Matthijs Cluitmans (M.J.M.)
I am driven to further our understanding of cardiac arrhythmias, and to improve the diagnosis and therapy of patients with heart rhythm disorders. As a postdoctoral researcher at Maastricht University and a senior scientist at Philips Research, I combine my scientific curiosity with the clinical need for valorization.
As an academic scientist, I strive to bring more insight in the arrhythmia mechanisms of patients that suffer from sudden cardiac arrest without a clear cause (also known as idiopathic ventricular fibrillation). Ultimately, this would not only help diagnosis and treatment of these patients, but also help the early detection of a risk for sudden cardiac arrest in undiagnosed, seemingly healthy individuals.
As an industry scientist, I aim to bring the newest insights of the field of cardiac research to the benefit of patients and cardiologists by improving the transition from science to valorization in a transparent fashion.
Ultimately, I hope to use my dual background as biomedical engineer and medical doctor to bring the fields of industrial engineering, academic science and clinical medicine closer together.
Career history
Matthijs Cluitmans obtained a broad training at Maastricht University by studying Knowledge Engineering (Department of Data Science and Knowledge Engineering) and Medicine (Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences). He combined this dual background in a PhD thesis studying how advanced novel imaging techniques such as electrocardiographic imaging may help to better characterize the substrate for cardiac arrhythmias. This clinical-experimental-mathematical endeavor was supervised by Profs. Paul Volders (cardiology), Ralf Peeters (mathematics) and Ronald Westra (mathematics). After his PhD, Matthijs shifted his focus from the technical aspects of electrocardiographic imaging to applying such techniques to understand the development of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Following a postdoc in Maastricht (2016-2018), he visited the team of Dr. Rémi Dubois at the Liryc institute in Bordeaux to perform experiments on the arrhythmogenic characteristics of repolarization abnormalities (Feb-Nov 2018). He then worked in the lab of Dr. Ruben Coronel to obtain more expertise in the field of macroscopic repolarization abnormalities. Since May 2019, Matthijs is back in Maastricht and working in the PI team of Prof. Volders. Since 2016, Matthijs also works part-time at Philips Research.
Matthijs obtained multiple awards (amongst which Young Investigator Awards) and grants (most notably the Dutch NWO Veni personal research grant).