J. (Justine) Staal, PhD

Currently, I am involved in research focusing on diagnostic errors: specifically, understanding what causes diagnostic errors and how we can prevent them. I study this problem from my background in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. My PhD research centered around the same subject. Diagnostic errors are a prevalent and serious problem to patient safety. In my current project, I am focusing on the collaboration between artificial intelligence and clinicians, and where errors can occur in this collaboration. With our research, we hope to contribute to improving patient safety, both in the current situation in healthcare, and in the future.

Additionally, I am passionate about doing “good research”. This involves, for example, open science and research into research methods. Only by improving our research methods can we conduct more accurate and reliable studies. From this interest, I also work as a teacher in Academic Skills here at the Erasmus MC.

I primarily focus on performing quantitative research, such as experiments or RCTs. I additionally have experience in conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses, which I also teach about in the medical curriculum. With my experimental studies, I focus on identifying factors that are associated with diagnostic errors, or conversely, with correct diagnoses. One of the primary factors thought to cause diagnostic errors are cognitive biases (or, systematic errors in human reasoning) and my experiments focus partially on cognitive biases as a possible cause of diagnostic errors. By better understanding diagnostic errors, I hope to contribute to improving patient safety.

I completed a Bachelor’s in Psychology and a Master’s in Neuroscience. From there, I went to work at iMERR under the supervision of prof. dr. Walter van den Broek, prof. dr. Maarten Frens, dr. Laura Zwaan, and dr. Jelmer Alsma. My PhD thesis focused on causes and solutions for (cognitive) diagnostic errors. Additionally, I have dabbled in computer science and have developed an interest in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. I am currently performing postdoc research on human-AI collaboration with dr. Laura Zwaan at iMERR, working from a grant I received from the Society for Improving Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM).

Please see an overview of publications in the Pure repository.

I currently work at the department of Medical Informatics as a teacher for Academic Skills. We teach medical students and clinical technology students throughout the entirety of the medical curriculum, focusing both on their ability to understand and interpret research, and later in the Master to integrate scientific research with their medical practice. The overall goal is to enable students to use scientific evidence to provide the best possible medical care for their patients.

Additionally, I occasionally supervise Master students’ internships and their theses. I also coach several medical students.