I am appointed as professor at the departments of rheumatology in the Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden and in the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. My research is aimed at understanding the processes underlying disease progression in the earliest phases of rheumatoid arthritis and predicting the disease course of patients presenting with arthralgia and early arthritis. I aim to diagnose patients with impending RA as early as possible, as this reduces the severity of the disease course. Since MRI is important for early recognition of arthritis and RA, I work with a group of MR physicists and radiologist to develop a patient friendly MRI scan, and with AI experts to develop automated MRI-readings.

I supervise the Leiden Early Arthritis cohort, the multicenter Clinically Suspect Arthralgia cohort that runs in Leiden and the Rotterdam area, and the TREAT EARLIER trial. I have authored >370 articles and have received several grants and prizes, among which grants from the Dutch Scientific Organization, the Dutch Arthritis Foundation and an ERC Starting Grant. I am appointed as Medical Delta professor in 2023 and my research in the Medical Delta is awarded as Research Center of Excellence by the Dutch Arthritis Society.