GROW - School for Oncology and Developmental Biology

More and more is possible in the field of breast reconstruction after cancer surgery. For example, a breast can be made with your own tissue that looks very natural. However, there will be less feeling in the new breast. This has never really been addressed. And yet, an increasing number of women say that they miss that 'old' feeling very much.

Dr Stefania Tuinder wants to contribute to the recovery of a reconstructed breast that feels as "normal" as possible. She has been a plastic surgeon at Maastricht UMC+ since 2007. Dr Tuinder: "The Netherlands is a leader in the field of breast reconstruction. We can achieve very good results, but unfortunately not for every woman. That's why I've been doing research in the field of breast reconstruction for years.' 

Read the entire interview with KWF researcher of the month Dr Stefania Tuinder here (in Dutch).

In 2021, Lizza Hendriks, Assistant Professor at research institute GROW, School for Oncology and Developmental Biology of Maastricht University will join The Young Academy. This is a platform of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, where young top scientists from different disciplines work together in the field of research and science policy.

About Lizza Hendriks

Dr Lizza Hendriks (1981) has worked at Maastricht UMC + as a lung specialist since 2012. Her focus area is thoracic oncology, in particular prevention and optimal treatment of brain metastases in lung cancer. In 2016, she earned her PhD on this topic. To gain in-depth knowledge of both research and medical oncology, she worked one year as a postdoc at the Gustave Roussy Institute in France.

Since 2019, Dr Hendriks has coordinated the clinical lung cancer research of the lung diseases department in Maastricht. She does this in addition to her clinical tasks and teaching. Currently, Dr Hendriks supervises six PhD students.

Her research ambition is to develop personalised therapy (in terms of biomarkers and psychosocial and cognitive capacity) with a focus on prevention/optimal treatment of brain metastases, while preserving neurocognition. To achieve this, immunotherapy, targeted therapy and radiotherapy are applied, including the use of advanced imaging analysis techniques such as radiomics.

Dr Hendriks received several abstract awards as well as the Dirkje Postma Talent Award (incentive subsidy for her own research line) in 2019. She is (co-)author of more than 80 peer-reviewed articles.

The Young Academy

The Young Academy consists of talented researchers who share a broad interest in scientific practice, science policy and science communication. The Young Academy (De Jonge Akademie) is an independent body within the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. Membership lasts for five years.

Within De Jonge Akademie, Lizza Hendriks is particularly committed to early career policy, getting young people interested in and motivated for research. She will also contribute to the new Recognition and Rewards policy, with a focus on policy for physician researchers.

Dear GROW member,

Did you miss our annual GROW Science Day ‘From basic science to clinical applications’ ?
Click on this link to look back.

Keynote speakers are René Bernards and Siladitya Bhattacharya.
Susanne Maris facilitated an online workshop on work-life balance in times of Corona-virus.