Specialization
- Cardiometabolic epidemiology
- Precision medicine
- Molecular epidemiology
- Dementia and cognitive ageing
- Pharmacoepidemiology
- Causal inference
Focus of research
Fariba Ahmadizar, PharmD, MSc, PhD in Epidemiology, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Primary Care (HAG) at Amsterdam UMC, where she leads an independent research programme in cardiometabolic precision epidemiology. Her research focuses on understanding how metabolic dysfunction and glucose dysregulation contribute to heterogeneous cardiovascular and neurovascular ageing and dementia risk, with the ultimate aim of developing more precise and stratified prevention strategies.
Research and Academic Contributions
Dr. Ahmadizar’s research integrates longitudinal and molecular epidemiology with genetics, metabolomics, pharmacoepidemiology, causal inference, and predictive modelling to identify mechanisms and determinants of heterogeneous disease trajectories. A central focus of her work is understanding why individuals with similar cardiometabolic risk profiles develop different cardiovascular, neurovascular, and cognitive outcomes. This research bridges population health, methodological innovation, and translational precision medicine, with particular emphasis on the early stages of metabolic dysfunction and their implications for healthy ageing.
She is Coordinator and Principal Investigator of the JPND-funded NeuroSync consortium, which investigates the role of glucose dysregulation in dementia and dementia progression, and Principal Investigator and national coordinator of the EWUU-funded 3HOWs4DM project, which examines the relationship between blood glucose fluctuations and cognitive function in a prospective study. These programmes form an emerging independent research line linking metabolic dysfunction to brain ageing and dementia through mechanistic, causal, and predictive approaches.
Dr. Ahmadizar has secured and contributed to competitive national and international research funding and has extensive experience supervising PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and MSc students. She is also actively engaged in academic teaching and coordination. She coordinates the Molecular Pharmacoepidemiology course at Dutch institutions and holds the University Teaching Qualification (BKO).
Her academic leadership extends beyond her research group. At Amsterdam UMC, she serves on the Scientific Quality Committee (SQC) and contributes to research quality assessment and scientific evaluation. She organizes and coordinates scientific pre-conference courses, acts as an international scientific coordinator, serves as reviewer and editor for peer-reviewed journals, and evaluates research proposals for the EU Horizon programme.
External Positions
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Co-chair, CogniD Study Group, European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD)
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Associate Editor, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology (EJPC)