Govert Bijwaard is senior researcher at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI), a position he has held since 2008. He obtained his PhD in econometrics in June 2001 from the Free University Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute. He has developed advanced techniques to overcome inference issues in duration models and multistate models. In addition to his methodological research he has a strong focus on empirical research and policy relevance. In 2004 he received a highly competitive 3-year VENI-grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) to conduct post doc research. He received a Fulbright grant to spend one year at Brown University. He also received two awards for his Ph.D. thesis, for policy relevance, technical quality and presentation of the thesis. His current research interest is on the impact of early life choices on later health and mortality. In recent papers he has disentangled the educational gradient in mortality into a selection effect and an educational gain.