dr. P.C.J.L. (Patricia) Bruijning-Verhagen Associate Professor

Patricia Bruijning-Verhagen is an associate professor of infectious diseases epidemiology at the Julius Center for Health Sciences of the UMC Utrecht and clinical epidemiologist at the Department of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology and Surveillance of the RIVM. She is a registered Pediatrician (2008) and Epidemiologist B (2013). She conducted her PhD work on rotavirus epidemiology and vaccination at McGill University and Utrecht University (2013).

Vaccine preventable diseases, in particular rotavirus, is the central theme in her epidemiological research. Her research focus is on optimizing prevention strategies for infants and children through vaccination, with a special focus on medically vulnerable pediatric populations. Within an extensive national pediatric network my research group conducts clinical vaccine studies. Currently this includes two large multicentre projects focusing on vaccination of infants with medical risk conditions. In addition, she collaborates both nationally and internationally with Academia and Public Health Institutes on rotavirus research.
The Risk-Group Infant Vaccination Against Rotavirus (RIVAR) project targets >6000 high-risk infants across 15 hospitals for rotavirus vaccination and enrolls >1500 of them in a detailed rotavirus vaccine effectiveness study. The PRIEMA-study (Optimizing Primary Immunization Series for Premature Infants), a joined project with the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), studies immunogenicity of vaccines according to gestational age in 300 premature infants, to inform improved vaccination schedules adapted to immunological immaturity.  In 2015, dr Bruijning obtained a personal VENI grant to characterize household transmission and community burden of enteric viruses among 600 young families and to gain further insight in population dynamics of viral epidemics and potential impact of vaccination. Her research group has been involved in several other epidemiological studies quantifying disease burden for common childhood infections, characterizing ‘at risk’ groups or evaluating existing vaccination policy in pediatric target groups, including influenza and pneumococcal vaccination.

External Advisor Dutch Health Council on rotavirus vaccination             

Biannual European Expert Meeting on Rotavirus Vaccination                 

International Scientific Committee member and Chair of the 2017 edition

RIVM Committee “Extra Vaccinaties of Maat”                                         

Appointed as representative of the Dutch Pediatric Association for interdisciplinary guideline committee on vaccine preventable diseases

Vaccinology Masterclass Foundation                                                       

Faculty member

Annual post-graduate vaccinology courses for youth health care physicians and pediatricians

NWO VENI Grant 2015

ESPID Small Grant Award, European Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases

Maria Raiche Graduate Student Scholarship Award, McGill University

Vaccinology Student Research Award, Health Agency Canada