Dr Koen Degeling joined the Cancer Health Services Research unit as a Research Fellow in July 2019. After obtaining his Bachelor of Science degree and Master of Science degree (with distinction) in Industrial Engineering and Management, Koen started researching the use of advanced simulation techniques for modeling health and economic outcomes of personalized clinical pathways.

Based on his thesis ‘Simulation Modeling to Optimize Personalized Oncology’ (available for download here), Koen obtained his Doctoral degree with distinction from the University of Twente in 2019. His thesis provides practical and methodological guidance essential to the adoption of patient-level simulation techniques within health economics and health services research. Also, the thesis illustrates the potential of these methods to optimize clinical pathways and improve patient outcomes. Koen has been actively involved with the Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR, website). His absolute highlight within the society was chairing the ISPOR Student Network, representing approximately 5,000 students and over 120 chapters globally. In terms of research, Koen has contributed to international conferences of ISPOR and other societies as short course and workshop faculty, and as podium and poster presenter. With CHSR, Koen will advance his research on optimizing oncology care pathways using simulation models, including the use of genomics to inform treatment decisions and monitor treatment response. He will continue to explore the use of registry data to inform these simulation models, as he did using the Treatment of Advanced and Recurrent Colorectal Cancer (TRACC) registry during a four-month research visit at the unit in 2018. Also, he will further the guidance for applying patient-level simulation techniques to represent the complex dynamics of current clinical practice.