About
Introduction
I am Urologist, senior staff member and associate professor at the Erasmus MC Cancer Institute.
My research focus is urothelial cancer. I am involved in a variety of ongoing clinical and translational studies. I supervise 4 PhD students and 1 PostDoc in the field of clinical and translational research in GU cancers.
Field(s) of expertise
I am currently involved in a variety of ongoing translational clinical studies in urothelial cancer. I am a board member of the Dutch Uro Oncology Study Group (www.stichtingduos.nl) which is a collaborative network of 25 hospitals in the Netherlands and board member of the Dutch Bladder Cancer Infrastructure.
Education and career
I recieved my medical degree at the University of Utrecht and obtained the US medical licensing step I and II in 2001. I specialized in Urology (2004 - 2009). After obtaining my PhD in 2011 I joined the staf of urology at Erasmus MC.
I continued my career at the Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, formerly known as the Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center. In 2019, I was appointed an associate professorship in oncological urology.
Recent Findings
Previous studies in the lab have shown that autologous dendritic cells pulsed with allogenic tumor cell lysate was able to induce peripheral T cell activation and tumor-reactive T cell responses in patients with mesothelioma and pancreatic cancer. Current research focuses on how to initiate an effective immune response in the tumor as well as the tumor-draining lymph node using dendritic cell vaccination. Furthermore, we are studying novel approaches for (personalized) vaccination. In addition, we have identified T cell characteristics that underlie clinical efficacy of immune check inhibitors or chemotherapeutic agents in mesothelioma. The selected publications below give an impression of our work.
Teaching activities
Other positions
Scholarships, grants, and awards
Period (from – to) |
Funding source and project code |
Own share of grant (€) |
Total grant (€) |
Project title |
Role of PI* |
2013-2017 |
Mrace grant, 103824 |
150,000.- |
150,000.- |
Identification of muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients who will not benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy using circulating tumor cells |
Principal investigator |
2017-2020 |
KWF, 10319 |
440,000.- |
440,000.- |
REduce BlAdder CAncer REcurrences after Nephro-Ureterectomy |
Principal investigator |
2018-2019 |
DUOS |
15,000.- |
15,000.- |
The clonal relation of upper tract urothelial carcinoma and paired urothelial carcinoma of the bladder |
Principal investigator |
2019-2022 |
ERA-NET, JTC-2017-8349 |
320,000.- |
960,000.- |
MOLecular ChARacterization of Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma |
Principal investigator, leader of the consortium |
2019-2022 |
ZonMW, 80-84300-98-18572 |
|
401,000.- |
Comparative effectiveness of bladder sparing treatment versus radical surgery |
Co-PI |
2019-2020 |
DUOS |
5,000.- |
5,000.- |
Pathology revision of metastatic lesions of urothelial carcinoma in addition to WGS |
Principal investigator |
2020 - 2023 |
KWF, 12432 |
110,000.- |
448,322.- |
The accuracy of detecting residual disease following neo-adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer |
Co-PI |
My Groups
My research focusses on risk stratification and precision medicine of urothelial carcinoma.
I am leading a multicentre study (CirGuidance study) on circulating tumour cells to guide neoadjuvant chemotherapy in bladder cancer patients. I am supervising a PhD student who is developing gene expression profiles of this patient cohort (N=320) together with a diagnostic company in order to improve risk stratification of bladder cancer patients. I am also supervising a PhD student as part of another multicentre study on the efficacy of a preoperative intravesical instillation before radical nephro-ureterectomy in patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (REBACARE study), of which I am the lead investigator.
Furthermore, I am leading a European consortium for the molecular characterization of upper tract urothelial carcinoma (MOLCARUTUC consortium), as well as national collaboration on whole genome and transcriptome sequencing data of 100+ urothelial carcinoma metastases together with Hartwig Medical Foundation. In collaboration with the department of Medical Oncology, I am co-supervising a PhD student who runs a biomarker discover study to predict response to pembrolizumab (RESPONDER study).
Lastly, I am co-PI of the Pre-Prevencys study (granted by KWF) to conduct a prospective trial on clinical response prediction to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients undergoing radical cystectomy.