Cardiology

What is the overall aim? 

The mission of the department of Cardiology is to make a significant scientific contribution to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease by 25% over the next 5-10 years. We aim to achieve this by performing translational research, clinical studies and population-based research in close collaboration with (inter)national partners and patient advocacy groups focusing on the key areas ischemic cardiovascular disease, congenital or acquired structural heart disease and as final common pathways arrhythmias and heart failure.

What are the focus areas of your research? (examples)

The department of Cardiology performs translational research, clinical studies, and population-based research in close collaboration with (inter)national partners and patient advocacy groups on 5 key areas: Ischemic cardiovascular disease, congenital or acquired structural heart defects, arrhythmias and heart failure.

• Prof.dr. Felix Zijlstra - Head of the department
• Prof.dr. Dirk Jan Duncker
• Dr. Daphne Merkus
• Dr. Heleen van Beusekom
• Dr. Caroline Cheng
• Dr. Tamas Szili Torok
• Dr. Sing-Chien Yap
• Prof.dr. Eric Boersma
• Dr. Isabella Kardys
• Dr. Martijn Akkerhuis
• Dr. Annemien van der Bosch
• Dr. Olivier Manintveld
• Dr. Michelle Michels
• Dr. Jasper Brugts
• Prof.dr. Nicolas van Mieghem
• Prof.dr. Peter de Jaegere
• Dr. Joost Daemen
• Prof.dr. Ton van der Steen
• Prof.dr. Nico de Jong
• Dr. Jolanda Wentzel
• Dr.ir. Frank Gijsen
• Dr.ir. Hans Bosch
• Dr. Rik Vos
• Dr. Kim van der Heiden
• Dr. Ali Akyildiz
• Dr. Tianshi Wang

MD PhD J.W. Roos-Hesselink



Prof. dr PhD N.M.S. de Groot



PhD G. van Soest



PhD K. Kooiman

The department of Cardiology has 7 research groups which are all focused on 1 or more of the 5 key areas and are highly interconnected.

1. Experimental Cardiology - PI Prof.dr. Dirk Jan Duncker
2. Electrophysiology - PI Prof.dr. Natasja de Groot
3. Cardiovascular Epidemiology - Prof.dr. Eric Boersma
4. Congenital Cardiology - Prof.dr. Jolien Roos-Hesselink
5. Intervention Cardiology - Prof.dr. Nicolas van Mieghem
6. Heart Failure - PI to be appointed
7. Biomedical Engineering - Prof.dr. Ton van der Steen

• a unique experimental intervention room, allowing state of the art cardiovascular intervention studies in human-sized pigs
• facilities for cardiovascular histopathology and molecular biology research, a scanning electron microscope
• own biobanking infrastructure within the Triallab of the Clinical Chemistry department
• a fast framing digital camera for up to 25 Million frames per seconds, which can be linked to a confocal microscope
• two optical labs, an ultrasound lab, facilities for MALDI imaging and a lab for cell culturing
• CUBE research facility for functional ultrasound brain imaging

• Many departments in the Erasmus MC
• The 16 Cardiovascular ACEs
• Dutch Cardiovascular Alliance
• TU Delft 
• Netherlands Heart Institute

The department of Cardiology is the driving force behind COEUR  (Cardiovasculaire Onderzoeksschool Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam), the cardiovascular research school of the Erasmus MC. COEUR offers a cardiovascular research education program, consisting of courses, seminars and lectures, see www.coeur.nl.

Additionally, there are monthly research meetings between PI’s and PhD candidates from all cardiovascular ACEs to discuss research developments, common interests and potential joint projects and grant applications. And there is an annual Cardiovascular meeting, for which all departments/ Academic Centers of Excellence (ACEs) within Erasmus MC that are involved in cardiovascular research are invited.

These activities serve as a platform for – and acts to stimulate – collaborations between PI’s, postdocs and PhD candidates within the Erasmus MC. The formation of the ACEs has further stimulated the interaction between the clinical, translational and more basic scientists around specific cardiovascular themes. 

• FEHRA, fellow of the European Heart Rhythm Association (NMS de Groot, S Yap)
• Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics highly cited researcher 2014-2018 (top 1% worldwide) (H Boersma)
• Erasmus MC Fellowship (NMS de Groot, K Kooiman).
• NWO VENI (K Kooiman, T Wang, K van der Heiden).
• NWO VIDI (NMS de Groot, K Kooiman, HJ Vos).
• NWO VICI (G van Soest).
• Dutch Heart Foundation Dekker Grant (NMS de Groot, CP Teuwen, K van der Heiden).
• ERC Starter Grant (K Kooiman, JJ Wentzel)
• Marie Curie Fellowship (A Akyildiz)
• LEaDing Fellow (Barrett)
• ICIN fellowship (K Kooiman)

For bachelor students

Education (lectures, practicals, patient demonstrations) in the general curriculum of the Erasmus MC MD Bachelor programme, including three Minors: Cardiovascular diseases, Congenital heart disease and Lung transplantation.

Development, content and teaching of lectures and practicals in the bachelor course ‘Clinical Technology’ at TU Delft (Medical Delta).

Youth educational programs Mini Med School, Junior Med School and Erasmus University College.

• Mini Med School
• Junior Med School
• Erasmus University College

For master students

For master students, we provide education (lectures, practicals, patient demonstrations) in the general curriculum of the Erasmus MC MD Master programme and two Research Masters: Transcatheter Valve Program and Translational Electrophysiology.

• Research Masters