Dr. M.E. (Elske) van den Akker-van Marle

As a senior researcher, I am involved in research and teaching in the field of health economics (including cost-effectiveness analyses). In this, I collaborate with many (clinical) departments within LUMC to add cost-effectiveness research to (ongoing) clinical trials. I am also involved in methodological research in the field of measuring quality of life and well-being.
After studying econometrics at VU University Amsterdam, I obtained my PhD at the Institute of Public Health at ErasmusMC, on the cost-effectiveness of population screening for breast and cervical cancer. I then worked for several years at TNO in the field of youth health care.

The importance of cost-effectiveness analyses is increasing, partly due to the rapidly rising healthcare expenditure. Next to contributions to numerous of these cost-effectiveness studies and publications in various fields, my methodological research focusses on the outcome side of these economic evaluations, and can be summarized by: “Challenges in measuring effectiveness in economic evaluations”

This broad theme is split up in several sub-questions:

a. How to measure health comprehensively?
b. How to assess outcomes in economic evaluations of health interventions around birth?
c. How to measure quality of life in people living with dementia? [ongoing research]
d. How to measure the value of remote patient monitoring (RPM) from a multi-stakeholder perspective? [ongoing research]