Biography

Olle ten Cate, PhD is an emeritus professor of medical education at University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands, and adjunct professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
With a background of undergraduate medical training and a PhD in social sciences, he has four decades of experience, at the Universities of Amsterdam and Utrecht, with curriculum innovation, educational research, and faculty development in the health professions domain, locally, nationally and internationally. He was the founding director of the Center for Research and Development of Education at UMC Utrecht (2005-2017), served as the president of the Netherlands Association for Medical Education (2006-2012), and has published (500+) and presented (500+) widely about advances in health professions education. He has successfully mentored 25 doctoral students for a PhD in health professions education and currently supervises 9 candidates. For his work he received several awards, among which the J.P. Hubbard award of the National Board of Medical Examiners, the Ian R. Hart award for innovation in medical education, the NVMO Han Moll medal and a Dutch Royal Distinction for contributions to medical education and UMC Utrecht’s Harmen Tiddens Medal. He is a fellow of the American Educational Research Association.
One of his interests is competency-based education in the health professions, and specifically in the application of entrustable professional activities and entrustment decision making, to improve education to serve the quality and safety of health care practice.