LUMC Research themes

Prevention & Lifestyle

Prevention and lifestyle are crucial in modern medicine. They have been repeatedly proven to form a cost-effective means to prevent the occurrence of disease and diminish or prevent its progression or complications.

Vision and mission

Important lifestyle modifications include cessation of smoking, improvement of dietary habits, increasing the amount of physical activity and exercise and reducing stress. Effective self-management and the use of eHealth are key elements in the achievement and maintenance of a healthy lifestyle.

Because of its widespread potential for a variety of diseases, the theme Prevention and Lifestyle is relevant for all patient groups and health care professionals, both in and outside of the LUMC. For that reason, We envision to further increase implementation of this theme in clinical practice, research and education.

We have the following missions:

  • Strengthen research collaborations with the LUMC within our theme Prevention and Lifestyle and between the several other research themes.
  • Intensify education on prevention and lifestyle in the bachelor Medicine and postgraduate education for medical and non-medical health care professionals. Furthermore, we aim to provide training courses on prevention and lifestyle interventions for all relevant health care providers in the LUMC and researchers.
  • Motivate influential medical and non-medical clinicians and researchers to reach out to society on the topic of prevention and lifestyle.
  • To keep talented researchers from the LUMC in the LUMC and attract novel talent from outside the LUMC.

“Prevention and lifestyle should form the cornerstone in every clinical practice.”

About us

Mariëtte Boon, Internal Medicine Specialist in Training and Researcher

Dr. Mariëtte Boon is an internal medicine specialist in training and postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Endocrinology. Her research focuses on combating obesity by increasing energy metabolism. She co-authors over 75 scientific publications, and she received numerous awards, including the KNAW-Heineken Young Scientist Award. Furthermore, she has received more than 10 personal grants, including the NWO-Veni grant (2020). She is actively involved in the societal aspects of obesity and, together with prof Liesbeth van Rossum (Erasmus MC) has written the international bestseller ‘VET belangrijk’. She was the founder and former president of the Young Dutch Association of Endocrinology (JNVE).

Email: m.r.boon@lumc.nl

Thea Vliet Vlieland, Professor of Efficiency of Rehabilitation Processes and Researches Rehabilitation

Prof. dr. Thea Vliet Vlieland is a professor of efficiency of rehabilitation processes and researches rehabilitation. Her research is aimed at patients' health care usage and health care needs, with a focus on promotion of physical activity and exercise. She (co)authored over 350 scientific publications and is the lead author of various influential reviews and practice guidelines. She received the Nederlandse Reumatologie Penning from the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Reumatologie, the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals, American College of Rheumatology. She is currently vice president of the European Alliance of Rheumatology Associations Health Professionals in Rheumatology.

Email: t.p.m.vliet_vlieland@lumc.nl

Niels Chavannes, Professor of eHealth Applications in Population Health Management

Prof. dr. Niels Chavannes is a family physician and professor of eHealth Applications in Population Health Management at the department of Public Health and Primary Care at the LUMC, visiting professor at Fudan University’s Respiratory Research Institute (Shanghai, China) and head of the Prevention & Lifestyle Theme at the LUMC’s Research Council. He is the Vice-Chair of the Dutch Asthma and COPD Advisory Group and National Advisor of the Dutch Action Program on Chronic Lung Diseases of the Lung Alliance Netherlands. He is founder of the National eHealth Living Lab, published over 300 peer-reviewed articles, and contributed to 18 books.

Email: n.h.chavannes@lumc.nl

Research collaborations and alliances

The research in our theme is performed in collaboration with many national and international collaborators including:

  • (Pharmaceutical) companies (for example TNO, Sense Health, Astra Zeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Descin BV Amsterdam, Manometric Holding BV Delft, Cue2Walk International BV Den Haag, Jagaco BV Zoetermeer, Samson IT)
  • Healthcare providers ( for example Zorg en Zekerheid, Menzis)
  • Healthcare associations (for example Arts en Leefstijl, Nhg, Foodfirst Network, Je Leefstijl als Medicijn)
  • Foundations (Pharos, Diabetesfonds)
  • Politics (Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport)

The LUMC is an important partner or initiator of large national initiatives, such as:

Opportunities

For Businesses 

Prevention and lifestyle is a fast developing field within medicine. From the LUMC, we form several (inter)national consortia that study novel aspects, development and implementation of prevention, lifestyle and eHealth. We encourage companies that like to collaborate or invest within this field to contact us.

Email: Info.prevention@lumc.nl

For PhDs and Postdocs 

Within the LUMC, over close to 100 PhD students and postdocs work on the theme prevention, lifestyle and eHealth. If you are interested in a position within this field, please contact us for the possibilities.

Email: Info.prevention@lumc.nl

For Students

We encourage students with interest and ambitions in prevention and lifestyle to contact us for internship opportunities.

Email: Info.prevention@lumc.nl

Sub-themes

Currently, at various departments in the LUMC, research on the theme Prevention and Lifestyle is already vivid and embedded in several projects. However, the coherence on the initiatives and research around our theme can be improved since it is not known to all researchers and caretakers what initiatives and research there is with the LUMC.

Furthermore, there is a need for joint meetings to further intensify collaborations and the opportunity to write large grants together, which may further improve the national and international position of the LUMC. With our mission in mind, we have therefore divided our theme into the following subthemes.

Our sub-themes


Education

In the last years, prevention and lifestyle-related themes have been integrated into the bachelor Medicine and postgraduate education for medical and non-medical health care professionals.

We aim to further intensify education on this subject, both in the bachelor Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and postgraduate education of various health care professionals. Furthermore, we aim to provide training courses on prevention and lifestyle for all relevant health care providers and researchers in the LUMC.

Projects

Lifestyle education in bachelor Medicine

We have teamed up with Student en Leefstijl Leiden (a nationwide board that aims to increase knowledge on food and lifestyle among medical and biomedical students) and the LUMC work group ‘Implementation lifestyle education’ to increase education on prevention and lifestyle in the bachelor Medicine.

Postgraduate courses Prevention and Lifestyle

We will develop several online courses or eLearnings that are relevant for caretakers and researchers, such as motivational interviewing – for example. on cessation of smoking – with the ultimate aim to implement this and other techniques in clinical practice.

Related research facilities

Related research groups

Contact

E-mail: info.prevention@lumc.nl

Research

There are already strong research lines on Prevention and Lifestyle within several departments in the LUMC, which we believe can highly benefit from each other to come to novel high-quality research. We, therefore, aim to further strengthen research collaborations in the LUMC within our theme and between the several research themes.

Furthermore, we think joint meetings to intensify collaborations further and to write large grants together will result in high-quality research, high impact publications, grant proposals and the generation of novel consortia. This may also improve the national and international position of the LUMC.

Projects

Organisation of regular meetings (monthly or bimonthly).

These meetings will allow researchers (PhD students, senior researchers), caretakes and other participants with interest or affinity with our theme to get familiar with each other. The ultimate goal is to initiate collaborations, both within the theme and across themes. Furthermore, we will regularly invite international researchers with the aim to promote international collaborations.

Increase success for grant applications.

We will organise brainstorm sessions to apply for large research grants that involve our theme. To further facilitate this, we will appoint a review board within our team dedicated to internally review and provide feedback on research grants regarding the aspect of prevention and lifestyle to increase success chances.

Related research facilities

Related research groups

Contact

Email: Info.prevention@lumc.nl

Societal impact  

In this subtheme, we aim to motivate influential medical doctors and researchers to outreach to society. This will create more awareness and spread trustful information on Prevention and Lifestyle among the general public. Furthermore, social media outreach will result in more visibility, both nationally and internationally, which may result in further collaborations.

Within our theme, societal outreach already has an important place. Influential researchers and caretakers from our theme, for example, professors Hanno Pijl and Douwe Atsma, regularly appear in several media, including tv programs, write books and write blogs for the LUMC website. We also have good contacts with general practitioners, for example, referral care, since they are included in several of our large projects. However, we aim to intensify this in the coming years.

Projects

Themes for Innovation: Homepage Prevention and Lifestyle

On the homepage of this theme, we will provide the latest developments regarding research on our theme and informative movies on lifestyle and behaviour.

Social media outreach

We will use social media (LinkedIn, Instagram) to spread new discoveries towards colleagues and the general public.

Related research facilities

Related research groups

Contact

Email: Info.prevention@lumc.nl

Talent development  

The LUMC has an excellent reputation concerning expertise and research on Prevention and Lifestyle, both nationally and internationally. To keep research quality high, we aim to set up a mentor-mentee programme and contribute to developing a tenure track programme specifically for the theme Prevention and Lifestyle.

Research performed within our theme has resulted in high scientific output over the past 5 years. Studies were published in high ranked scientific journals, such as BMJ, Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol, Diabetes Care, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. Furthermore, we obtained numerous large research grants. Examples include BENEFIT for all, NWO Perfect fit project, EFRO and Voorwaardelijke Toelating Fysiotherapie bij inflammatoire reumatische aandoeningen (Conditional Admission Physiotherapy in inflammatory rheumatic diseases).

Also, approximately 100 PhD students perform their thesis on a topic related to our theme. However, to keep research quality high, it is essential to keep talented researchers from the LUMC within the LUMC and attract novel talent from outside to the LUMC.

Projects

Project 1: Mentor-mentee programme within LUMC

We aim to identify and guide talented researchers through a mentor-mentee programme in which we match senior researchers with junior researchers. All junior researchers who are interested in this program are invited to participate. Moreover, we will form a team of experienced and motivated mentors. We aim for this programme to identify researchers that can flow into a tenure track programme. We will perform this project in close collaboration with the Young Faculty Network (YFN).

Project 2: Talent scouting from outside the LUMC

We aim to involve our theme board in identifying talent from outside the LUMC and motivating them to apply for grants (for example, the Gisela Thier Fellowship) to join our theme. We will also scout talented researchers through our regular meetings (see our subtheme Research)

Related research groups

Contact

Email: Info.prevention@lumc.nl