Open position: PhD Researcher on Semantic Interoperability for Integration of clinical Information and Indicators

                                                    Open position:

                                                  PhD Researcher on

                       Semantic Interoperability for Integration

                                of clinical Information and Indicators

                                                     (AMC & VUA)

 

 

                                                                              Using data for secondary purposes

                                                                              is one of the most promising ways to

                                                                              improve health outcomes and costs.

                                                                              (PricewaterhouseCoopers,2009)

 

A full-time 4 year PhD position is available, as part of a collaboration

between the Department of Medical Informatics at the Academic Medical

Centre and the Department of Computer Science of the VU University

Amsterdam.

 

WHAT WE OFFER: An  interdisciplinary research project combining semantic

technologies and medical informatics, a team of internationally renowned

scientists, a stimulating working environment, and life in a vibrant and

multicultural city.

 

WHAT WE LOOK FOR: A talented and motivated young researcher, interested

in combining both medical and computing expertise. You should have

affinity with applying informatics techniques in the medical domain, a

genuine interest in addressing real-world medical problems, and the

ability and interest to work with a team including medical experts.

 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Data collection is a routine part of the modern

clinical care process. Data is being collected at bed-side, in

laboratories, and in multi-disciplinary consultation meetings, to name

just a few. Such data collection is expensive, both in terms of

infrastructure, and in terms of staff effort. A new demand for data

collection is coming from the recent introduction of quantitative

quality indicators by organizations such as the Dutch Healthcare

Inspectorate and medical societies.

 

These data are captured in different systems, using different coding

schemes and at different levels of detail. To use data for multiple

purposes, it must be possible to aggregate data, both temporally (e.g.,

detecting trends) and conceptually (i.e., recognizing clusters of

conditions based on their characteristics such as inflammatory disorders

or cardiac disorders).  The project will investigate to what extent

quality indicators can be measured unobtrusively by leveraging data

already collected during the clinical care process, and to what extent

current processes, systems and representations must be adjusted to

facilitate data-capture at the required quality levels.

 

The project is a collaboration between the Department of Medical

Informatics at the Academic Medical Centre and the department of Quality

and Process Innovation (AMC) and the Knowledge Representation &

Reasoning Group of the Department of Computer Science at the VU

University Amsterdam (VUA).  Principle investigators are Prof. Frank van

Harmelen (VUA) and Dr. Nicolette de Keizer (AMC).

 

REQUIREMENTS

 

- A Master degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Information

  Sciences, Artificial Intelligence, or Medical Informatics.

 

- Affinity with the medical domain

 

- Genuine interest in addressing real-world medical problems.

 

- Ability and interest to work with a team including medical experts.

 

- Sufficient knowledge of the Dutch language (or willingness to learn

  Dutch) in order to analyse Dutch data collections.

 

APPOINTMENT, SALARY, LOCATION: The appointment will be at the VUA, and

will initially be for 1 year. After successful evaluation, the

appointment will be extended by another 3 years, resulting in a

dissertation. The gross salary varies from EU 2042 per month in the

first year to EU 2612 per month in the fourth year. Our website

http:www.vu.nl/vacatures contains a review of working conditions at the

VU.

 

The PhD student will work both in the Department of Medical

Informatics of the University of Amsterdam <http://kik.amc.uva.nl>,

situated at the Academic Medical Center, and in the Knowledge

Representation and Reasoning group at the Department of Computer Science

at the VU University Amsterdam <http://www.cs.vu.nl/ai/kr>. The two

locations are connected by a regular 30min. metro connection.

 

INTERESTED? For more information please contact Dr. Ronald Cornet

<r.cornet@amc.uva.nl> or Dr. Annette ten Teije <annette@cs.vu.nl>.

Please send your application to Elly Lammers <elly@cs.vu.nl> by email

before March 1 2010.

 

 

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Ronald Cornet, PhD                    email: R.Cornet@amc.uva.nl

dept. of Medical Informatics           phone: +31 (0)20 566 5188

Academic Medical Center, Room J1B-115  fax:   +31 (0)20 691 9840

P.O.Box 22700                  www: kik.amc.uva.nl/home/rcornet/

1100 DE  Amsterdam

The Netherlands