Stichting GGZ inGeest

  • Short name: GGZ inGeest
  • Country of origin: The Netherlands
  • Principal scientific contact person: Prof. dr. Jan Smit
  • Website: http://www.ggzingeest.nl/

GGZ inGeest is a large mental health hospital (2300 staff and 30,250 patients currently under treatment) for the Amsterdam region. Together with the VU Medical Center, GGZ inGeest works on research, education and academic patient care. Within GGZ inGeest there are four Research Units: 1) Depression, 2) Anxiety, 3) Bipolarity and 4) Elderly, with 110 staff in total. They work in a research programme on affective disorders, in which a translational approach is adapted. Research ranges from fundamental (molecular), through RCTs of the effectiveness of interventions, to applied research (the cost-effectiveness of interventions).

GGZ inGeest has a special infrastructure for data collection and data management (support staff, education, and facilities) for large-scale longitudinal and multi-centre studies (clinical trials). The data management group is highly experienced in building web based data collections and data dissemination infrastructures for such studies. At present the data management unit supports over 20 different studies, including the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA); the Netherlands Study of Depression in Older People (NESDO); Schizophrenia in Older Persons (SOUL), and others, as well as the two EU funded projects IBenC (Identifying best practices for care-dependent elderly by Benchmarking Costs and outcomes of community care) and eCare@home (ambient-assisted living for elderly people with chronic psychiatric disorders).

Roles in E-COMPARED

  • GGZ inGeest will participate in database sharing and development, and is a partner in the pragmatic clinical trial in WP2.
  • Furthermore, they will collaborate in synthesising the research findings in WP5 and dissemination activities in WP6.

Key Personnel Involved

Prof J.H. Smit, PhD (M) has been holding the chair “Methodology of Longitudinal Psychiatric Research” since 2010. He is the managing director of research and innovation with GGZ inGeest. He has extensive expertise in the data management and the supervision of (large-scale) studies in the Netherlands and abroad. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, chapters and reports, and other professional publications.

Ho-Ming Lau, Msc. (M), is head of the data management unit (10 FTE) and supervises database development and data sharing for ongoing projects. He specializes in the processing and governance of survey and RCT data. 

R. Halkema, Msc. (F) is head of the fieldwork unit (15 FTE) of GGZ inGeest. She supervises the fieldwork for all ongoing projects and has over 20 years’ experience in conducting and governing cohort studies and clinical trials.