Eelko Hak

Prof. Eelko Hak is a Full Professor of Pharmacoepidemiology and Chair of the PharmacoTherapy, Epidemiology, and Economics department at the University of Groningen's Faculty of Science and Engineering. He leads the PharmLines Initiative, a public-private collaboration leveraging big healthcare and biobank data for precision medicine research. His expertise spans statistical methods for drug safety assessment, including case-control, cohort, and instrumental variable analyses. As Educational Director of Pharmacy and Program Director of the Research Master's in Medical Pharmaceutical Sciences, he has driven curriculum innovations and achieved top rankings in Dutch education evaluations. He holds leadership roles in medical ethics committees and European vaccine trials, contributing to vaccination policy and influenza research. Awards include the Mitchel B. Balter Award and top abstract recognitions. His work bridges academic research, public health, and clinical practice through real-world data applications.

Research Interests:

• Pharmacoepidemiology of preventive medications and vaccines
• Real-world data methodologies (e.g., sibling designs, meta-analyses)
• Implementation science for sustainable drug use
• Infection risk profiling and vaccination strategies

Advising & Grants: Supervised >30 PhD theses, including Yen Hao Tran. Led EU-FP7 projects on universal influenza vaccines and Dutch Health Council advisory roles. Active in global health initiatives like Nigeria's vaccination campaigns.

Labs/Teams: PharmLines Initiative (80,000+ participants), GUIDE graduate school (PEGET research group), and collaborations with UMCG and Isala hospitals.