Matthijs Berends

Dr. Matthijs Berends is a medical epidemiologist/microbiologist at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) and holds a postdoctoral position in the Department of Primary Care Medicine. He also serves as a Medical Epidemiologist at the Certe Foundation. His expertise spans microbial epidemiology, data science, and predictive modeling. He earned his PhD in 2021 with a thesis on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data analysis methods, which has been widely adopted globally and recognized with the University of Groningen’s Open Research Award.

Education & Background:

• PhD in Clinical Epidemiology (University of Groningen)
• Medical Biology and Medical Microbiology background

Research Focus:

• Development of novel AMR data analysis tools
• Machine learning for predicting acute/long-COVID outcomes
• Analysis of multidrug-resistant organisms in cross-border healthcare regions
• Application of NLP in electronic health records

Awards & Recognition:

• Open Research Award (2021) for AMR analysis tool
• ResearchGate top 10 most-read preprint (2021)

Teaching: R instructor for Medical Microbiology PhD candidates at UMCG, with a course on Advanced Infectious Diseases Statistics.

Labs/Teams: Member of the Cure and Care in the Community Context (FOUR-C) group and the Dutch Working Party on Antibiotic Policy (SWAB).