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Researcher

Dr. L.M. (Loes) Hollestein

Researcher

  • Department
  • Dermatology
  • Focus area
  • Skin Cancer epidemiology
Contact   External Profile

About

Introduction

I am a clinical epidemiologist. My research focus is on skin cancer using routinely collected health care data.

Field(s) of expertise

National research

The past years, I described skin cancer epidemiology in the Netherlands and its impact on patients and health care services in the Netherlands. The aims were to increase the awareness of the rapid skin cancer increases among health care policy makers and to emphasize the urgency for prevention strategies and management of skin cancer patients. 

Epidemiology

I described the epidemiology of thin melanoma and childhood melanoma.

Health care services

I used multiple data sources (primary care/hospital claims/cancer registry/health insurance) to describe the impact of skin (pre)malignancies on the Dutch health care system and identify aspects of improvement.

I collaborated with psychologists and health care economists to perform discrete choice experiments among clinicians and patients to design an intervention to improve follow-up care.

Quality of Life (QoL)

I co-supervised the development of a QoL questionnaire for basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, which is currently being validated in English in the USA.

 

International research

I have a large international network of collaborators (see below). I was invited to Australia to perform pharmacoepidemiological analyses on the association between anti-hypertensive drugs and skin cancer. I analysed Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) in the UK on comorbidities of eczema. I co-supervised a France postdoc on the international analyses of drug use for psoriasis. I initiated an international project on the recurrence of a rare skin tumor. I was invited to validate Danish research findings on the association between hydrochlorothiazide and skin cancer.

Education and career

Education

PhD-thesis: Burden and chemoprevention of skin cancer, Erasmus University, , 2010-2013

Promotor: Prof.dr. T.E.C. Nijsten

Copromotor: Dr. E. de Vries

MSc. Clinical epidemiology, Netherlands Institute for Health Sciences, 2010-2012

High school biology teacher, Leiden University, 2009-2010

MSc. Biomedical Sciences, Leiden University, 2008-2010

BSc. Biomedical Sciences, Leiden University, 2004-2008

Career

Function:            Postdoc

Institute:             Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Center (IKNL)

Department:       Research

Date:                  since 2015 (0.2fte)

 

Function:            Postdoc (permanent position)

Institute:             Erasmus MC University Medical Center

Department:       Dermatology

Date:                  since 2014 (1fte in 2014, 0.88 fte since 2016 (incl. 0.2 fte at IKNL))

 

Function:            PhD-student

Institute:             Erasmus MC University Medical Center

Department:       Dermatology

Date:                  2010-2013

 

Function:            Fellowship / PhD-student

Institute:             PHARMO Institute for Drug Outcomes Research

Department:       Research

Date:                  Jan 2011- Aug.2011

Other positions

Advisory commitee

In 2016 I was invited by the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF) to join the advisory  committee (Adviesraad) on cancer prevention

Editoral board international journals

Senior Statistical Editor of the British Journal of Dermatology (Rank 5 of 63 Dermatology journals).

I was invited in 2015 as junior statistical editor and I was promoted to senior statistical editor in 2016. Since 2017, I have 4 other statistical editors in my team.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjd.13731/full

 

Organisation of (inter)national courses

Course co-organiser of the preconference course on ‘Skin Cancer Epidemiology’ for the European Dermato-Epidemiology Network (EDEN) congress in 2017 

Course chair of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) fostering course ‘Clinical research and Epidemiology’

Organised in 2012, 2014, 2016 and planned for 2019. A 5-day course for 30 international dermatology residents and dermatologists who have an interest in pursuing research, but have not yet undertaken a substantive block of research time.

Speaker at the skin cancer course for GPs of Leiden University.

Since 2014, I am invited each year to teach skin cancer epidemiology to ~200 GPs.

Speaker at the Masterclass Melanoom of Stichting Oncowijs for specialist nurses in 2018

 

Organisation of national congresses

Program committee member of the annual meeting of the Dutch Society for Experimental Dermatology (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Experimentele Dermatology [NVED]) in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

 

Organisation of international congresses

Organizing committee member of the European Dermato-Epidemiology Network (EDEN) Congress in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

 

Steering group membership of international associations

Steering group member of the European Dermato-Epidemiology Network (EDEN)

Steering group member of the pharmacoepidemiology group of the Keratinocytic Carcinoma consortium (KERACON)

Scholarships, grants, and awards

Grants

 

Formal Applicant

Amount

Year of award

Institute:

 

Title:

Health Holland

 

Early stage melanoma: who is at risk of distant metastasis?

 

I have written the complete project proposal and I am currently leading this project. This project is a collaboration with the Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organisation and a company (SkylineDx) from who I received co-funding of € 274,113 (SkylineDx) and € 20,128 (Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organisation)

€ 391,540

2019

 

 

 

 

Institute:

 

Title:

Sanofi

 

Dutch Keratinocyte Cancer Collaborative

 

I wrote this grant application together with my colleague dr. Marlies Wakkee (dermatologist), who is also a formal applicant. This project is a collaborative project with the Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organisation with who we designed a prospective registry for advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

€ 808,775

2020

 

 

 

 

Formal Co-applicant

 

 

Institute:

 

Title:

Canadian Dermatology Foundation

 

Anti-hypertensive drugs and risk of keratinocyte cancer: a population-based study

 

I am involved in the Keratinocyte Cancer Consortium (KERACON).This grant application concerns the analyses of 8 datasets from Australia, Canada, the US and the Netherlands. For this grant application I have written the analysis plan of all individual studies and the meta-analyses.

$ 55,000

(€ 37,000)

2018

 

 

 

 

Institute:

 

 

Title:

National Health Care Institute Netherlands (Zorginstituut Nederland [ZiNL])

 

‘Wise follow-up care for patients who are treated for non-melanoma skin cancer and actinic keratosis’

 

My head of department was formal applicant, due to application rules of ZiNL, but I have designed and written at least 50% of the grant application. The results of this research were used to inform the Dutch minister of Health, Welfare and Sport and will be submitted to international journals.

€ 180,000

2015

 

 

 

 

Institute:

 

 

Title:

Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centres (NFU)

 

‘Basal Cell Carcinoma Follow-Up Study (B-FUS)’

 

I performed pre-work for this grant-application. I was daily project leader for this project up to April 2017, until I went abroad.

https://www.doenoflaten.nl/projecten/project-7-basaalcelcarcinoom-follow-up-study-b-fus/

€ 200,000

2016

 

 

 

 

 

Total

€ 1,617,315

 

Prizes

R.Waalboer-Spuij received the prize for the best publication from the Dutch Society of PsychoDermatology in 2018 for his publication: ‘Development and Validation of the Basal and Squamous Cell Carcinoma Quality of Life Questionnaire’, which I supervised.

 

 

More

Oral Presentations at (inter)national congresses

 

‘NSAIDs may prevent melanoma’

12e Wetenschappelijke jaarvergadering van de Nederlandse Vereniging voor Experimentele Dermatologie (NVED), Lunteren, Nederland

 

2010

‘Cutaneous SCC in the Netherlands: trends in incidence, survival and mortality 1989-2008’

41st Annual meeting of the European Society for Dermatological Research (ESDR), Barcelona, Spain

 

2011

‘NSAIDs and low dose aspirin may prevent melanoma and keratinocytic cancers’

13e Wetenschappelijke jaarvergadering van de Nederlandse Vereniging voor Experimentele Dermatologie (NVED), Lunteren, Nederland

 

2012

‘Aspirin and risk of BCC: a population-based linkage study’

6th International Congress on Dermato-epidemiology (IDEA), Malmö, Sweden

 

2012

‘Epidemiology of melanoma in the Netherlands’

Symposium Melanoom, Werkgroep Immunologie Nederland voor Oncologie (WIN-O) , Zeist, The Netherlands

 

2012

‘Burden of disease due to melanoma increased in the Netherlands since 1991’

Melanoma group meeting of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment on Cancer (EORTC), Paris, France

 

2013

‘Low dose aspirin use is not associated with a decreased skin cancer risk: a population-based cohort study among 1.2 million Dutch inhabitants’

6th International Investigative Dermatology (IID) meeting, Edinburgh, Scotland

 

2013

‘Melanoma epidemiology: burden of disease and multiple skin cancer’

European Society for Dermatological Research (ESDR), Netherlands

 

2015

‘Incidence and trends of thin melanoma in the Netherlands’

Melanoma group meeting of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment on Cancer (EORTC), London, UK

2015

 

 

 

 

Invited Lectures

 

 

‘What are patient’s needs and perspectives in melanoma follow up?’

European Assocation of Dermato Oncology (EADO), Lithuania

 

2014

‘Dermato-epidemiology in Rotterdam’

Centre for Evidence Based Dermatology (CEBD), University of Nottingham, UK

 

2016

‘Routinely collected health care data in the Netherlands’

Department of Electronic Health Records, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

2017

 

Peer Review

I belong to the top 1% of all reviewers of medicine on Publons (24th of almost 50,000 reviewers in Medicine). I have reviewed >80 manuscripts in 2017 and 2018 and therefore I received an award of the nr. 1 reviewer of the British Journal of Dermatology and the nr. 2 reviewer of the Netherlands. All reviews since September 2016 can be found on Publons:

(https://publons.com/author/1183009/loes-hollestein#profile).

 

I have reviewed manuscripts for:

 

American Journal of Clinical Dermatology

British Medical Journal

British Medical Journal Open

British Journal of Dermatology

Cancer Epidemiology

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention

European Journal of Cancer

International Journal of Cancer

JAMA Dermatology

Journal of Investigative Dermatology

Lung

OncoTargets and Therapy

Pediatric Blood and Cancer

 

I have reviewed grant applications for:

 

The Swiss Cancer League