Marlies Schijven (professor of Surgery, Principal Investigator and Principal Educator at Amsterdam UMC) studies how to use digital technology to better support the clinic, professionals and patients. Last year, she was involved in setting up a new research program within the Amsterdam Public Health research institute: the Digital Health program. She felt that such an encompassing research program was still missing, but was urgently needed. Especially because digitization and digital solutions (for example, the use of virtual reality solutions, apps and artificial intelligence in the workplace) are rapidly increasing in cure and care. However, these technologies are not always successful.
The Digital Health program aims to catalyze research in this area and initiate and promote collaborations with the ethical and legal fields, medical informatics and industry. These are done in order to finally be able to improve health, health care delivery and health equity for all.
For the third year in a row, Marlies Schijven was nominated, demonstrating her extraordinary commitment and ability to positively and visibly impact society.
About the Amsterdam UMC Societal Impact Award 2022
The Societal Impact Award was established by Amsterdam UMC to raise awareness of the value of producing societal impact via research. This prize is for an Amsterdam UMCresearcher or team who has made significant contributions to society during the academic year 2021–2022. Hilgo Bruining (child psychiatrist and professor in neurodevelopmental disorders at Amsterdam UMC) and Harald Jørstad (cardiologist at the Amsterdam UMC) were also nominated for this award.