Below, you can find our current and previous board members. Feel free to contact us if you’d like to organize a workshop, event, or have other great ideas to support or contribute to the Amsterdam UMC Postdoc Network.
Isabelle van Thiel (AGEM, AR&D): I am currently employed as postdoctoral research at the Tytgat Institute for Liver and Intestinal Research as well as Paediatric Surgery (both location AMC). After my education in Molecular Life Sciences, I performed my PhD research at the Tytgat Institute as well. In November 2022, I defended my PhD thesis focused on the role of gut fungi on irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. My current research projects focus on treatment response of perianal fistulae in Crohn’s disease, and on investigation of Hirschsprung disease intestinal tissues.
Signe Nielsen (ACS, AGEM): I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratory Genetic Metabolic Diseases, Amsterdam UMC, location AMC. I obtained my PhD in Aarhus, Denmark where I focused on the complex disease pathophysiology and genetics of rare inherited metabolic disorders. Currently, I am establishing heart and muscle stem cell models for studying pathophysiological mechanisms of fatty acid oxidations disorders in disease relevant cells in collaboration with Department of Physiology, Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc. With my work I aim to improve diagnostics and treatment for rare fatty acid oxidation disorders, but explore the complexity of the human metabolism and it’s interplay with other physiological processes such as the immune response.
Leah Wilk (CCA, APH): I am a postdoctoral researcher with a background in physics at the department of Biomedical Engineering Physics at the Amsterdam UMC, location AMC. I obtained my PhD in 2023, which was focused on addressing challenges in the forensic and biomedical fields by modelling the transport of both heat and light using image-derived model geometries and numerical solution schemes. Specifically, we developed a thermometric technique capable of determining the time since death of a human body (which is crucial information in forensic investigations) accurately and in a widely applicable and non-contact manner. Furthermore, I developed a modelling approach allowing non-invasive assessment of the health status of human tissue (to enable early detection of tissue pathologies such as cancer) and prediction of the physical effects of photothermal treatments of e.g., psoriatic plaques (with the aim to optimize treatment outcome). In my current research, I continue to develop and improve these approaches and I collaborate with the Dutch National Police to introduce our time since death estimation method into forensic practice.
Jillian Bracht (CCA, ACS): I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Laboratory of Experimental and Clinical Chemistry, at Amsterdam UMC, location AMC. I obtained my PhD in Barcelona in 2021, and worked on a MSCA-ITN project called European Liquid Biopsy Academy (ELBA) within a diagnostic service company: Pangaea Oncology. I started as a Postdoc at Amsterdam UMC in 2021, working on the isolation of ultra small particles from the blood, known as extracellular vesicles (EVs). I obtained a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship (RNAtop), and I am currently investigating if the RNA associated to EVs is on the surface or inside EVs. This knowledge will enhance biomarker development. The goal of my research is to bring liquid biopsy biomarkers from bench to bedside, and thereby improve cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Óscar Brito Fernandes (APH): I am a postdoctoral researcher affiliated with the Amsterdam Public Health research institute. I work with the Health Systems and Services Delivery Research Group, which is part of the Quality and Organisation of Care section at the Department of Public and Occupational Health. I am originally from Portugal, where most of my academic journey unfolded. This includes earning a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, a Master’s degree in Education, a Master’s degree in Health Care Management, and completing advanced studies in Public Health. In 2022, I was awarded a PhD by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Amsterdam. This was in conjunction with my participation in the international MSCA-ITN for Health Care Performance Intelligence Professionals (HealthPros), culminating in a thesis entitled Citizen-driven healthcare system performance: Studies on care experiences and engagement. My research is primarily dedicated to the measurement, management, and improvement of health systems performance, utilising both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The theoretical underpinnings of my work are deeply rooted in value-based health care, learning health systems, complex adaptive systems, and deliberative democracy. It is my personal aspiration to contribute to transforming health systems into people-centred, value-based systems by promoting citizen engagement and utilising performance intelligence to inform evidence-based health policy decision-making.
Britta Bettin (CCA): I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratory of Experimental and Clinical Chemistry and the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Physics at Amsterdam UMC, location AMC. I obtained my PhD in 2024 from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Amsterdam, where my work focused on the standardization of extracellular vesicle (EV) concentration measurements for medical diagnosis. As a postdoctoral researcher, my work continues to focus on standardizing EV concentration measurements using flow cytometry and investigating their potential as biomarkers in liquid biopsies.
Barbara Verhaar (ACS): I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Vascular Medicine Department at Amsterdam UMC, location AMC. I completed my PhD in 2024, where I investigated the role of gut microbiota in hypertension and Alzheimer’s disease. My PhD research was conducted across the Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, the Internal Medicine-Geriatrics Department at VUmc, and Experimental Vascular Medicine at AMC. In 2024, I was awarded an ACS Talent Grant. Currently, my research explores how dietary salt influences the composition and function of the gut microbiota, and how microbe-host interactions may regulate sodium homeostasis and blood pressure.
Mara Kirschner (APH): I am a postdoctoral researcher in Public and Occupational Health at Amsterdam UMC, location VUMC. For my PhD thesis, I studied the relationship between physical activity behavior and the mental well-being of vocational education and training students. As a postdoctoral researcher, I currently work on the YAHEE project, which explores how the environment influences vulnerable young adults in making healthy and unhealthy decisions.
Jessie van Wezenbeek (ACS) : I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Pulmonary Medicine department and the PHEniX laboratory at Amsterdam UMC, VUmc location. During my Master’s in Cardiovascular Research, I first encountered right heart failure in pulmonary hypertension (PH). I was intrigued by a disease that originates in the lungs, but where fate of patients is determined by adaptation of the right heart. In the beginning of 2024, I obtained my PhD on sex differences in right heart adaptation to pressure overload from a translational perspective. During my postdoc, I am further building on this work by investigating right atrial adaptation to pressure overload and the role of natriuretic peptides in right heart failure.
Merel Rijnsburger (AN, AGEM): I am a post-doctoral researcher at the Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology department, location VUmc. In 2018 I obtained my PhD, which was focused on nutrients sensing in the brain and since then, I have been working on the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis (MS). My work has been funded by several grants (grant for MS innovation, TKI-PPP, funding through Dutch MS foundation) and enabled me to build my own research group and (international) network. My research focusses on chemokine regulation in MS and currently we are exploring the roles of CXCL12 signaling at the brain barriers of MS. To this aim, we make extensive use of human post-mortem tissue and liquid samples, as well as state-of-the-art in vitro models using human induced pluripotent stem cells.
Previous board members
Nina Zipfel (APH): I am postdoctoral researcher at the department of Public & Occupational Health of the Amsterdam UMC. From background I am a public health scientist and epidemiologist with demonstrated experience in co-creation, implementation research and value-based healthcare (VBHC). In 2020, I obtained my PhD on Value-Based Healthcare within heart care at the Radboud University in collaboration with the St. Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein. My current research projects focus on VBHC and specifically providing care in networks for occupational health, implementation of experts-by-experience in the guidance for work re-integration and interprofessional education for occupational health professionals. Within the Amsterdam school of Public Health, APH, I also currently work as a program supporter for the research program Digital Health.
Daphne Naessens (ACS, ANS): I am a postdoctoral researcher at the department of Biomedical Engineering and Physics at Amsterdam UMC, location AMC. In 2021, I obtained my PhD in this same department where I studied the ‘cleansing of the brain’, with a special interest in the effect of hypertension on these processes. My current research project is part of the EndoCARE consortium, a Eurostars funded project. The aim of the project is to develop a new safe and effective pharmacotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by restoring the imbalance in physiological levels of endocannabinoid signaling in the brain. We will evaluate this new treatment in a rat model of PTSD using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Alessandra Tammaro (AII): I am a postdoc at the department of Pathology, location AMC. I studied Biotechnology in Italy and moved to the NL in 2012 as PhD candidate. I obtained my PhD at UvA with a thesis on the role of the innate immune system in the development of kidney disease. As postdoc, I started my research line focusing on how to achieve healthy renal aging. Thanks to a collaboration with the nephrology department of the University of São Paulo (Brazil), I initiated the PM-KIDNEY consortium (Pollution is the motor of premature aging of the kidney; Home | PM kidney Consortium, , which under my leadership aims to investigate the role of fine particulate matter from air pollution on age-related kidney diseases. Furthermore, I am (1) investigating possibilities to metabolically reprogram the kidney via (immuno)metabolism to treat or prevent kidney diseases and (2) testing therapeutics that slow down/reverse the premature renal ageing phenotype.
Vicky Lehmann (CCA, AR&D): I’m a senior researcher in medical psychology with extensive work experience in the Netherlands and USA. Currently, I am affiliated with the Medical Communication research group at the Department for Medical Psychology at the Amsterdam UMC. I specialize in (onco)fertility and psychosocial issues of young adult cancer survivorship (e.g., psychosexual development, dating/romantic relationships, sexual health). I have an extensive background in statistics, scientific writing and editing, human subjects research, qualitative and quantitative research methods, and project management. I am striving to continuously integrate psychology, medicine, and biology to improve research and clinical care for young adult cancer patients and survivors.
