Dr Rok Hrzic is an assistant professor at the Department of International Health at Maastricht University. He holds degrees in Medicine (University of Maribor), Epidemiology, and Governance and Leadership in European Public Health (Maastricht University). He completed his doctoral thesis on the role of European Union enlargement in mortality convergence across Europe at the International Max Planck Research School on Population, Health and Data Science. His research focuses on the determinants of geographic mortality disparities in Europe. His projects include evaluating treatable mortality in cross-country health system performance assessment, surveying real-world data use in health policy, and utilising electronic patient records and insurance claims in rare disease epidemiology. He is the founding chair of the Digital Public Health task force at the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER), where he spearheads efforts to include digital competencies in public health curricula.