Anouk Mathijsen

Anouk Mathijsen was surprised to hear that she was nominated for the GUF-100 prize, but even more so when she found out that she had won. The faculty selection committee for Medical Sciences was tasked with assessing 21 nominations, From very different students, all of whom excelled either in their academic studies, or in their extracurricular activities, or, ideally, in both. The three students selected by the committee, while all of exceptional quality, were also very different, which made it difficult to make a choice. Anouk’s exceptional social commitment and her amazing perseverance ultimately weighed most heavily in the jury’s decision, as I will explain below.

First of all, it is interesting to note that Anouk Mathijsen did not put herself forward as a candidate, but was nominated by her fellow students in a very positive and impressive letter. As these students put it, Anouk did an amazing job of completing her studies with such excellent results while at the same time caring first for one chronically ill parent (even before she started studying), and from her second year onwards for both of her seriously and chronically ill parents. This has meant that she had to organize her entire medical training from Hogeveen (where her parents live), including the residency training she was fortunately able to do in Assen and Zwolle. She managed all of this extremely well, and even found time to engage in other activities, such as being a much appreciated board member for a year (as vice president of the Internal Executive Board of the Groningen branch of the IFMSA (International Federation of Medical Students’ Association)), serving on the yearbook committee (during her first Master’s year in Assen), and making extraordinary efforts on behalf of her fellow medical students, when they ran into trouble through whatever circumstances. The letter written by her fellow students concludes as follows: ‘Anouk Mathijsen is an exemplary student who excels in ways you would not expect from a medical student, but fully assumes her great sense of responsibility and her remarkably caring nature.’ And: ‘Her dedication and inexhaustible support for her fellow students make her a suitable candidate for the GUF-100 prize.’ In her convincing pitch, Anouk emphasized the importance of empathy in medical practice, and she proved to be able to hold an excellent discussion with the jury members. In short, the jury, after the required extensive discussion, ultimately needed no convincing to follow the recommendations of Anouk’s fellow students and declare her the winner.