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Curriculum Vitae
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Education - Psychology:1982-1988 specialization Comparative and Physiological Psychology, KU Nijmegen (NL) - PhD study: 1989-1992 University of Maastricht (NL) Positions - Post doc: 10/1992-4/1993 University of Cambridge (UK) - Laboratory Head: 5/1993-4/1996 Tropon/CNS Research Bayer, Cologne (D) - KNAW fellow: (5/1996-5/2001) University of Maastricht (NL) - Assistant Professor: (5/2001-present) University of Maastricht (NL) - Visiting Researcher: (3/2002-6/2002) University of Sydney (AUS) - Visiting Researcher: (6/2004-8/2004) CNS Neurobehavior, Palo Alto (USA)
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I was born in 1962 in Heerlen (NL) and grew up in the south of the Netherlands (Elsloo). After my basic school training, I decided to study Psychology at the University of Nijmegen (NL) in 1982. Sometimes it is difficult to explain why I chose this study. It is even more puzzling to me why I chose to study Comparative and Physiological Psychology as a major. During my internship I had a joint project with Pim Drinkenburg in which we studied the effects of ORG2766 in an animal model of dementia (nucleus basalis lesions in rats). This study was a collaboration with Organon (Oss, NL) under supervision of Dr. Wijnand Raaijmakers. I managed to get my Masters degree in 1987. Shortly after my study I started to work in Maastricht (NL) on different projects in collaboration with Dr. Franz Josef van der Staay and Dr. Wijnand Raaijmakers. In these studies we were assessing the memory performance of rats in different test models. After one year I decided to reorient myself and I started to de a post doctoral study European Business Management and Information Systems in 1998 (Sittard, NL). During this study I did an internship at the Colchester Borough Council for three months. After finishing this one-year course, I got the opportunity to start a PhD project in Maastricht again in 1990. This PhD project was supervised by Prof. Jelle Jolles and Dr. Wijnand Raaijmakers. During a fruitful period of two years I defended my thesis 'Animal models of cognitive aging and dementia: problems and perspectives' in 1992. I have still some copies available for those who are interested. Some days after my thesis defence I decided that there should be something more in my life than only hard working. Yvonne Lebens made me realize that there was indeed more than only science. I received an NWO travel grant to visit the lab of Dr. Steve Dunnett (Cambridge, UK) for six months. During this period I was working on different aspects of the delayed-matching to position task in rats. During my stay in Cambridge I successfully applied for a position as laboratory head at Tropon (Cologne, D), the CNS division of Bayer AG. I took this position in 1993 and worked in the Department of Gerontopharmacology that was headed by Dr. Teun Schuurman. Although Yvonne and I did not see much of each other (but we travelled a lot), we married in 1994. After three very exciting and interesting years of drug development I applied for a prestigious KNAW grant in the Netherlands (Prof. Jelle Jolles). I was elected as to become a KNAW fellow and returned to Maastricht in 1996. In this project I studied the effects of two different life events that could accelerate the age-related cognitive decline. Yvonne and I got our first child (Floortje in 1997). The KNAW fellowship was prolonged for two years in 1999. In 2000 Yvonne gave birth to a twin (Joris and Meike). In 2001 I was appointed as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Psychology. After a very long period of hospitalisation Joris died of a congenital heart disease. In 2002 I did a sabbatical in Sydney (Prof. Bob Boakes, University of Sydney). This was an excellent opportunity and very enlightening change of scenes for my family after a very stressful period in our life. Presently, I am a member of the department Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology (chair, Dr. Jan Ramaekers) of the Faculty of Psychology. My research is part of the Institute of Brain and Behaviour (Division III, Neurodegeneration and Plasticity) which is now part of the European Graduate School of Neurosciences (EURON; Director, Prof Harry Steinbusch). Since 2004 I am participating as a lecturer in the Bachelor/Master Program in Neuroscience at the University of Cologne. In the same year, I have been appointed as the International coordinator of the Faculty of Psychology. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the teaching in Psychology in different countries. Also, it will be a challenge to convince other universities that students will receive a high level of teaching in Maastricht. In the summer of 2004 I visited Roche CNS research for a period of two months. I was able to see more of this company for which we are doing contract research, and to see more of the Gold County. As from June 2004 I have also been elected as a board member of the NeuroFederation. Since September 2005 I am a member of the University Board, and chair of the Personnel and Finance committee.
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