Although randomized-controlled trials should be regarded as the highest grade of evidence, clinical trials are also very costly, time-consuming and answer only one very specific question with often a limited external validity due to their strict inclusion criteria.

Real-world data (RWD) provide a much more realistic representation of the actual patient population and utilization and outcome of treatments in daily clinical practice. I therefore strongly believe that RCTs and RWD should be seen as complementary to each other.

My vision and focus of research is to optimize the utilization of RWD, with a special focus on application in esophageal and gastric cancer. By using innovative (and more standard) methodologies to analyze RWD I intend to contribute to the academic knowledge of these innovative methodologies. But at the same time try to create potential societal impact by presenting the output in such way that it can be used by physicians and patients to improve decision making and outcome in the daily clinical oncology practice.