With a symposium in the St. Janskerk and a farewell lecture in the aula, vascular surgeon and professor Michael Jacobs bid farewell last Friday. From board chairman Helen Mertens, he received the MUMC+ Award, the highest distinction within the MUMC+, in recognition of all he has meant for Maastricht UMC+ and its patients.

Prof. Kevin Vernooy will become the medical director of the Heart+Vascular Center (HVC) at Maastricht UMC+.

Dr Julie Staals (Dept. of Neurology) has been appointed as professor 'Neurovascular disease' as of 1 April 2024.

Prof. Andy Baker (Dept of Pathology) has been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant of €2,5M for his research project PolymiRize: Poly-miRNA targeting to prevent and reverse complex tissue remodelling after acute cardiovascular events'.

An international panel of experts published recommendations to improve management of atrial fibrillation (AF).

Prof. Hans-Peter Brunner-La Rocca (Dept. of Cardiology) participates in a ground-breaking international study that aims to revolutionize heart failure care through voice recognition technology.

Dr Casper Mihl (Dept. of Radiology & Nuclear Medicine) and Dr Chahinda Ghossein-Doha (Dept. of Cardiology), together with their colleagues from the University of Bristol received a grant from the Dutch Heart Foundation together with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and the DZHK Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislauf-Forschung e. V. for their project ‘Bi-national investigation of placental pathology and maternal cardiovascular health (BI-PATH)’.

Dr Rachel ter Bekke, researcher Yesim Kaya and artist Claudia Volders have started a crowdfunding campaign to finance research via the HeArt Ma’at project. HeArt Ma’at offers personalized art therapy to patients who have had one or more ICD-shocks due to cardiac arrest.

The Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation has awarded a Junior Fellowship (€350k) to Dr Amée Buziau (Dept. of Internal Medicine).