The team
Research with IMPACT
Coordination
Prof. dr. Niels Riksen
Professor of Vascular Medicine ———
Radboud UMC
His expertise lies in clinical and translational human research on the role of the innate immune system in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis.
Prof. dr. Gerard Pasterkamp
Professor of Experimental Cardiology —-
UMC Utrecht
His research focuses on cardiovascular biology, with a particular interest in biomarker innovation and the identification of novel drug targets.
Prof. dr. Menno de Winther
Professor of Vascular Immunology and Celbiology
Amsterdam UMC
His research explores the molecular and epigenetic regulation of monocytes and macrophages in cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Jeanine Roeters van Lennep
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine ——
Erasmus MC
Her science is dedicated to cardiovascular prevention, with a focus on the female life course, including unique factors such as the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause.
Advisory Board
Prof. dr. Wouter Jukema
Professor and head of the department of Cardiology
Leiden UMC
His expertise lies in atherothrombosis, lipids, vascular biology, genetics, and interventional cardiology, with extensive experience leading major (inter)national clinical studies.
WP-leaders
Work package 1
Dr. Michal Mokry
Associate Professor of Experimental Cardiology
UMC Utrecht
His research focuses on the mechanisms of atherosclerosis by integrating multi-omics data from the Athero-Express biobank with clinical outcomes, complemented by in vitro models to validate key pathways driving disease progression.
Prof. dr. Judith Sluimer
Professor of Experimental Vascular Pathology group
Maastricht UMC
Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of atherosclerosis and vascular ageing, investigating how macrophages and mesenchymal cells respond to cellular stress and affect vascular disease progression.
Prof. dr. Sander van der Laan
Professor of Cardiovascular Immunology
UMC Utrecht
His research focuses on the genetics of atherosclerosis, stroke, and coronary disease, using GWAS, digital plaque phenotyping, and single-cell approaches to identify therapeutic targets and biomarkers.
Dr. Jeffrey Kroon
Associate Professor of Vascular Metabolism and Inflammation
Amsterdam UMC
He specializes in vascular metabolism and inflammation, focusing on how endothelial cells reprogram their metabolism to modulate immune responses. Using 3D organ-on-chip models, he studies how these processes drive leukocyte recruitment, macrophage polarization, and atherosclerotic plaque progression.
Dr. Pieter Goossens
Assistant Professor of Experimental Vascular Pathology
Maastricht UMC
His expertise lies in investigating macrophage heterogeneity in atherosclerotic plaques, using advanced imaging and multimodal data integration to uncover how microenvironmental cues shape their identity and function.
Work package 2
Dr. Annette Neele
Assistant Professor of Medical Biochemisty
Amsterdam UMC
Her work focuses on monocytes and macrophages in atherosclerosis, from clinical studies to epigenetic and transdifferentiation research in mouse models.
Dr. Amanda Foks
Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Immunology
LACDR
Her research focuses on age-associated and adaptive immunity in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, using human and animal models, single-cell immunophenotyping of T- and B cells, and exploring therapeutic immune modulation.
Prof. dr. Menno de Winther
Professor of Vascular Immunology and Celbiology
Amsterdam UMC
His research explores the molecular and epigenetic regulation of monocytes and macrophages in cardiovascular disease.
Prof. dr. Niels Riksen
Professor of Vascular Medicine
Radboud UMC
His expertise lies in clinical and translational human research on the role of the innate immune system in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis.
Prof. dr. Ilze Bot
Professor of Cardiovascular Pharmacology
LACDR
Her research explores immune mechanisms behind atherosclerotic plaque destabilization, focusing on mast cell phenotypes and activation in human tissue and experimental models to identify new drug targets.
Dr. Marit Westerterp
Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Immunology
UMC Groningen
Her research focuses on how intracellular cholesterol transport shapes immune cell function in atherosclerosis, linking macrophage cholesterol to plaque vulnerability and T cell cholesterol to reduced inflammation.
Dr. Bram Slütter
Associate Professor at the Division of BioTherapeutics
LACDR
His research explores how T and B cells drive vascular inflammation and how immunotherapies like mRNA vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and cell-based approaches can treat CVD.
Prof. dr. Rozemarijn Vliegenthart
Professor of Cardiothoracic Imaging and Radiologist
UMC Groningen
Her research focuses on the interplay between intracellular cholesterol transport and immune cell function in atherosclerosis, showing how macrophage cholesterol drives plaque instability and T cell cholesterol dampens inflammation. She studies immune-metabolic pathways as therapeutic targets.
Work package 3
Prof. dr. Jingyuan Fu
Professor of Systems Medicine
UMC Groningen
She studies interactions between the human genome and gut microbiome to improve disease prediction, prevention, and treatment, combining large-scale association studies with bacterial culturing and organ-on-a-chip models.
Prof. dr. Max Nieuwdorp
Professor of Internal Medicine and Diabetes
Amsterdam UMC
His group focuses on translational research aimed at resolving diabetes and its complications by modification of the gut microbiota.
Prof. dr. Bas Heijmans
Professor of Cardiovascular Immunology and Biomedical Data Sciences
Leiden UMC
His research investigates how DNA-environment interactions shape cardiovascular health by affecting genome regulation, gene expression, and metabolism, using advanced data science to analyze large-scale omics data.
Prof. dr. Wouter Jukema
Professor and head of the department of Cardiology
Leiden UMC
His expertise lies in atherothrombosis, lipids, vascular biology, genetics, and interventional cardiology, with extensive experience leading major (inter)national clinical studies.
Prof. dr. Maryam Kavousi
Professor of Population Cardiovascular Health
Erasmus MC
Her work focuses on cardiovascular epidemiology and the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, with emphasis on sex and gender differences, using large cohort studies and big data to advance precision prevention.
Work package 4
Dr. Jeanine Roeters van Lennep
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
Erasmus MC
Her scientific work is dedicated to cardiovascular prevention, with a special focus on the female life course, including unique factors such as the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause.
Prof. dr. Birgitta Velthuis
Professor in Radiology of the Heart-Brain Axis
UMC Utrecht
Her expertise lies in cardiovascular and neurovascular CT and MRI imaging, focusing on cardiomyopathies, heart failure, sports cardiology, and imaging cardioembolic stroke sources along the heart-brain axis.
Prof. dr. Robin Nijveldt
Cardiologist and Prefessor of Cardiovascular Imaging
Radboud UMC
He specializes in Coronary Artery Disease and Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathies, applying MRI, CT, and echocardiography to advance imaging methods and personalized care.
Prof. dr. Ricardo Budde
Professor of Cardiovascular Radiology
Erasmus MC
He specializes in advanced non-invasive cardiac imaging, with expertise in Photon Counting CT, FFRct, PET-CT, and image post-processing for cardiovascular diagnoses.
Dr. Marco Guglielmo
Assistant Professor of Medical Cardiology
UMC Utrecht
His expertise lies in multimodality cardiovascular imaging, including echocardiography, cardiac MRI, cardiac CT, and clinical research, with EACVI level 3 accreditations in all imaging techniques.
Project management
Bente Verbruggen
Project Manager
Netherlands Heart Institute
Tess Yntema
Project Manager
Netherlands Heart Institute
How we bring our research to clinical practice
AtheroNeth involves relevant stakeholder right from the start
- General public and Patients (Harteraad)
- Research stakeholders (Dutch Atherosclerosis Society)
- Private partners, scientific societies, policy makers, patients (stakeholder committee)
AtheroNeth invests in Proof of Concept studies (WP5) as basis for large intervention trials
AtheroNeth develops a Valorisation plan involving Valorisation officers (local and DCVA) for timely help with e.g. patenting
AtheroNeth supports a dedicated implementation officer who will coordinate implementation/valorisation activities
AtheroNeth: Governance
