Dr. H. (Hetty) Jolink

I am an internist-infectiologist and my research and clinical interests are focused on patients with primary immunodeficiencies, as well as patients with immunodeficiencies due to secondary causes. I am particularly interested to do research on the borderline between clinical and basic preclinical work in the field of immunology. In my recent research projects and planned studies for the near future I focus on vaccine immunogenicity in immunocompromised patients.
Furthermore, I cooperate extensively with the Department of Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology and the Department of Haematology in the Expert Centre for Rare Inherited Immunodeficiencies and Stem Cell Transplantation. Recently, we started in the LUMC a program for allogeneic stem cell transplantation in adult patients with primary immunodeficiencies. I am a member of the national expert working party for primary immunodeficiencies (Werkgroep Immuundeficientie - WID) .

My PhD was a joint project at the Department of Infectious Diseases and the Department of Haematology, in which I studied the role of T-cells in aspergillus-related disease, among which invasive aspergillosis in patients after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
In my recent research projects and planned studies for the near future I focus on vaccine immunogenicity in immunocompromised patients. During the COVID pandemic, we studied the efficacy of vaccination against COVID in primary immunodeficiency in a multi-centre trial (VACOPID), led by the Erasmus MC. This year I will start a pneumococcal vaccination study in asplenia patients in cooperation with basic researchers in LU-CID, in which we aim to perform in-depth immunological analyses to study pneumococcal conjugate vaccine immunogenicity in blood and tissues (lymph node and spleen).