Netherlands Cancer Registry, Netherlands
Motivation for standing for election
Should I be elected I would like to focus on three aspects of cancer registration: - Standardization - Data quality - Increased use of the data in (clinical) research
Standardization
The present ENCR SC initiated already the process of updating guidelines. This process has to be continued and, if necessary, new guidelines have to be made. For example, there is a need for guidelines on how to register stage and treatment, and how to deal with missing data.
Data quality
Several activities on this topic have also been initiated by the ENCR SC. Computer checks have been updated, but computer checks can only find very obvious errors. When we really want to improve data quality we have to improve the content of the data, which means more detailed data and less missing data. Improving the process of the cancer registries and improving the knowledge of the registration staff (training) may add to this. Timeliness is also an aspect of data quality. I would like to explore the possibilities to improve the timeliness of cancer registration.
Increased use of the data in (clinical) research
The previous two topics are a prerequisite for increased use of cancer registry data. Data of several registries are already used in clinical research, while other registries are mainly focused on epidemiology. I would like to stimulate registries to use the data as much as possible.
Short CV
Dr. Visser graduated from Medical School in 1984. After several years in basic research, he was employed at the Comprehensive Cancer Centre Amsterdam from 1990-2010, where he was head of the Amsterdam Cancer Registry since 1996. From 2011-13, he was a cancer registry expert at the Comprehensive Cancer Centre the Netherlands, a new organization resulting from a merger of seven regional organizations. After the merger of the two remaining comprehensive cancer centres in the beginning of 2014, he became director of registration at the Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organization, where he is responsible for the Netherlands Cancer Registry (NCR) and the trial data management department. The NCR is one of the most comprehensive populations-based cancer registries in the world including many clinical data. Dr Visser has an extensive knowledge of all aspects of cancer registration, both as far as the registration process is concerned and in the use of the data. He was involved in the annual publications of the NCR and a large number of epidemiological and clinical studies with cancer registry data. He obtained his doctorate with a thesis on a number of these studies in 2006.