Background

Patricia Bruijning-Verhagen, trained as pediatrician and epidemiologist,  is currently appointed as full professor of Vaccination and Infection Control Epidemiology at University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU), the Netherlands. She is head of the Infectious Diseases Epidemiology programme and board member of the Strategic Research theme Infection&Immunity at UMCU. Her research on (emerging) infectious diseases has a strong focus on Public Health and policy. One of the key priorities in her work is designing and evaluating optimal infection preventions strategies through vaccination and other infection control strategies. For this, she studies dynamics of (emerging) infectious diseases in the community, in particular the role of children, and the effects of vaccination and mitigation interventions through epidemiological studies. She has led several (European) population transmission studies on COVID-19 and participated in multiple European research consortia on emerging infections funded by the Innovative Medicine Initiative and the European Commission (ZIKAction, OneHealth-PACT, RECOVER, COVID-RED, VERDI, VACCELERATE). She was principal investigator of multiple large-scale vaccine studies on rotavirus, pneumococcal, influenza and COVID-19 vaccines. With a personal career grant (NWO VIDI) she studies interactions between key respiratory virus infections in children and implications for vaccination policies. Her strong engagement in the translation of science into policy is further evidenced by her contribution to numerous vaccine guidelines, her advisory role for the Dutch Health Counsel committee on vaccination, and her involvement in governmental and clinical advisory committees on COVID-19, including the EMA Emergency Task Force.  She coordinates and teaches MSc courses in infectious diseases epidemiology and vaccines (Utrecht University, McGill University) and organizes vaccinology masterclasses for healthcare professionals. She communicates actively about infectious diseases and vaccines and is frequently invited to talk about science on national television, radio and in newspaper or magazine articles. She has published >100 peer-reviewed papers and scientific reports.