Being a medical doctor and scientific group leader, I try to bridge the gap between fundamental research and clinical specialists. Creating an atlas based on histological sections of human embryos has made me realize that we know more about the moon then about our own development. As I have a broad interest in embryonic development, forensic radiology, diving (medicine) and 3D-imaging I aim to combine my multidisciplinary skill-set to come up with out-of-the-box answers to clinical research questions in each of these fields of study.

My main line of research concerns the use of cutting-edge 3D-imaging techniques to study human developmental anatomy. I founded the Dutch Fetal Biobank in 2017 which generates a wealth of data and research opportunities on both healthy development, etiology of birth defects and automatic AI-driven detection of abnormalities on 3D ultrasound screening.

Since academic teaching and quality research go hand in hand, (bio)medical students have always played a key role in my research projects. I strive to translate our findings towards education of patients, students and clinicians. By doing so, I hope that through my research I will eventually help more patients than I could have done one-on-one in the doctor's office.

Human Embryology, Fetal Anatomy, 3D-ultrasound, Postmortem Imaging