David van Westerloo appointed professor

Van Westerloo: “ The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) should be a place where meaningful care is delivered with attention and compassion. At the same time, we want to continue to improve our highly complex excellent care.’ By high-complex care, Van Westerloo refers to thoracic surgery/ECMO, neuro-IC, liver failure and transplantation, among others. An ECMO device is also known as a heart-lung machine. This is a device that temporarily takes over the function of a patient's heart and lungs.”

‘To deliver the best care, cooperation is key. Not only within the hospital, but also outside it. Therefore, intensifying the regional IC network, IC-West, is another important key focus for the coming years.’

Research and job satisfaction

The ICU has three lines of research that Van Westerloo and his team want to deepen. “These include, for example, the integration of data in healthcare services. Think about the possibilities offered by artificial intelligence. And the use of innovative data, like circadian rhythms (24-hour rhythms). A second line focuses on technology, including ventilation and ECMO. Both are areas in which our ICU is a leader. The third line focuses on the substantive key areas of our ICUs: paediatric cardiac surgery, ECMO and liver failure.” He also sees further cooperation with Leiden Bio Science park as a goal for the coming years.

Continuous development

Besides continuing the commitment to the School of Medicine, Van Westerloo wants to create a lot of space for students of Technical Medicine. “ The aim is to strengthen the connection between LUMC's intensive care unit and Delft University of Technology. This is because by looking at problems in different ways, we can come up with innovative solutions.”

In everything, he encourages a culture of continuous development. For both doctors and nurses. “ We do this with traineeships for doctors, in-depth traineeships for our specialists inside and outside LUMC, specialization opportunities for nurses and, in time, also with the start of a physician-assistant course within the ICU.”

Curriculum vitae

After studying Medicine at VU University Amsterdam, Van Westerloo obtained his PhD in experimental internal medicine at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre (AMC). His PhD research focused on the neuroimmunological regulation of inflammation during critical illness.

After this, he trained as an internist at the OLVG and AMC, including a long internship in Curaçao. Thereafter, Van Westerloo specialised in intensive care at the AMC and since 2011 he has worked as an intensivist at the LUMC. Here he has a special focus on national and regional IC cooperation, care around liver failure and transplantation, and when necessary covid crisis management.