As of January 2026, APH researcher Natalie Evans will be appointed program leader of Quality of Care (QoC). She will succeed Ruth Nispen and will co-lead the program together with Olga Damman.
A social scientist with a multidisciplinary background in public health, anthropology, and biology, Natalie currently leads the Research Integrity Program within the Department of Ethics, Law and Humanities. Her work focuses on quality, integrity, and ethics in research; themes that strongly align with the mission of the QoC program.
Natalie brings a strong track record of leading and collaborating on European initiatives aimed at improving research quality and integrity. At present, she leads work package in several major projects, including PREPARED, which develops guidance for ethical research during pandemics; RE4GREEN,, focused on sustainability in research and innovation; and AIOLIA, which aims to embed AI ethics into cognitive and behavioral research.
In addition to her project leadership, Natalie is a co-founder of the Embassy of Good Science, a wiki platform dedicated to research ethics and integrity. She has also delivered research integrity training to researchers and trainers across Europe, Africa, and North America.
Natalie sees her multidisciplinary background, combined with experience working across different countries and research settings, as a key strength for leading QoC; APH’s largest and most diverse program, encompassing a wide range of disciplines, methodologies, and clinical departments.
Her focus on quality, integrity, and ethics also closely reflects the challenges facing healthcare in the Netherlands, including the need for greater sustainability (financially, environmentally, and in terms of workforce capacity) and the growing imperative to deliver appropriate care with fewer resources. In her new role, she hopes, together with co-lead Olga Damman and the highly engaged QoC program council, to strengthen thematic activities within the program and ensure sustained attention to research methods, societal concerns, and integrity-related aspects that are essential to high-quality healthcare research.