PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Andra Waagmeester

Also known as Andra Sachinder Waagmeester

Andra Waagmeester is a biomedical informatics researcher whose linked-data work makes biological pathways machine-readable for computational research and AI. He modeled WikiPathways in RDF in 2011 and coauthored a 2016 method that linked pathway data to other biological resources through SPARQL and Open PHACTS. Later, he coauthored work on Wikidata as a life-sciences knowledge graph, semantified pathway interactions, and inheritance in RDF schemas; he earned a doctorate in pathway abstractions at Maastricht in 2024. He co-leads GA4GH's Rare Disease Community and, as of October 2026, is an Assistant Professor of Medical Informatics at Amsterdam UMC and coordinates and teaches the University of Amsterdam's Health Data & Information Systems course.

Now at
Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, Department of Medical Informatics, Amsterdam UMC and University of Amsterdam
Works
158
Citations
22,607
h-index
22
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2011

    WikiPathways in RDF

    At Maastricht University, he presents the first steps in modeling WikiPathways content in RDF in 2011. This makes Semantic Web features available to the pathway data.

  2. 2016

    Connecting WikiPathways through SPARQL

    At Maastricht University's Department of Bioinformatics - BiGCaT, he coauthors a 2016 paper that makes WikiPathways available through a SPARQL endpoint. It gives genes, proteins, and metabolites standard identifiers for links to other biological resources, then loads pathway triples into Open PHACTS for drug-development tools.

  3. 2020

    Wikidata as a knowledge graph

    In 2020, he coauthors the eLife article “Wikidata as a knowledge graph for the life sciences” with a Micelio affiliation.

  4. 2022

    Harmonizing pathway interactions

    In 2022, he coauthors the PLOS One study “Understanding signaling and metabolic paths using semantified and harmonized information about biological interactions”. The study turns pathway interactions into harmonized, machine-readable data and uses the results to answer biological questions programmatically.

  5. 2024

    A doctorate in pathway data

    In 2024, he earns a Doctor of Philosophy at Maastricht University for his thesis on biological pathway abstractions. The thesis is affiliated with NUTRIM - Metabolic Health, with Chris Evelo as supervisor and Susan Coort and Egon Willighagen as co-supervisors.

  6. 2025

    Inheritance in Shape Expressions

    In 2025, he coauthors “Shape Expressions with Inheritance” in the European Semantic Web Conference proceedings. The paper formalizes inheritance for Shape Expressions and extends a validation algorithm for describing and validating RDF data.

  7. Since December 2025

    Co-leading GA4GH’s Rare Disease Community

    In December 2025, he becomes a co-lead of GA4GH’s Rare Disease Community alongside Toyofumi Fujiwara and Ada Hamosh. At Amsterdam UMC, he is an Assistant Professor in the Reusable Health Group within the Department of Medical Informatics. As of October 2026, he continues in the co-lead role.

  8. As of October 2026

    Assistant professor and course teacher

    As of October 2026, he is an Assistant Professor of Medical Informatics at Amsterdam UMC. In 2026, he coordinates and teaches the University of Amsterdam’s Health Data & Information Systems course, which covers FAIR principles and standards such as HL7 FHIR.

Career

  1. Since 2026University of AmsterdamCourse Coordinator and Instructor
  2. Since 2025Global Alliance for Genomics and HealthCo-lead
  3. NowDepartment of Medical Informatics, Amsterdam UMCAssistant Professor of Medical Informatics
  4. 2020Micelio
  5. 2011–2016Maastricht University

Education

  1. 2024Maastricht UniversityDoctor of Philosophy

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

  1. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Amsterdam. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes University of Amsterdam. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Amsterdam. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Amsterdam. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. First steps towards WikiPathways RDF | Nature Precedings nature.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Using the Semantic Web for Rapid Integration of WikiPathways with Other Biological Online Data Resources | PLOS Computational Biology journals.plos.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Wikidata as a knowledge graph for the life sciences | Digital Commons@Becker digitalcommons.wustl.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Understanding signaling and metabolic paths using semantified and harmonized information about biological interactions | PLOS ONE journals.plos.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Biological pathway abstractions: from two-dimensional drawings to multidimensional linked data | Maastricht University cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Andra Waagmeester | Amsterdam UMC amsterdamumc.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Shape Expressions with Inheritance | arXiv arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Introducing new Community of Interest leadership | GA4GH ga4gh.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. Leadership | GA4GH ga4gh.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. Health Data & Information Systems | University of Amsterdam uva.nl. Checked 21 October 2026.