National Platform for Sports and Exercise Medicine Research (LOSO)

One of the recommendations of the ZonMw research program “Sport, Bewegen en Gezondheid” (SBG; 2004) was to centralize sports medicine research in the Netherlands around four Universities, each holding a (part time) chair regarding one of the aspects of sports and exercise medicine research.

The infrastructure and the matching funds of the first phase of the SBG program (2004-2006) were successfully used for the start-up of a research infrastructure. Thus, a firm academic base for sports and exercise medicine research in the Netherlands was created under the umbrella of LOSO (i.e., the ‘Landelijk Overleg Sportgezondheids Onderzoek’).

The following institutes participate in LOSO:

• The University Center for Sport, Exercise and Health of the University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands.
• EMGO Instituut/VuMC, Free University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
• Sportsmedicine Department, University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands.
• The University Center for Sport, Exercise and Health of the University Medical Center Maastricht, the Netherlands.