Mentor program
Goal of the Mentoring Program
The goal of the mentoring program is to support young researchers in the Dutch neuromuscular field in reaching their full potential and accelerate progress and innovation in neuromuscular research. Topics that may be addressed include awareness; education; talent grants (eg. advice regarding Rubicon/VENI/VIDI and ERC grants); postdoc opportunities outside of the Netherlands (do’s/don’ts); further establishing an (inter)national network; etc. The mentor’s role is to help further extend the mentee’s perspective on his/her career opportunities.
For whom?
PhD students in 3-4th year of PhD-studies and Postdocs.
Summary of program
- Mentee and mentor work in different institutes in the Netherlands
- Mentee has 1-1 contact with mentor.
- Match is based on the skills the mentee aims to develop/improve.
- Mentee and mentor meet at least 3x per year by video call or in person.
- The topics addressed stay confidential unless both mentee and mentor agree to share with other parties.
- The program runs 2-3 years, with a maximum of 3 years.
- After completion, the program is evaluated by both mentee and mentor. (Note:this information is used for periodical – 3-yearly – evaluation of the mentoring program).
Interested?
Please contact the Mentoring Program coordinators Coen Ottenheijm and Christiaan Saris and indicate what kind of support you are seeking and if you have preference for a mentor (see below). Based on your input, Christiaan and Coen will introduce you to an appropriate mentor.
Mentors
Amsterdam UMC:
Maastricht UMC:
Erasmus MC:
Radboud UMC:
- Dirk Lefeber
- Nicole Voet
- Christiaan Saris
UMC Utrecht: TBD
Leiden UMC:
Dr. Najoua El Boujnouni is pursuing a talent track in genetic therapy development for rare diseases (with a focus on education) at the dept. of Medical BioSciences, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on improving antisense oligonucleotide therapeutics for the treatment of myotonic dystrophy type 1 and aims to expand into other neuromuscular diseases in the future. Mentor: Coen Ottenheijm
Dr. Sandra de Haan is an EMBO Postdoctoral Researcher at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in the Netherlands. Her research focuses on the application of spatial transcriptomics to muscle tissue to investigate disease mechanisms underlying inclusion body myositis (IBM). Mentor: Josine de Winter
Dr. Fabio Catalano is a postdoctoral researcher at Erasmus MC University Medical Center in Rotterdam, where he obtained his PhD on gene- and cell-based therapeutic strategies. His self-funded research integrates protein engineering, gene delivery, gene editing, and epigenetics to develop clinically impactful gene therapies for inherited neuromuscular and metabolic disorders. Mentor: Pietro Spitali
Dr. Susi Rauh is a researcher with a physics background at the C.J. Gorter MRI Center, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center. Her research focuses on the development and implementation of quantitative MRI techniques for the diagnosis and monitoring of neuromuscular diseases. Mentor: Filip Eftimov
Mentor Program
Please fill out this form to sign up for the mentoring program or to get more information.