Health Technology Assessment is multidisciplinary research focusing on the medical, economic and social impact of a medical intervention, in both the short and long term. Ethical aspects such as the distribution of resources and access to care are also addressed in this field of research. The information obtained from the research is used to inform health (care) policy makers at local, regional and national level. 

Routine and innovative hospital care

Marcel Dijkgraaf’s research focuses on the themes of routine and innovative hospital care. His main focus is the cost-effectiveness and affordability of treatment (including medicines) and diagnostics, whilst striving to provide patients with safe and appropriate care. Another focus is aligning the choice of research method with the context of decision-making around improvements in in-hospital care. As professor, Dijkgraaf will coordinate, supervise and conduct research in close collaboration with clinical research institutions. 

In the field of teaching, Dijkgraaf will formulate additional learning objectives and develop materials that will enable students following the Medicine and Medical Informatics programmes, as future professionals, to contribute more effectively to research on the cost-effectiveness of in-hospital care. He will also develop modular learning for research physicians at the AMC Graduate School who are themselves studying the cost-effectiveness and affordability of hospital care as part of their doctoral programmes.

About Marcel Dijkgraaf

Dijkgraaf joined AMC as an HTA researcher and lecturer in 1998 and has been working at AMC since 2010 as a methodologist supporting evaluation research of societal relevance. He obtained a doctorate in 1995 in a collaboration between UMC Utrecht and the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) on the utilization of resources and the costs of hospital care for people with HIV and AIDS. 

Dijkgraaf has more than 270 publications in international peer-reviewed journals to his name, including in the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, JAMA and BMJ. He sits on a number of scientific committees, including the scientific advisory board of the National Health Care Institute and the working group of the Netherlands Donor Faeces Bank. He is also a member of AMC’s medical ethics review committee.