Henk Schmidt is a professor of psychology at Erasmus University’s faculty of social sciences and founding dean of its problem-based psychology curriculum. Between 2005 and 2013 he was dean of the faculty of social sciences and Vice-Chancellor (“Rector Magnificus”) of Erasmus University, a world top-one-hundred University. Previously, Schmidt held academic positions as professor of cognitive psychology, faculty of psychology, Maastricht University, and as professor of health professions education at the same university. His research areas of interest are learning and memory, and he has published on problem-based learning, long-term memory, and the development of expertise in medicine. He has published more than 350 articles in refereed journals, chapters in books, and books; alone or together with his 40+ PhD.-students. His H-index is presently 64.Twice he received the ”Outstanding paper by an established investigator” Award of the American Educational Research Association. In 1996 the Université de Sherbrooke in Canada awarded him an honorary degree. In 2004, the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, announced him to be the winner of its international medical education research prize for his work in medical expertise and problem-based learning.In 2006, he received the Distinguished Career Award of the American Educational Research Association, Division I.

Relevant publications

Mamede, S., Schmidt, H. G., & Penaforte, J. C. (2008). Effects of reflective practice on the accuracy of medical diagnoses. Medical Education, 42(5), 468-475.

Schmidt, H. G., & Boshuizen, H. P. A. (1993). On the origin of intermediate effects in clinical case recall. Memory and Cognition, 21, 338-351.

Schmidt, H. G., & Rikers, R. (2007). How expertise develops in medicine: knowledge encapsulation and illness script formation. Medical Education, 41(12), 1133-1139.

Schmidt, H. G., Van der Molen, H. T., Te Winkel, W. W. R., and Wijnen, W. H. F.W. (2009). Constructivist, problem-based learning does work: A meta-analysis of curricular comparisons involving a single medical school. Educational Psychologist, 44(4), 227-249.

Schmidt, H.G., Norman, G. R., and Boshuizen, H. P. A. (1990). A Cognitive Perspective on Medical Expertise: Theory and Implications. Academic Medicine, 65, 611-621.