Wija Oortwijn studied health sciences and holds a Ph.D. in Medicine. She is senior scientific researcher at Radboud University Medical Centre, Department for Health Evidence and Associate Professor at Leiden University Medical Centre, Department of Public Health and General Practice, located in the Netherlands. She has more than 25 years of relevant professional experience in HTA and health policy analysis around the globe.

Since 1993, she has been extensively involved in the development of HTA and health system strengthening around the world. She co-coordinated and participated in the pioneering EUR-ASSESS project (1994-1997), the first European Commission-funded project to develop coordination of HTA activities in Europe, and its successors, HTA-Europe and ECHAHI/ECHTA. These projects laid the foundation of establishing a formal basis for HTA collaboration in Europe (i.e. EUnetHTA). She has co-authored 10 book chapters concerning different aspects of HTA, edited several journal issues, has written more than 70 other scholarly published papers and has been a keynote speaker at several key HTA events around the globe. She is a founding member of the Dutch Society for Health Technology Assessment (1995), and a founding member of the Committee for a New Society for Health Technology Assessment that declared the establishment of Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi) in 2003. Currently, she is the President of HTAi and a member of the editorial board of the International Journal for Health Technology Assessment in Health Care.