Dr. Marla Beerens obtained a Bachelor of Health Organization, Policy and Management and Economics at Maastricht University as well as studied minores and Bachelor of Health Law at the same university. She has a Master of Philosophy in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Technology Assessment and was awarded over 550,000 Euros in grant funding to conduct a multicenter randomized control trial, which helped her complete her PhD in Public Health. Her research has been in collaboration with the health economists group of London School of Economics.

Dr. Marla Beerens brings a wealth of experience as a scientist at Maastricht University Medical Center and has been a consultant to academic institutions and other consultants as well as worked for the European Union. After working in academia she has moved for a couple of years to the Dutch National Bureau of Statistics in which she was a project lead for big data projects. In the last 8 years at Sidra, she has focused on managing strategic, operational, and improvement programs at first from CEO-office and at current for Research. Currently, Marla is also working as a researcher implementation science which is an area Sidra is launching research in aligned with the priorities of the Board approved Research Strategy.

The Research Operations Innovation and Strategy is led by Dr. Marla Beerens. Offices include Project Management, Research Grants and Contracts, Technology Transfer, Outcomes and Reporting, Laboratories Management, Business Office, Innovation and Lab Safety.