Fellow 2 (project 1.2)

Improving the explainability and trustworthiness of AI is essential to fostering its adoption in healthcare. Transparent AI systems enable clinicians and patients to understand decision-making processes, enhancing confidence in recommendations. Trustworthy AI builds on ethical principles, robust validation, and fairness, reducing biases and ensuring equitable outcomes. In healthcare, where decisions impact lives, explainability promotes collaboration between humans and machines, empowering professionals to integrate AI insights into care while maintaining accountability. By prioritizing these qualities, stakeholders can address concerns, build public trust, and unlock AI’s potential to advance diagnosis, treatment, and patient outcomes, ultimately transforming healthcare delivery for the better.  

The fellow will study how AI systems can improve transparency and fairness to address biases and discrimination in healthcare. The project will explore the application of statistical approaches, such as Shapley values, to enhance the explainability of AI-driven decisions. It will also assess compliance with EU guidelines on trustworthy AI, focusing on developing safe, inclusive, and accessible healthcare services for diverse populations. Working collaboratively with healthcare professionals, the fellow will create tools to evaluate and improve AI systems. The research includes secondments for a substantial portion of the recruitment period at leading organizations in the United Kingdom, Germany, and at the OECD (Paris), where the fellow will be able to acquire knowledge and apply international best practices. 

Our research team developed, hosts, maintains and operates a multi-dimensional data warehouse, which integrates longitudinal data on regional populations covered by several statutory health insurance companies in Germany. OptiMedis also developed, hosts, maintains and operates the Digital & Health Innovation Centre, which integrates assessments of eHealth and mHealth applications, in particular Apps for patient care and self-management. OptiMedis was awarded the status as top SME employers in Germany according to the national FOCUS survey and kununu-evaluations, with staff highly satisfied with the working conditions (out of a modern office in the centre of the city of Hamburg and with flexible working arrangements), the organizational culture, work tasks and the organization´s mission. 
OptiMedis has been involved in many EU funded research projects in the past. Prof Groene successfully supervised two doctoral students participating in the Marie- Skłodowska-Curie Training Network for Health System Performance Professionals (HealthPros). Other EU funded projects in which OptiMedis is involved include “Improving quality and patient Safety in surgical care through Standardisation and harmonisation of perioperative care in Europe” (SAFEST), “Integrated personalized care for advanced chronic diseases to improve health and quality of life” (ADLIFE), and “Comparing the Effectiveness of Self-Management Interventions)” (COMPAR-EU). 

For more information, please visit the LinkedIn profile of the Principal Investigator (PI) 

• Candidates should have a Master’s degree in public health, health services research, health policy and management, health sciences, medical informatics, economics, applied statistics, social sciences (quantitative) or a related field. 
• Experience with quantitative research methods. 
• Basic statistical knowledge and experience with data analysis software (e.g., R, Stata, Pyton or similar). 
• Strong analytical skills and problem-solving abilities. 
• Excellent higher education track record and strong scientific curiosity.  
• Fluent spoken and written English skills 

In addition, the following experience would be helpful, but not essential: 

• Experience in conducting and reporting on health services research. 
• Experience in international comparative studies. 
• Experience in stimulating the active use of research results in practice and policy-making. 
• Experience with health information systems. 
• Experience in studying European healthcare systems, particularly in the context of health system performance assessment 

We seek a highly motivated aspiring researcher with a strong interest in conducting research, who thrives in an interdisciplinary environment and project, and can work both independently and as part of a team. 

This 3-year PhD position is funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions of the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program under grant agreement No 101168576. You will be appointed as fulltime PhD for 3 years with OptiMedis. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) programme offers an attractive salary and working conditions. The successful candidates will receive a salary in accordance with the MSCA regulations for early-stage researchers. Exact salary will be confirmed upon appointment [Living Allowance = €3.400 * (country specific correction factor for DE) 0.983 = €3.342,2 + Monthly mobility allowance = €600. An additional monthly allowance of €660 is applicable depending on family situation. In addition to their individual scientific projects, all fellows will benefit from further continuing education, which includes internships and secondments, a variety of training modules as well as transferable skills courses and active participation in workshops and conferences. 

Be aware the contracts include social security coverage providing at least sickness and parental benefits, invalidity and accidents at work and occupational diseases, covering the fellows in every place of implementation of HealthIntelAct activities. As these will be paid by the employer and depend on country-specific regulations, the final net salary that each fellow will receive may differ. 

See recruitment procedure. You can apply using the online application form. For more information about the position you can contact Prof. Dr. Oliver Groene (o.groene@optimedis.de). 

OptiMedis is an innovative health management, analytics, and research company based in Hamburg, Germany. Focused on expanding social impact, OptiMedis develops progressive models for patient-oriented, sustainable health which can be implemented on regional and national levels. OptiMedis collaborates with doctors, hospitals, health care professionals, health insurance companies, local authorities, and with digital assistance solutions companies. The goal of OptiMedis is to continuously improve the structures and processes in health care systems to improve the quality of care. OptiMedis developed, hosts, maintains and operates a multi-dimensional data warehouse, which integrates longitudinal data on regional populations covered by several statutory health insurance companies in Germany.  
Doctoral degrees for fellows based at OptiMedis will be awarded by the University of Witten/Herdecke (https://www.uni-wh.de/en/) under the supervision of Prof Dr Oliver Groene, who is professor appointed at the Faculty of Management, Economics, and Society, University of Witten/Herdecke.