The formation of the Executive Board establishes a new care and research network that brings together all oncology professionals and missions from different divisions within Amsterdam UMC under the banner of Cancer Center Amsterdam. “We saw a necessity to connect all the people who work in the oncology domain: doctors, nurses, technicians, researchers, and educators. That is why a new vision for Cancer Center Amsterdam was initiated, to bring together all our oncology professionals, irrespective of their Amsterdam UMC location and organizational department,” says chair of the Executive Board Geert Kazemier.
The Executive Board aims to strongly integrate cancer care and research in pursuit of improving treatment and care. The Executive Board states: “Cancer Center Amsterdam emphatically sees it as its task to create an inextricable connection between care and research. We aim to translate the results of our basic, translational, and clinical research to healthcare as quickly and safely as possible. In this way, we will improve existing treatments and develop the care of tomorrow.”
Meet the member of the Executive Board of Cancer Center Amsterdam
Photo: Marlou Pulles
Geert Kazemier is a professor of Hepatobiliary Surgery and Transplantation and the head of the Oncological and Gastrointestinal Surgery department at Amsterdam UMC. He completed his training as a general surgeon at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. After a fellowship in Hamburg and Rotterdam, Geert Kazemier became a staff member at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam and was appointed the leader of the liver transplant program. He was also chairman of the surgery department and vice-chairman of the emergency, pre-operative and intensive care departments. He was the founder of Erasmus Health Care Logistics, which conducts research into logistics processes in healthcare. Geert Kazemier has been a professor at Amsterdam UMC since January 2012. He has been a member of the board of the Dutch Society for Surgery and editor-in-chief of the Dutch Journal of Surgery.
Photo: Marlou Pulles
Sonja Zweegman is a professor of Hematology and head of the Department of Hematology. She earned her MD at Erasmus University in Rotterdam and PhD at VU University medical center. Since 1998, she has worked at VU University medical center as an internist-hematologist with a focus on multiple myeloma. Sonja Zweegman leads several (inter)national clinical trials aimed at personalizing treatment for patients with multiple myeloma, including correlative studies on biological markers of frailty. Her translational research is dedicated to optimizing the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma by unravelling the biological background of immune therapy resistance and of myeloma bone disease.
Sonja Zweegman is vice-chair of the HOVON (Hemato-Oncologie voor Volwassenen Nederland) Myeloma Working Group, a board member of the International Myeloma Society, and a member of the editorial board of Blood and Blood Cancer Journal. As chairman of the HOVON working group ‘Echelons in haematological care’, she is responsible for guidelines regarding organization of regional care. Sonja Zweegman is active in education in both the public and the professional sectors, teaching patients and hematologists both nationally and internationally.
Photo: Marlou Pulles
Jan Paul Medema is a professor of Experimental Oncology and Radiobiology and the Scientific Director of Cancer Center Amsterdam. He studied chemistry at Leiden University and obtained his PhD degree in Physiological Chemistry from the Faculty of Medicine of Utrecht University. He began research into cell death during a postdoctorate at the German Cancer Center in Heidelberg. Jan Paul Medema continued his research into the role of programmed cell death in tumor biology and immunology at the Leiden University Medical Center. In 2005, he joined the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam and leads investigations into cancer heterogeneity and the role of cancer stem cells in cell death resistance, tumor growth, and therapy response.
Jan Paul Medema is the head of the Center for Experimental and Molecular Medicine (CEMM), a laboratory at the Meibergdreef location bridging fundamental research with preclinical and clinical investigations. He is also the director of the Laboratory of Experimental Oncology and Radiobiology (LEXOR) within CEMM. Jan Paul Medema is a member of the Amsterdam Research Board and is editor-in-chief of the journal Oncogenesis. Jan Paul Medema is also an Oncode Investigator at Oncode Institute
Photo: Marlou Pulles
Hanneke van Laarhoven is a professor of Translational Medical Oncology and head of the Department of Medical Oncology of the Amsterdam University Medical Center.
Hanneke van Laarhoven earned her PhDs in Medical Oncology and Religious Studies at the Radboud University. She started working as a medical oncologist in 2009 at the Radboud University Medical Center. Hanneke van Laarhoven joined the Amsterdam Medical Center in 2012, and as of 2020 also works at the Boelelaan location of Amsterdam UMC. In her quest for better treatments for cancer patients, she seeks collaboration with both the sciences and the humanities. Her translational research focuses on gastrointestinal, non-colorectal cancers. She is leading several multi-center investigator initiated clinical trials which include substantial correlative biomarker work. She co-founded a prospective database for the collection of real-world clinical data and patient-reported outcomes from patients with esophagogastric cancer (www.pocop.nl) and pancreatic cancer (www.pacap.nl).
Hanneke van Laarhoven is chair of the Gastrointestinal Tumours, non-Colorectal Faculty Group of the European Society of Medical Oncology, a member of the Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen, and vice-chair of the Scientific Assessment Committee Development of the Dutch Cancer Society.
Photo: Marlou Pulles
Paul Fockens is a professor of Gastroenterology & Hepatology and head of the Department of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at Amsterdam UMC. He completed medical training at Erasmus University in Rotterdam and earned a PhD in Medicine at the University of Amsterdam. Paul Fockens specializes in flexible endoscopy (inspecting and treating disorders of the gastrointestinal tract with a flexible endoscope) for the early diagnosis and treatment of pre-cancerous lesions as well as early malignant tumors. His areas of research include pancreato-biliary disease (malignant as well as benign), colorectal cancer, and neurogastroenterology. Through this research, many surgical procedures have been replaced by less invasive endoscopic interventions. He has organized and participated in postgraduate training both nationally and worldwide.
Paul Fockens is a former president of the Dutch Society of Gastroenterologists (Nederlandse Vereniging van Maag-Darm-Leverartsen), and is chair of the European Postgraduate Gastro-Surgical School. Internationally, he was involved as a secretary-general and later president of the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and from 2016 until 2019 was (vice-)president of United European Gastroenterology (www.ueg.eu).