My scientific career has been devoted to the art and science of prediction modeling. My personal mission is to have prediction models support medical decision-making. As a student, I did a traineeship and supported teaching activities at the Medical Statistics group in 1990; now, I’m privileged to lead the Department of Bio Medical Data Science as a chair since 2017, where the Medical Statistics group is a part of. Before moving back to Leiden, I have worked for 25 years at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where I focused on the development, validation and updating of prediction models with a group of researchers interested in Public health and Medical Decision Making.