Helga Gardarsdottir is professor in  use of Real world data for decision making on medicines at the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology & Clinical Pharmacology (Utrecht University, NL) where she servers as the scientific director of the Center for Pharmacoepidemiology. Additionally, she holds the position of adjunct professor of Pharmacoepidemiology at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik. Since January 2025, she has also been serving as a Seconded National Expert in the Data Analytics and Methods Taskforce (RWE Workstream) at the European Medicines Agency. 

Her primary research interests include the application and development of innovative approaches to generate and analyse real world data on safety and effectiveness of medicines to inform regulatory and clinical decision making. Her special research interest involve assessing impact of drug regulation on safe and effective use in populations. Prof Gardarsdottir was trained as a pharmacist (SE) and a pharmacoepidemiologist (NL). She has led and participated in several international multi-country research projects including the IMI-PROTECT project, the IMI Trials@home project and EMA tendered studies on behalf of the EU Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacovigilance Research Network. She is the co-chair of the ENCePP steering group, a member of the ENCePP working group responsible for the “Guide on Methodologal Standards in Pharmacoepidemiology“, co-led the Real-World Evidence Task Force of the International Society of Pharmacoepidemiology (2019-2022) and is an associate editor of the journal ‘Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety’. 

In addition to her research, Prof. Gardarsdottir teaches pharmacoepidemiology to pharmacy and medical students. She also maintains a personal interest in topics pertaining to Equality, Inclusion, and Diversity (EDI). She currently serves as the chair of the Faculty of Science EDI committee, where she actively promotes initiatives aimed at fostering a more inclusive and equitable academic environment.

Publication and citation profile Helga Gardarsdottir at Google Scholar