Erik J. Giltay appointed as professor

Chair

The chair of psychiatric epidemiology focuses on better understanding stress-related psychiatric disorders, including depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety disorders. Central to this is the interaction between biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors. These are studied in both large-scale and small-scale studies, with the unique individual emotional life and behavior of persons being the focus. Giltay combines his research work with patient care, and education, and training. His research contributes to the themes of Prevention & Lifestyle, Neuroscience, and Lifecourse Epidemiology and Geroscience (LEGend).

Socially relevant themes

The research of Giltay and his team is focused on socially relevant themes such as mental health, lifestyle, and personalized care. In light of the increasing pressure on mental health care, where waiting times are becoming longer and more extensive, his research group investigates how e-health and data analyses can contribute to more efficient treatment pathways and smarter use of care capacity. In this, he works closely with regional GGZ-partners, particularly GGZ Rivierduinen.

He also focuses on prevention through nutrition, microbiome, and lifestyle, and reducing health disparities using big data within the interdisciplinary Health Campus The Hague with the use of the Extramural LUMC Academic Network (ELAN). His group also investigates the factors associated with suicide and suicidality in various age groups.

By using digital tools, such as the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) and dynamic symptom analyses, his work contributes to the development of early detection and tailored treatment. With innovative analytical techniques, he aims to gain better insight into the onset and recovery of psychological complaints, thereby contributing to more effective treatments and fundamental scientific progress.

Curriculum vitae

Giltay has been working as a psychiatrist at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at LUMC since 2007, where he combines his clinical experience with academic research and education. The psychiatric inpatient department offers highly specialized care to individuals with (neuro)psychiatric complaints and stress-related psychiatric disorders, such as mood and anxiety disorders.

Since his promotion, he has worked interdisciplinarily at the intersection of psychiatry, epidemiology, and data science. His academic career is characterized by clinical involvement, large-scale cohort studies, and supervision of PhD students (with 23 completed trajectories). He has obtained multiple grants as a principal investigator, including from ZonMw, the Innovation Fund Health Insurers, and the Regional Expertise Network South Holland (BREN). His scientific work has led to more than 300 publications.

Giltay is also the secretary of the scientific committee Psychiatry and board member of the long-running NESDA consortium. Since 2018, he has been a guest professor at the University of Antwerp (CAPRI), and since 2023, he has also been part-time affiliated with the Health Campus The Hague as part of the Sector Plan ‘Versnellen op gezondheid’ of the Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers.