What is the topic of your PhD project and how does your work look like in practice?
My PhD focuses on cerebral water measurements with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). The idea is that this measurement could help us better understand the glymphatic system in the brain. In my research, I focus on cognition, sleep, and blood pressure. To investigate cognition, I measured a large number of patients with and without cognitive complaints, working alongside my students. To study sleep, my colleagues in the Donders Sleep Lab and I have conducted sleep measurements on young adults over the past two years. Since I collect a lot of data, my workweek is often quite varied. It goes from collecting data myself to supervising students and analyzing data behind my desk.
What has your career path been so far and how did you come to your current position?
I studied Technical Medicine, and I did my graduation internship at the Geriatrics department. Near the end of my internship, my supervisor got a grant for a PhD student and asked if I was interested in the position. So, I was just lucky to be in the right place at the right time.
What do you wish you would have known when you started your PhD project?
Say no more often; you can’t do everything at the same time. At the start of my PhD, I was asked to be involved in a lot of projects. Because everything interested me, I said yes a lot. This led to me doing multiple projects simultaneously, which, looking back, might not have been the best move.
Who are you working with and what do these collaborations look like?
I am part of two different consortia: the MODEM consortium and the Good Vibes JPND consortium. Within the MODEM consortium, we collaborate with researchers from diverse backgrounds to explore dementia. Within the Good Vibes JPND consortium, we collaborate with the inventors of my devices and other institutions that use the same devices. In MODEM, it is nice to receive a lot of input on the physiological and fundamental disease principles, whereas in Good Vibes, the focus is more technical on the device itself.