Since January 1st, 2023, I have been working as a PhD student at the department of Psychosocial Research and Epidemiology (PSOE) of the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) under the supervision of prof. dr. E.M.A. Bleiker and dr. E. Engelhardt, as well as at the department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of the Amsterdam UMC under the supervision of prof. dr. E. Dekker and dr. A.S. Aelvoet. My field of study focusses on the psychosocial aspects of having Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP), a hereditary syndrome which is related to an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer and other cancers. The aim is to improve our understanding and management of mental issues in FAP patients. To understand these mental issues, we are performing 1) a systematic review of the current literature; 2) interviews with patients; 3) interviews with health care professionals, and 4) a questionnaire research.
At the NKI, I also work on the implementation of an online information tool including prediction models of health outcomes for Hodgkin lymphoma patients, where we organize one-on-one interviews using the ‘Think aloud’ method, and focus groups to evaluate our newly developed information tool.
Lastly, I participate in the Escalation study, where we investigate the Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues (ELSI) of the offer of circulation tumor DNA (ctDNA) screening, possibly assessing first signs of the occurrence of cancer in healthy blood donors at Sanquin. We will also investigate the attitudes towards ctDNA screening of three different groups, namely individuals with a high risk of developing cancer, cancer survivors and the general public.
In the past, I completed my Bachelor of Psychology (BSc) and my Masters of Methodology and Statistics in Psychology (MSc) at the University of Leiden.