It is my great pleasure to fulfil the roles of leader of the Interfaculty Prevention Project and chairman of the project’s Core Group. Prevention is about individual behaviour, and social and physical environment. In my role as GP and Radboudumc employee, my first impulse is to think of the consultation room and individual health behaviour, but I’m increasingly discovering that health habits are strongly dependent on the context.
I personally really enjoy learning from the perspectives of all the faculties. And in my role as connector, I also find it inspiring to make links between education, research, and practice, and between Radboud University/Radboudumc and our partners within the region, including other research universities, universities of applied sciences, municipalities, GP practices, and municipal health centres (GGD). Prevention is not something you do at your desk or in a consultation room only: you have to be where people live and work! This requires a shift in our thinking and an entirely new infrastructure for teaching and research. It’s fascinating pioneer work