Dr Fariba Ahmadizar, PharmD, MSc, PhD, is a Senior Assistant Professor in Molecular (Pharmaco)Epidemiology at the Department of Data Science and Biostatistics, University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU) in the Netherlands (2021–present) and a Visiting Scientist at the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the United States (2024–present).

She earned her PhD in Epidemiology from Utrecht University in 2016, followed by an MSc in Pharmacoepidemiology from the Julius Center, UMCU, in 2017.

Dr. Ahmadizar’s research focuses on molecular epidemiology, particularly in the area of “Diabetes Precision Medicine”. She applies omics approaches such as genomics and metabolomics to predict and better understand complications of type 2 diabetes, including those affecting the brain, heart, liver, and kidneys. She aims to improve diabetes management by investigating the underlying mechanisms of disease progression and treatment response.

She is the principal investigator of several research initiatives, including the LMiC-P4 Training Program in Pharmacoepidemiology (2019), the PARKER Consortium on precision biomarkers in type 2 diabetes (2020), the FLinDeR Consortium focused on fatty liver biomarker discovery (2022) and the funded 3HOWS4DM- Inclusive Care, Brighter Minds (2024).

Dr. Ahmadizar has supervised 12 PhD students and postdoctoral researchers to date, and has mentored numerous MSc students and research interns both in the Netherlands and internationally, including at Harvard University and through the Danish Data Science Academy (DDSA). She also teaches courses in epidemiology, molecular pharmacoepidemiology, causal inference, and cardiovascular epidemiology at institutions in the Netherlands and abroad.

Her advisory and committee roles include membership in the WHO Global Diabetes Compact Forum, the Global Evidence Summit Abstract Review Committee, the NWO Life Sciences RC5 – Data, Methods and Analysis, and the External Expert Advisory Board of the EU-funded BETTER4U Project. She is also a member of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE), the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) including its NAFLD Study Group, and the Global NASH Council. She serves as Associate Editor for the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology and is an ad hoc reviewer for several high-impact journals, including JAMA, The Lancet, and Diabetes Care.

Dr. Ahmadizar has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications. Recent key papers include a 2024 article in Nature Medicine on obesity subclassification for precision cardiometabolic risk prediction and a 2023 paper in Diabetes Care on cognition trajectories in diabetes.

Her professional profiles are available at https://www.linkedin.com/in/fariba-ahmadizar-67017689/.