We are thrilled to announce the launch of our newest group of DCVA Leadership Program candidates! These individuals are brimming with creativity, vision, and enthusiasm, and are ready to take on the challenge of leading the DCVA to new heights.
Out of 33 applicants, 16 talents were selected by reviewers and the selection committee. The group consists of fundamental researchers, clinicians, engineers, policy advisors, and patients in this group, all eager to roll up their sleeves and get to work with complex problems that the DCVA partners encounter. Each topic will be assigned to the talents, who will work in groups on the topic of their preference during the 2-year program.
So let's give a round of applause to our amazing leadership candidates! We can't wait to see all the incredible things they'll achieve as future ambassadors of the DCVA. Stay tuned for updates on their progress, and get ready to be inspired!
Alicia Uijl
Annette Neele
Eileen van Warners
Erik Groot Jebbink
Franca Bindels
Germaine Verwoert
Ilse Verstraaten
Jeffrey Kroon
Jesper Hjortnaes
Job Verdonschot
Lily Jakulj
Magdalena Harakalova
Ralf Harskamp
Sanne Peters
Thomas van Sloten
Yvonne Koop
Alicia Uijl
Clinical epidemiologist and assistant professor at the department of Cardiology and the department of Epidemiology and Data science at Amsterdam University Medical Centers, location AMC. In addition, she holds an affiliate researcher position at the department of Medicine at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. Her research focus is on personalised medicine for patients with heart failure using big data. She specialises in electronic health records and registries, and in particular, using linked data from multiple sources in her research.
Annette Neele
Assistant professor, department of Medical Biochemistry, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam. Basic and translational scientist studying the regulatory mechanisms of monocytes and macrophages in the context of atherosclerosis.
Eileen van Warners
Nurse practitioner at Amphia and ZorrooPLUS in Oosterhout. Focus on connecting primary and secondary care for patients with atrial fibrillation and heart failure in Oosterhout. Areas of attention are the transition for the patient from science to practical implementation and the implementation of the regional transmural agreements (RTA) heart failure and RTA atrial fibrillation to general practice nurses and general practitioners.
Erik Groot Jebbink
Erik Groot Jebbink received his B.S. (2009), M.S. (2013) and PhD (2017) from the University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands. He is currently assistant professor at the M3i group, University of Twente and Technical Physician at the department of Vascular Surgery at the Rijnstate hospital, Arnhem. His research interests focus on the interaction between blood flow and stents, based on in vitro and in vivo measurements. He is involved in several projects, including a ZonMW-VENI personal grant.
Franca Bindels
Portfolio manager overseeing delivery of the industry driven study portfolio at WCN, a network of non-academic cardiovascular investigators in the Netherlands. Applying over 15 years of clinical trial experience when supporting research partners and network members in their investigational efforts.
Germaine Verwoert
Cardiologist and clinical epidemiologist, working in the cardiac rehabilitation, Basalt rehabilitation, Leiden, with a focus on sport cardiology and improving local complex rehabilitation oppertunities. Working on research on complex cardiac rehabilitation, mainly for heart failure and congenital heart disease.
Ilse Verstraaten
Policy advisor and patient representative at Harteraad, the experience and data driven Centre of Expertise for when it comes to living with cardio-vascular disease. She combines her knowledge in Health Economics, Policy & Law with her own patient experience. Focus on patient participation in scientific research and projects about quality of care and quality of life.
Jeffrey Kroon
Assistant professor, department of Experimental Vascular Medicine at the Amsterdam University Medical Centers. He is a basic scientist with a passion for performing clinically-relevant translational research in the area of vascular inflammation and metabolism. The focus is on investigating the interplay between the endothelium and its microenvironment as a key factor in driving atherosclerosis.
Jesper Hjortnaes
Dr. Jesper Hjortnaes (MD, PhD) is cardiothoracic surgeon, with special interest and experience in aortic root, aortic surgery, dissections and mechanical circulatory support (MCS) for heart failure. Furthermore, he is a senior academic researcher at Leiden University Medical Center involved (as principal investigator) in translational cardiovascular projects, focusing on engineering myocardial tissue akin to the human heart.
Job Verdonschot
Clinical geneticist in training and assistant professor in the Maastricht University Medical Center. After completing a PhD program with the distinction cum laude, he continued as a researcher focusing on genetic cardiomyopathies, with a special interest in early disease detection in family members, with a joint appointment at the department of Clinical Genetics and Cardiology.
Lily Jakulj
Nephrologist and postdoctoral researcher at the Amsterdam UMC Department of Nephrology and Dianet Dialysis Center Amsterdam. Her clinical and educational expertise is focused on chronic kidney disease and peritoneal dialysis. After obtaining a PhD in Vascular Medicine, her research is aimed at the reduction of the excessively high cardiovascular risk in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease.
Magdalena Harakalova
Assistant Professor of translational cardiovascular epigenomics at the Department of Cardiology and the Regenerative Medicine Utrecht (RMU) Center of UMC Utrecht. She is a translational researcher focusing on next-generation sequencing techniques and multi-modal omics integration (genome biology, epigenetics, transcriptional regulation) of variable phenotypes in genetic cardiomyopathies.
Ralf Harskamp
General practitioner and assistant professor at the Amsterdam UMC. He is a Rubicon and Dekker laureate and completed a clinical research fellowship at Duke Clinical Research Institute, USA. His academic work involves the early detection and treatment of cardiovascular disease in a community-based, primary care setting. As a physician he practices at Gezondheidscentrum Holendrecht, in Amsterdam Southeast, a diverse, multicultural community.
Sanne Peters
Dr. Sanne Peters is an epidemiologist with appointments as Associate Professor at the University Medical Center Utrecht and as Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London. Her research focuses on sex and gender differences in the prevention, presentation, management, and outcomes of chronic disease, mainly cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Thomas van Sloten
Internist, Department of Vascular Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU). He obtained his PhD at Maastricht University, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at INSERM, Paris. Clinical-scientist focusing on cerebrovascular disease and diabetes.
Yvonne Koop
As a cardiovascular epidemiologist at the UMC Utrecht, Yvonne works on several (inter-)national projects in the field of cardio-oncology. In her research she focusses on evaluating incidence, prognosis and risk prediction of both cancer patients receiving cardiotoxic treatments and cardiac patients at risk for malignancies. There are many opportunities in evaluating these aspects with data linkage of clinical and registry data. Therefore, evaluating the quality and feasibility of data linkage is an important aspect in her research. She is a member of the ESC council on cardio-oncology and the HFA study group on cardio-oncology.