"My first visit to the Netherlands Cancer Institute was in the summer of 2012, when I joined the Head and Neck Cancer Center – first as a student during my internship and later as a research assistant with physician-researcher Jacqueline Timmermans, among others. I wanted to do what she did! She and my co-supervisor Sjaak Burgers both inspired me tremendously. And now I am about to obtain my doctorate with my research into malignant mesothelioma; asbestos cancer. This is a rare but very aggressive form of cancer, in which the tumor often recurs within a few weeks or months after treatment. In the largest study that I have worked on in recent years, we showed that it will take longer for the tumor to return when patients switch to a different type of chemotherapy after the standard chemotherapy. This may not be a major breakthrough yet, but it is great news within a field in which good news has been sorely missing for many patients. The whole experience definitely left me wanting more: it inspired me to become a pulmonologist, and I recently started training at the OLVG."
Dianne will defend her thesis on June 16.
This research was financially supported by KWF Dutch Cancer Society.
Promotor
prof. dr. P. Baas