What is your hometown?
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
When did you join the University of Iowa faculty?
2004
How/when did you become interested in science and medicine?
My mother needed hospitalization for deep vein thrombosis as a child. I also suffered from asthma quite badly. It comes as no surprise that these topics are very highly visible in my curriculum vitae!
What interested you to pursue a career in Radiology?
I was working on a PhD in pulmonary embolism, which involved both laboratory work and a lot of different imaging modalities. Prior to that, when I was a resident in surgery/trauma, I was involved in research in the diagnosis of scaphoid fractures, also using multiple imaging modalities. When a residency vacancy arose in Radiology, I jumped at the opportunity.
Is there a teacher or mentor who helped shape your career?
Professor Jan Wouter ten Cate, emeritus professor of Vascular Medicine in Amsterdam, was my research mentor. My personal mentors were Tom Broekhuizen, a brilliant trauma surgeon and close friend, and Tudor Thomas, an orthopedic surgeon and my first boss in the United Kingdom.
How or why did you choose the University of Iowa?
I have had personal links with several families in Iowa City through a correspondence between my mother and people here that started during World War II. I have been coming here since 1977. When I came back I was interested in Dr. Hoffman’s work in functional lung imaging using Computed Tomography (CT), as I was doing similar work using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The visit led to recruitment and here we are!
What kinds of professional opportunities or advantages does being a faculty member at Iowa provide? What about challenges?
There are major opportunities to perform multidisciplinary clinical care and excellent research. The communication lines tend to be positive and relatively short, with many people being very helpful. Challenges include the fact that radiology equipment is expensive; not just the hardware but also the housing of such equipment, and this has caused some difficulties and delays. Ultimately, in order to compete with other large universities we will need dedicated imaging research space, and the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine is working towards an Iowa Imaging Institute to help facilitate this development.
Please describe your professional interests.
My main interests are in cardiothoracic imaging, using CT and MRI. I have helped develop a cardiac CT program with Cardiology for instance. I also hope to bring some of our advanced quantitative and computer software analysis tools into play for patient care. We have developed software for detection of lung nodules for example, that is now being used to improve our detection in cancer patients. Finally, my work is aimed at improving knowledge of lung function and structure, both in healthy and disease states.
What are some of your outside interests?
I enjoy swimming and have two boys and a wife that I try to spend time with. I enjoy travel, which is a good thing given my time spent in airports! I also enjoy museums, music of all sorts and reading (John Grisham is a favorite).
Do you have an insight or philosophy that guides you in your professional work?
I try to approach things with a positive and constructive way of thinking, and wish to see young people succeed in life. I am somebody who does not believe in barriers for the sake of specialties; at the end of the day, we need to do whatever is best for our patients and egos don’t matter.
If you could change one thing about the world (or the world of medicine), what would it be?
There is a huge disparity in health care, not just in the world, but closer to home in the United States. I think health care is a human right, not a privilege!
What is the biggest change you've experienced in your field since you were a student?
Wow, there have been so many developments. When I was in medical school ultrasound was just being discovered, CT was just being applied for the brain and MRI was still a dream. Also, I remember our professor in Rotterdam running in one day and telling us about the discovery of the oncogene. Who was to know there were many different ones and that we would one day map the human genome?
What one piece of advice you would give to today's students?
Enjoy your education, read widely, and try to experience things in order to help you develop your ultimate interest; don’t choose too early! Once you have an idea of what you wish to achieve, go for it 150%.
What do you see as "the future" of medicine?
Diagnosing illnesses will move forward to a state where we detect illnesses before they cause actual harm. Preventative and early intervention medicine will need detection tools, ranging from molecular biology to imaging based quantitative assessment. The Star Trek monitoring device of Dr. McCoy may be a reality one day.
In what ways are you engaged with the greater Iowa public (i.e. population based research, mentoring high school students, sharing your leadership/expertise with organizations or causes, speaking engagements off campus, etc.)?
I have mentored several summer students, including high school students over the past years, have spoken at public meetings and have supported local organizations such as special education needs in the Iowa City Community School District, the Iowa Special Olympics and most recently John Heineman’s swim across the English Channel (in support of the Iowa City Free Medical Clinic). I am currently involved in trying to build an imaging based clinical trials company, which will hopefully benefit the state and university graduates in the future. I am on the speaker’s list, but so far there have been few engagements.