Health Data Science

The Erasmus MC Health Data Science team will be well represented at the OHDSI Global Symposium 2026 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, with colleagues contributing to the programme through poster presentations, an oral presentation, a software demonstration, the Introduction to OHDSI tutorial, Working Group meetings, and nominations for the OHDSI Titan Awards.

As home to the OHDSI Europe Coordinating Center, Erasmus MC plays an active role in connecting and supporting the European OHDSI community. The global symposium offers an opportunity to share our work, exchange ideas with colleagues from across the global network, and strengthen collaboration around the generation of reliable real-world evidence.

Our delegation includes Peter Rijnbeek, OHDSI Europe Lead, and Renske Los, OHDSI Europe Co-Lead, alongside colleagues supporting OHDSI Europe activities and contributing to the scientific and educational programme.

Several team members will present posters, including Renske Los, Aniek Markus, Alexander Saelmans, Fleur Vereijken, Melissa Leung, Jenna Reps, Stergios Ntanavaras and Katia Verhamme.

Fleur Vereijken will also give an oral presentation on federated learning during the main symposium, while César Barboza will present a software demonstration. Ilse Vermeulen and Ross Williams will contribute to the Introduction to OHDSI tutorial, and Aniek Markus, Renske Los and Anthony Sena will be involved in Working Group meetings.

In addition, several colleagues have been nominated for an OHDSI Titan Award in recognition of their contributions to the community: Renske Los, Ilse Vermeulen, Alexander Saelmans, Fleur Vereijken, Jenna Reps, Katia Verhamme and Anthony Sena.

Throughout the symposium, we look forward to connecting with members of the global OHDSI community. Come and visit the OHDSI Europe poster during the coffee breaks to learn more about our activities, meet the team, and explore opportunities to get involved in the European network.

We look forward to representing Erasmus MC and OHDSI Europe in New Brunswick!

We are pleased to announce The OMOP Practitioner — Expert Training, a new three-day expert training programme taking place in Rotterdam from 7–9 September 2026.

This intensive, hands-on course is designed for OMOP CDM implementers who want to take the next step: improving data quality, designing robust cohorts, and generating reliable real-world evidence within their organisation and across data networks.

The programme will cover key OMOP tools and workflows, including the Data Quality Dashboard, ATLAS, CohortDiagnostics, CdmOnboarding, Achilles, and the TreatmentPatterns package. Participants will work through practical exercises and leave with concrete improvement pointers and a personal 30-day action plan.

• The training takes place from 7–9 September 2026 in Rotterdam.
• The course is limited to a maximum of 30 participants.
• Up to 5 BYOO slots are available for participants bringing their own OMOP CDM results.
• The training is delivered by the Department of Medical Informatics, Erasmus MC.

More information about the programme, prerequisites, pricing, and registration can be found below.

Attending the ICPE 2026 Annual Meeting was a great opportunity to take part in meaningful discussions on the role of pharmacoepidemiology in advancing patient health and improving healthcare.

In Milan, our department’s work was presented in 13 different posters and 3 oral presentations, which showcased the extraordinary work of the Darwin Coordination Centre team, an excellent example of how, despite the increased amount and complexity of health data sources, we can rapidly generate robust evidence while ensuring the transparency and reproducibility of the research.

The meeting also offered valuable opportunities to expand our knowledge through pre-conference courses, and to gain new inspiring perspectives from the shortest symposium as well as the main keynote lectures covering topics ranging from data quality and advanced analytical methods to scientific dissemination.
Meeting other colleagues, researchers, practitioners, and experts from around the world always provides opportunities for new insights and interesting discussions while paving the way for future collaborations across academia, industry, and regulatory settings.

A great week of science and knowledge sharing, made even better by the beautiful weather and a little taste of Italy.