Rate My Professor Erwin Hans

Prof.dr.ir. Erwin W. Hans is a full professor of Operations Management in Healthcare at the University of Twente, affiliated with the Department of Industrial Engineering & Business Information Systems in the Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences. He earned his MSc in Applied Mathematics from the University of Twente in 1996, specializing in mathematical modelling and operations research, followed by a PhD from the same institution in 2001 on resource loading by branch-and-price techniques with applications in discrete manufacturing and project environments. Since completing his doctorate, he has advanced to his current full professorship with tenure since 2013. Hans lectures in various undergraduate and graduate programs, including Industrial Engineering & Management BSc and MSc, Health Sciences BSc and MSc, the Leadership Honours Programme, and post-academic courses for healthcare professionals. He is the co-founder of the Centre for Healthcare Operations Improvement & Research (CHOIR), the Netherlands’ centre of expertise in healthcare logistics, and the spin-off company Rhythm BV, which implements healthcare logistics solutions.

Hans’s research focuses on healthcare operations management and operations research, particularly capacity management, planning, and scheduling in settings such as operating theatres, ICUs, radiology departments, and home care. He collaborates with university hospitals on practical applications to optimize healthcare processes. His scholarly impact is evidenced by over 6,000 citations on Google Scholar. Key publications include “Fifty years of operational research applied to healthcare: Invited Review in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of EURO” (2025, European Journal of Operational Research), “Bed census prediction combining expert opinion and patient statistics” (2025, Omega), “Inter-organizational pooling of NICU nurses in the Dutch neonatal network: A simulation-optimization study” (2025, Health Care Management Science), “A chance-constrained program for the allocation of nurses in acute home healthcare” (2025, Health Systems), and “Enhancing pharmaceutical cold supply chain: integrating medication synchronization and diverse delivery modes” (2024, International Transactions in Operational Research). Hans has received prestigious awards, including the Central Education Award as Best Lecturer of the University of Twente (2015), Decentral Education Prizes for Best Teacher (2007) and Best English Speaking Lecturer (2019) in Industrial Engineering & Management, the Best Student Advocate Award for the Health Science program (2025), and the shared Canadian OR Society Practice Prize (2012). His methodologies have been implemented in hospitals such as ZGT and Maartenskliniek, enhancing logistical efficiency across Dutch healthcare, and he frequently speaks at national and international events on integral capacity management.