and clinical abstraction.

• Investigating scalable, LLM-driven approaches for robust, automated extraction of clinical concepts from text across large electronic health record datasets.

• Combining clinical knowledge (ontologies and guidelines) with data‑driven evidence to produce more accurate, robust and explainable artificial clinical reasoning.

Throughout this project you will tackle critical challenges in large‑scale, federated observational studies and contribute to advances in machine understanding of clinical data and analytic methods 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:

• Experience and a strong interest in data mining, machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, large language models, regression analysis, and programming (Python, R, or SQL).

• Highly motivated, 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 essential.

Only complete applications that include both a resume and a cover letter will be considered.

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.

Only complete applications that include both a resume and a cover letter will be considered.

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, via i.schuemie@erasmusmc.nl.

No agencies please.