Dr. R. (Rolf) Fronczek (MD/PhD)

I am a neurologist/somnologist focusing on headache and sleep disorders, particularly hypothalamic disorders (narcolepsy and cluster headache). My scientific research is also aimed at these disorders; and I am involved in care and education. One day a week I work at Sleep-Wake Center SEIN in Heemstede. I am coordinator of the neurology master program (‘coschappen’) and the half-minor Neuroscience. I am also one of the ambassadors of that research theme. I am chief editor of the journal 'De Neuroloog' and a member of the ‘beroepsbelangen’ committee of the Dutch Society for Neurology (NVN). In addition, I am a board member of the Dutch Headache Association (NHV), co-chair of the Sleep-Wake Panel of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN), member of the EAN education committee and of the scientific committee of the European Narcolepsy Network (EU-NN).

My research focusses on headache and sleep disorders, in particular cluster headache, narcolepsy and the role of sleep in brain disorders. This falls within the LUMC research theme Neuroscience, for which I am an ambassador for paroxysmal disorders (headache, sleep, syncope & epilepsy). For my research on cluster headache, sleep and the biological clock, I have been awarded a VIDI grant in 2022. I am currently collaborating with Sleep-Wake Center SEIN, the Dutch Brain Bank and colleagues at LUMC to discover the autoimmune cause of narcolepsy, while trials on new treatments are ongoing. For cluster headache - in addition to research on sleep and the clock - I am collaborating with the LUMC anesthesiology department and the Erasmus MC on neuromodulation in the treatment for cluster headache. Together with the radiology department we are performing the Clear-Brain! Study on the role of sleep in the clearance of beta-amyloid from the brain.