Annemarie Koster (A.)
Research profile
Biography
After obtaining a Master of Science degree in Nutrition and Health Sciences from Wageningen University and a Master of Science degree in Epidemiology, Registered by the Netherlands Epidemiological Society, in 2002 Annemarie Koster started her PhD training at the former department of Health Care Studies at Maastricht University. Her PhD research focused on the explanation of socioeconomic health differences in old age.
After receiving her PhD degree in 2005, she obtained an American fellowship at National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute on Aging (NIA) in Bethesda, MD, USA. Within the Laboratory of Epidemiology, Demography, and Biometry with Dr. Tamara B. Harris, she continued her research in the field of aging.
From 2006 until 2011, dr. Koster worked at NIA and her research focussed on causes and consequences of obesity, changes in body composition, and physical (in)activity in old age. She worked with different large cohort studies including the Health ABC Study, AGES-Reykjavik Study, the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, and NHANES. At NIA, dr. Koster had the opportunity to develop a program around assessment of physical activity in older adults using objective measurements. The first component of the study consisted in setting up an ancillary study within the AGES-Reykjavik Study in Iceland to collect accelerometry data in a large group of older adults. The second component was the development of new methods to analyze accelerometry data.
In 2011, she returned to Maastricht University and where she is currently Professor of Lifestyle Epidemiology at the Department of Social Medicine. Her research is aimed to a better understanding of the causes and consequences of physical (in)activity, sedentary behavious and sleep. Moreover, Annemarie is interested in the objective assessment of physical behavior.
Prof Koster is part of the management team of The Maastricht Study, at present the largest epidemiological study focusing on type 2 diabetes worldwide, and she has led the accelerometer component within this study. Moreover, she is co-leading the global consortium the Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting, and Sleep (ProPASS) consortium, an international collaboration platform committed to harmonise thigh-worn accelerometry data to investigate longitudinal associations of physical activity, posture, and sleep with long-term health outcomes and longevity. Further, she is one of the principal investigators of the Netherlands Cohorts Consortium (NCC) in which they aim to establish a unique infrastructure of prospective cohort studies in the Netherlands, a nationwide large scale infrastructure for population health sciences.
Prof. Koster is also part of the IMR Blue Zone, an interregional citizen-science initiative led by Hasselt University in collaboration with Maastricht University, the University of Liège, and RWTH Aachen University to promote healthy ageing and reduce health inequalities across the Meuse-Rhine region. The initiative combines wearable technology and online questionnaires to monitor lifestyle behaviours and support healthier lifestyles among 1,000 citizens across the cross-border region, while also evaluating and strengthening preventive medicine education and clinical practice through the development of educational resources and digital learning modules for healthcare professionals.
Research projects
IMR Blue Zone citizen-science project monitors lifestyle behaviour using wearables to improve the healthy lifestyle behaviour/knowledge of the population and healthcare professionals in the Meuse-Rhine region.
The IMR Blue Zone citizen-science project aims to improve healthy lifestyle behaviour and knowledge among citizens and healthcare providers in the Meuse-Rhine region (NL-BE-DE). Life expectancy in the Meuse-Rhine region varies significantly between and within areas. To better understand and reduce these differences, the universities of Hasselt, Liège, Aachen, and Maastricht have launched a large-scale interregional project.
In the first part of the project, the health and lifestyle of 1,000 citizens will be monitored using wearables and online questionnaires. This includes two sub-objectives: one focusing on physical health and the other on mental health. After an initial assessment, participants will receive a wearable and motivation to increase their physical activity over a three-month period, followed by a second assessment. These results will inform the development of practical guidelines to improve lifestyle and health in the region.
In the second part, healthcare-related educational programs and the approaches and practices of healthcare professionals will be analysed for their preventive medicine content. This will be achieved through a combination of qualitative analyses and questionnaires. Based on the findings, recommendations for potential improvements will be formulated, and a web-based toolbox for preventive medicine education will be developed. Furthermore, insights from interviews with healthcare professionals will guide the design of lifelong digital learning modules aimed at supporting preventive practices in clinical settings.
In the second part, healthcare-related educational programs and the approaches and practices of healthcare professionals will be analysed for their preventive medicine content. This will be achieved through a combination of qualitative analyses and questionnaires. Based on the findings, recommendations for potential improvements will be formulated, and a web-based toolbox for preventive medicine education will be developed. Furthermore, insights from interviews with healthcare professionals will guide the design of lifelong digital learning modules aimed at supporting preventive practices in clinical settings.
Funding: The IMR Blue zone project is supported by the European Union and the Interreg Meuse-Rhine (NL-BE-DE) programme and by Wallonia.
Link to the Blue Zone website https://www.interregmeuserhine.eu/nl/projecten/imr-blue-zone/
https://www.uhasselt.be/en/aparte-sites-uhasselt-en/imr-blue-zone