“On my first day as data protection officer at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, the Slotervaart hospital went bankrupt. As a result, I experienced the difficulty in data sharing whilst patients needed to be admitted to other hospitals without any delay. In my daily practice as well as during my PhD research, I always try to find the balance between data protection and data sharing. It goes without saying that data sharing is of utmost importance for health care and research purposes. Trust, transparency, and straightforward communication are key elements. This way, research is not obstructed, and our future patients benefit from research results. A risk-based approach with regard to data sharing for care and research purposes from the outset yields better results than observing what went wrong in the end. Moreover, fines cause feelings of anxiety and fear. I was fortunate that I could always count on the excellent guidance from my two supervisors. And I could not have completed this research without the most wonderful conversations with colleagues and patients."
Legal counsel and PhD candidate Irith Kist will defend her thesis on June 5.
This research was financially supported by KWF Dutch Cancer Society.
prof. dr. mr. G.J. Zwenne & prof. dr. ir. M.K. Schmidt