Do you want to have an impact in healthcare and improve access, quality, availability, and sustainability of cancer services? Are you focussed on data-driven research? Do you want to be a part of a leading European School in Health Policy and Management, then we might have an opportunity for you.

As a multidisciplinary institute, Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM) internationally has a strong presence in health economics, health services & health systems research, healthcare governance, and health insurance. Together with Erasmus Medical Centre (Erasmus MC), ESHPM develops a dedicated program of work utilising data to analyse and improve care delivery. For the upcoming 4 years funding for this program is available through the Dutch Ministry of Education and Research (OCW) in the strategic Sector plan “Medical and Health Sciences”. Attracting additional funding after 4 years is an important task.

To deliver on the challenges in healthcare, ESHPM has defined a strategic agenda that envisions significant investments in data enabling research infrastructure. In addition to investments in data infrastructure and data analytic capacity, and utilising the funding mentioned above, is now also recruiting for a new:

Associate Professor “Organisation of Cancer Services” (1 FTE)
Cancer remains one of the most impactful conditions causing significant mortality and morbidity. Timely diagnosis facilitates early treatment and thus patient outcomes. At the same time, treatments become increasingly complex and expensive, and the societal costs associated with treatment, mortality and morbidity are substantial. Because of the complexity of care and the need for specialized hospitals delivering treatment, minimum volume standards are in place and comprehensive cancer networks are formed to enable easy access as well as early referral to specialized treatment. The development and monitoring of quality cancer networks largely depend on granular data, consensus based clinical care pathways, multi-institutional collaboration and appropriate governance and funding.

Until now, clinical, economic and implementation constraints are leading in policy decisions to accredit hospital networks and to implement (precision) cancer treatments. However, a focus on how to best organize care, including equitable access, is a topic of debate and not free from organizational, patient and professional’s interests and preferences. Following the (higher) minimum volume standards, as determined by the involved medical societies, this increasingly concerns decisions about what specialised surgeries and/or treatments to be provided by which hospitals taking into account both the accessibility, quality, availability, and sustainability of cancer services. Therefore, a strong data driven program pulling data sources from registries including comprehensive cancer networks and data from Statistics Netherlands aims to provide the necessary evidence to support these decisions.

Through this position, ESHPM aims to improve the quality of cancer care and the availability of (precision) oncology treatments with a focus on (i) equity and access to cancer services and (ii) the impact of centralization and the organization of cancer networks including volume arrangements. Both with special interest in the diagnostic pathway (e.g., early detection and risk stratification) and the sustainability of (expensive) complex cancer treatments like genomic sequencing, surgical procedures and/or gene and immunotherapies. Through this data intensive program, the aim is to improve health outcomes achieved in a sustainable way, typically by analysing (hypothetical) volume and complexity of care scenarios on costs of treatment, travel time, carbon footprint, equity in access to services, patient outcomes, productivity and hospital workload will be examined for selected types of cancer. These results can be used to guide complex health policy decisions about sustainable cancer care.

ESHPM is recognised to deliver on these topics, particularly from three distinct research teams. The Health Technology Assessment section (HTA) particularly focusses on access, affordability and sustainability of treatments, the Health Systems and Insurance section (HSI) is world-leading in the economics & financing of health care systems – including the role of market organisation, payment models and econometric methods to analyse the efficient organisation of health care and health insurance – and the Health Services Management & Organisation section (HSMO) is specialised in networks of care and value-based healthcare. The new Associate Professor will be primarily embedded in the HSI section, yet with extensive outreach to the other ESHPM sections (HTA and HSMO) as well as Erasmus MC Cancer Centre.

Job description
We are recruiting an Associate Professor who will develop a strong data-driven research program utilising existing data sources (like the Dutch national cancer registry). The work will be both applied (informing policy) as well as methodological (data analytics). Importantly, the candidate is expected to make impact and have an active role in both the Dutch and international health policy debate around comprehensive cancer networks. Furthermore, we expect the candidate to:

• develop a vision for a research program including funding opportunities to be financially sustainable after 4 years;
• have extensive experience with data intensive research, particularly also with advanced data analytic techniques for observational data
• Extensive experience with software (e.g., R, Python, Stata);
• provide leadership for the program and to the staff and students who are involved;
• collaborate with academic staff in departments sharing an interest in cancer research;
• connect disciplines within ESHPM and serve as a go-to person for external collaborators;
• contributing to existing educational activities and development of new courses and teaching programs;
• generate impact and engagement aligned with the Erasmian Values.

The ideal candidate is a bridge-builder who provides inspiring and inclusive leadership, who can foster community spirit and connect national and international stakeholders through vision and content.

To excel in this role, the preferred candidate should:

• be recognised for excellent academic leadership and policy impact in the cancer space;
• have a clear interest in health economics and the economics & financing of health care in particular;
• hold a PhD (>5 years);
• have a track record qualifying for appointment as (associate) professor, which includes relevant academic publications and generated research income;
• be an academic leader who can stimulate people through a shared and collaborative vision;
• have extensive teaching experience, including teaching qualifications;
• be able to articulate a strategic vision and action plan for the theme;
• embrace the Erasmian Values of diversity, social safety, and inclusiveness.

Following the close link with health policy in the Netherlands, (basic) command of Dutch or willingness to learn is a plus for this job but not a requirement.

We offer you an internationally oriented and varied job in an enthusiastic team, with excellent working conditions in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU).

The start date of this position is 01-MAR-2024 and you will be based as Associate Professor at Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM). It is required you live in or move to the Netherlands for this position.

This position is for 1 FTE. The salary is dependent on your experience and knowledge and ranges from a minimum of € 6.002 (start Scale 13) to a maximum of € 8.025 (end Scale 14) gross per month on a fulltime basis (38 hours), in accordance with the CAO-NU. The contract is entered into for the duration of 18 months and can be converted into a permanent contract if performance is good and the organizational circumstances remain unchanged.

Everything else we offer you, you can find below!

• Everything you need for a good work-life balance: the option to work from home in consultation with your manager, 41 days of paid leave with a 40 hour contract, 8% holiday pay and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus, and a significant discount on a subscription for our on-campus sports centre!
• Sustainable, inclusive and diverse work environment with an open culture, where you can be yourself and we pay attention to each other and to the world around us. Make the most of our bicycle budget, or join networks such as Young@EUR, FAME or QuEUR.
• Time and space for your development in the broadest sense: development days and a personal career budget, foreign exchange opportunities with most costs paid by EUR, and free access to our university library.
• Good pension with ABP that EUR contributes 2/3rds towards, discounts on various collective insurances with Zilveren Kruis Achmea, Loyalis, and Allianz, and compensation for travel, working from home and home internet use.
• Are you currently combining your job with parenthood, or do you want to do so in the future? EUR offers partially paid parental leave and fully paid additional birth leave for partners, and our campus features a daycare.
• Moving to the Netherlands for your job with EUR? Then you may be eligible for the 30%-ruling if you meet the requirements of the Belastingdienst (Dutch tax agency), and with our Dual Career Programme we will also help your partner find the right job for them.

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) is an internationally oriented university with a strong social orientation in its education and research, as expressed in our mission ‘Creating positive societal impact’. EUR is home to 3.700 academics and professionals and almost 33.000 students from more than 140 countries. Everything we do, we do under the credo The Erasmian Way – Making Minds Matter. We’re global citizens, connecting, entrepreneurial, open-minded, and socially involved. These Erasmian Values function as our internal compass and create EUR’s distinctive and recognizable profile. From these values, with a broad perspective and with an eye for diversity, different backgrounds and opinions, our employees work closely together to solve societal challenges from the dynamic and cosmopolitan city of Rotterdam. Thanks to the high quality and positive societal impact of our research and education, EUR can compete with the top European universities. www.eur.nl.

Faculty / Institute / Central service
Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM) is an institute of EUR, affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and Erasmus Medical Centre, that plays a leading position in healthcare sciences and health policy. ESHPM is responsible for a bachelor, pre-master and three (international) master programs on healthcare management, policy, and economics, serving more than 1500 students. The most recent international research audit has assessed ESHPM’s research as excellent (20 out of 20 points). ESHPM values empirical, multidisciplinary research with high impact. It is firmly rooted in the world’s leading Dutch healthcare system and actively participates in international research projects, in particular EU funded projects.

ESHPM is organised in 7 research departments, each lead by a head of department. ESHPM also has strong relations to iMTA b.v. and ECZB b.v.; private entities of EUR Holding with world-leading expertise in Health Technology Assessment and Health Business Administration. The unique combination of policy sciences, sociology, economics, management, and law enables ESHPM to conduct world leading research and educate the next generation of healthcare managers, policymakers, and researchers. ESHPM also is a core Faculty in the Convergence Alliance (TU Delft, EUR and Erasmus MC) as well as Leiden-Delft-Erasmus (LDE), with cross-cutting research programs in Health & Technology, Resilient Cities, Pandemic Preparedness and Healthy Society.

The research group of Health Systems and Insurance (HSI) focuses on theoretical and empirical policy-relevant research on the structure, financing and performance of health systems and health insurance markets and the role of health insurers as purchasers of health care. The research group is an international frontrunner in research on risk adjustment. Other prominent themes are the design and impact of provider payment systems, patient and health plan choice, and the organization and regulation of health care markets.