Ale Algra trained in physics at Utrecht University and obtained a BSc in 1975. He continued training at the Medical School of the Erasmus University Rotterdam (MD 1981). In the mean time he worked at the Thoraxcenter on the computer analysis of 24-hour ECG recordings, originally on technical aspects of ECG-analysis, later he studied predictors for sudden cardiac death from 24-hour ECG, resulting in his doctorate thesis in 1990. In 1984-85 he trained at the Harvard School of Public Health for an MSc in Epidemiology. From 1990 on he works at the University Medical Center Utrecht, half-time in the department of Neurology, and half-time in the Julius Center. In 1999-2000 he spent a sabbatical year as Visiting Professor at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, with the research group of Barnett and Hachinski. As of 2005 he works one day per week as professor of clinical epidemiology in the department of Clinical Epidemiology of the Leiden University Medical Center.