Lifestyle

Alien van der Sluis
My dream is for every child to grow up in a healthy and stimulating environment. I am contributing as a boundary researcher, bringing together scientific, professional and experiential knowledge. I am experienced in design-based research approaches and have co-developed several interventions on stimulating active healthy lifestyle and self-regulation of children and adolescents from within the school context. Currently, my work consists of developing and evaluating Tijd voor Toekomst (Time for Future), a program for enriched schooldays for children in the province of Groningen with the ambition to create equal chances for growing up healthy and with a promising future. I have a PhD in Human Movement Sciences and work as a senior researcher for the Institute for Sport Sciences at the Hanzehogeschool.

Fanny Janssen
I am a senior researcher at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (The Hague) and Honorary Professor in “Mortality and Longevity” at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences. My research is at the interplay of Demography, Public Health and Geography. I focus on examining the role of health-related lifestyle factors (smoking, alcohol, obesity) in shaping mortality differences (e.g. between sexes, countries/regions) and mortality trends, and use this information to improve mortality forecasts. Currently I am leading a VICI project in which I focus on socio-economic inequalities in mortality, and how they will, realistically, further develop into the future.

Extra keyword: Life Expectancy

Michiel Rienstra
Graduated in medicine at the University of Antwerp, Belgium in 2003. Obtained a PhD at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands in 2007 on Atrial Fibrillation, Underlying Disease and Prognosis. I completed my cardiology training at the University Medical Center Groningen in 2012, where continued working as clinical cardiologist and researcher. I was awarded with a NWO Rubicon grant in 2009 and went to Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Framingham Heart Study for a post-doc on population genetics and epidemiology in 2010-2011. In 2012 I was awarded with the NWO Veni grant for his project on genetics of atrial fibrillation. In 2015 I received the European Society of Cardiology academic grant for his project on a big data approach in atrial fibrillation. I am work package leader of 4 large national consortia; RACE V (hypercoagulability and AF progression), RED-CVD (early detection of cardiovascular disease in general practices), AI (catalyzing the application of artificial intelligence in CV disease), and MyDigiTwin (Big-data and Artificial Intelligence-based ecosystem to create a user’s personal “Digital Twin”). I am steering committee member of several investigator-initiated clinical studies (RACE 2 to 7, MARC 1-2, VIP-HF, DECISION). I am fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, and Scientific & Clinical Education Lifelong Learning Committee (SCILL) member of the AHA - Genomics and Precision Medicine council.

Sandra Jorna-Lakke
I am a postdoc researcher and senior teacher in the field of communication in health care, especially in physical therapy. My key interest is improving communication in physical therapy practice in which I worked 25 years. At this moment I lead a national project aimed to improve communication in physical therapy practice, especially in patient with lower health literacy and chronic complaints, and I coordinate a European project aimed to develop interprofessional learning materials for universities and health care practice.

Extra keywords: Communication; physical therapy; interprofessional education

Harriët Jager-Wittenaar
Harriët Jager-Wittenaar, PhD, RD, is Professor of Malnutrition and Healthy Ageing within the Research Group Healthy Ageing, Allied Health Care and Nursing at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences and senior researcher at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University Medical Center Groningen. She is also appointed as Guest Professor and Honorary Fellow at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. Moreover, she is co-program leader of FAITH research (www.faithresearch.nl), a network of more than 40 healthcare organizations, knowledge institutions and companies that generates and shares knowledge on frailty. With a dietitian background, her research program focuses on prevention and treatment of malnutrition and sarcopenia in patients with chronic diseases and older adults. In specific, her research program is aimed at development and validation of innovative methods for nutritional assessment (including body composition assessment), implementing proactive and interprofessional nutritional risk screening and treatment of malnutrition across the various health care settings, and the relationship between malnutrition and frailty. Dr. Jager-Wittenaar was former Lead of the European Specialist Dietetic Network (ESDN) for Older Adults, an expert committee within the European Federation of Associations of Dietitians (EFAD), and was member of the former Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) Validation and Testing Working Group. Currently, she is co-lead of the GLIM Implementation Working Group, and current Chair of the EFAD-ESPEN Working Group within EFAD.

Richard Rijnks
I am Richard Rijnks and I work as an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences at the University of Groningen. My health-related research focuses on the role spatial configurations can play in the production and reproduction of health and well-being inequalities, and how these inequalities affect the individuals in those neighbourhoods. How do happier and higher quality neighbourhoods affect house prices, well-being, and development, and how do local cultures of healthy and unhealthy behaviour impact on the longer term outcomes for their residents. For the immediate future, I am turning my attention to the role spatial policy can play in neighbourhood health and well-being outcomes.

Aly Waninge
My name is Aly Waninge (PhD, PT). The overarching goal of my research is to gain scientific knowledge to optimize support for people with intellectual and visual disabilities to improve their participation, lifestyle and health. In line with my professional background as a physiotherapist, I am supervising research projects focusing on the development of interventions, screening and measurement instruments regarding exercise, lifestyle, health, and participation.
I am Professor Participation and health of persons with intellectual and visual disabilities within the Research Group Healthy Ageing, Allied Health Care and Nursing at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen. Also, I am co-program leader within Health Psychology Research at the University Medical Center Groningen. In addition, I am member of the management team of the Academic Collaborative Center related to people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. Our research has a major impact on supporting this vulnerable group in practice, due to the strong knowledge infrastructure that has been set up within this center. An important topic of my research, healthy lifestyle, is addressed within the Innovation Lab Active Ageing of people with intellectual disability , where research and knowledge transfer are performed. This collaboration between health care organizations that support people with intellectual disabilities in Groningen, Drenthe and Friesland and our research group, is part of FAITH research .

Kor Spoelstra
Kor Spoelstra completed his medical degree at the University of Groningen and specialized in psychiatry. He pursued additional training in addiction psychiatry and earned his doctorate in the field of sexuality through an MD/PhD program. He is associated with the research department of Addiction Care North Netherlands as a researcher. Moreover, Spoelstra is an associate lecturer in Addiction and Lifestyle at NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences. His research focuses on various aspects of addiction and lifestyle, with a strong emphasis on subjects such as smoking cessation, alcohol consumption, addiction recovery, and lifestyle interventions for both staff and clients within the realm of addiction care.