My research interests are:

1) Deepening understanding of the underlying mechanisms of cognitive decline in MS (elaboration on the work started during my PhD) and;

2) (further) develop my own theme within the MS center Amsterdam: studying the effects of cognitive rehabilitation on behavior and quality of life on the one hand and brain structure and function (i.e. neuronal plasticity) on the other hand.

State-of-the-art neuroimaging measures are key in all projects I am involved in. One of my newest insights is the suggestion of a window-of-opportunity in which the brain seems most receptive for cognitive rehabilitation (i.e. intact functional network functioning). This window-of-opportunity is often missed in current clinical care and cognitive rehabilitation might, hence, often come too late. This finding also suggests that there might be a role for preventative intervention (i.e. making the brain more resilient towards future pathology), an area that I want to explore in the (near) future.

My ultimate goal is to understand the brain to such an extent that I will be able to give patient-tailored advices to prevent, or at least postpone, cognitive decline and to allow patients to live their life as they see fit without being hampered by MS-related cognitive decline. 

Key words: Cognition, state-of-the-art neuroimaging techiques, resilience, quality of life, patient narratives, personalised intervention