Specialization
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Clinical Epidemiology, AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Focus of research
Ben Willem Mol is focused on the organisation of multi-centric evaluative research in Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Fertility. Since 2003, he has been instrumental in the organization of multi-centric RCTS in Obstetrics and Gynecology in The Netherlands. In these so called ‘consortia’, we have completed 20 multicenter RCTs, and about 30 studies are ongoing. The network covers over 70 of the 90 hospitals in The Netherlands, including all eight academic centers. The research is focused mainly upon everyday practices. As a result, it was recently discovered that 15 minutes of bed rest after an insemination procedure in subfertile couples, a procedure that is not part of the regular treatment, increases the chances of conception by 10%. In studies in pregnant women, it became clear that induction of labour in women with pregnancy induced hypertension does decrease the chance of a caesarean section, a finding that was contradictory to what clinicians thought prior to the study.
In addition to his large-scale evaluative research, Mol also conducts research designed to improve diagnostic processes. In 2003 he received a Vidi programme grant for excellent young researchers from ZonMW to be applied to the evaluation of individual prediction rules in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. He is also working toward the implementation of principles of evidence-based medicine in his area of expertise. As a Professor, Mol considers his most important task to be the stimulation and innovation of evaluative research in Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Fertility. His professional adage is ‘A day without randomisation is a day without progress.'
Mol studied Medicine at the University of Amsterdam. From 1993 to 1997, he worked in the department of Clinical Epidemiology and Bio-statistics at the AMC. In 1999 he obtained his doctorate with honours at the Faculty of Medicine of the UvA with his dissertation entitled Evaluating the effectiveness of diagnostic tests: tubal subfertility and ectopic pregnancy. Between 1997 and 2003 he was trained as a Gynaecologist at the Máxima Medical Centre (Máxima Medisch Centrum, MMC) in Veldhoven, the University Medical Centre (Universitair Medisch Centrum) in Utrecht and the Tweesteden Hospital (Tweestedenziekenhuis) in Tilburg. Since 2002, Mol has been a Senior Researcher in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the AMC. From 2003 to 2007, he worked as a Gynaecologist-Perinatologist at the MMC in Veldhoven. Mol is chairman of the Guideline Commission (commissie Richtlijnen) and member of the Scholarship Commission (commissie Wetenschap) of the Dutch Association for Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Obstetrie en Gynaecologie, NVOG).