Prof. Dr. M.H. Vermeer

I studied medicine at the University of Leiden. While waiting for my internship, I worked in the Immunology and Microbiology department at the University of Miami. In 1992 I completed my medical studies (cum laude) and started training as a dermatologist at the VU in Amsterdam. I combined clinical training with PhD research into cutaneous lymphomas, resulting in the thesis "Mechanisms of progress in primary cutaneous T-cell lymphomas". Since 2001, I worked as a dermatologist at the LUMC where I focus on patient care, education and research in the field of skin lymphomas. I was appointed professor in 2012 and head of department in 2016. I was member of the boards of the European Society Dermatological Research, the EORTC Cutaneous Lymphoma Working Group and the International Society of Cutaneous Lymphoma. I (co-)organized the ESDR conference in Rotterdam (2015), the World Congress for Cutaneous Lymphoma in New York (2016), and the EORTC conference in Leiden (2023).

Within the Cancer theme for innovation my research focuses on cutaneous lymphomas. In my first publications, several types of cutaneous lymphoma were better defined clinically and histologically and two types of cutaneous lymphoma were described as separate diseases for the first time. Insights from these studies have been included in the WHO classification for lymphomas. These studies were followed by genome-wide analyzes of (epi)genetic abnormalities in tumor cells. Based on the results from these studies STAT3 signal transduction pathway was investigated as a therapeutic target. Recent research is aimed at improving the early diagnosis of the histology of skin lymphomas using AI and image recognition, identification of tumor cells in blood with flow cytometry, drug development using in culture models and clinical trials (with CHDR) and studies into quality of life. These studies were supported by KWF, NWO (clinical fellowship, VIDI, NWA), EORTC and EADV. I lead translational research of an European (ProClipi) and a global (CLIC) cutaneous lymphoma consortium.