作者: Gert P. Westert

Ronald Bartels was born in 1962 in Maastricht, the Netherlands. He gained his medical degree from Catholic University Nijmegen, which is now Radboud University Nijmegen. In 1996 he gained his Board certification in neurosurgery, and his certification in spinal surgery in 1999. He obtained his Certification epidemiologist B (SMBWO) in 2008. He is currently Full Clinical Professor and Chair of the department of Neurosurgery,  Radboud University Medical Center, The Netherlands.Maroeska M. Rovers was born in Doetinchem, the Netherlands in 1973. She completed her MSc in Biomedical Health Sciences in 1996, and her Ph D on ‘Otitis media with effusion in infants: the effects of ventilation tubes’ in 2000. She is currently Professor of Evidence-Based Surgery at Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Furthermore, she is a member of the council of the IDEAL collaboration,  a group of leading surgeons and methodologist whom aim to improve the quality of research in surgery. Gert P. Westert was born in Ommen in 1961. He completed his MSc in medical sociology and reserach methodology in 1978 and his Ph D on ‘Variation in Use of Hospital Care’ in 1991. He is director of IQ healthcare and full professor Quality of Health Care and Health Services Research at Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. IQ healthcare is a scientific centre for research, education and support of quality, safety and innovation in healthcare and one of the leading scientific institutes in this field in Europe. He has 25 years of experience as a health services researcher and published 250 papers in various journals.