The Academic Medical Center is the 1000 bed hospital associated with the University of Amsterdam, which also houses the School of Medicine of the University. Within the School, the Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics assists clinicians in designing patient-centered clinical studies, and translating the results of these studies into evidence to guide clinical recommendations and practice guidelines. Members of the Department have participated in the development of national and international evidence-based practice guidelines and quality indicators.
The BiTE program receives most of its research funding from the Dutch Science Foundation ZonMW.   The Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics also houses the Dutch Cochrane Center, and the Continental Europe Support unit for the development of systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy studies. In collaboration with the UK support unit in Birmingham, this support unit develops guidance and training for conducting systematic reviews of diagnostic tests and translating the results from such reviews into recommendations for clinical practice.

Collaborator's Profiles

Prof. Patrick Bossuyt
Professor of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics and chair from 1997 to 2007. Leads the Biomarker and Test Evaluation Program. Based on the scientific work of members of the team, identifying sources of bias, he spearheaded the STARD initiative. This Standards For Diagnostic Accuracy Studies initiative developed guidelines to improve the reporting of studies to estimate of the accuracy of tests in identifying patients with the target disease. Authored over 450 publications in peer-reviewed journals. Member of the Dutch Health Council and consultant for several national and international agencies.