Hedwig Vos appointed professor

Assignment

The assignment of Vos is General Practitioning in the broad sense. Vos: “This includes population health, for example. I have a particular interest in women's health and inclusion and diversity. But the teaching assignment, like the profession of a general practitioner, is very broad. I see it as my job to show how beautiful the profession of general practitioner is and how relevant this profession is for healthcare today and for the future."

Attention to women's health and diversity and inclusion

Vos believes it is important that within undergraduate and graduate medical education, medical students are introduced to extramural subjects: “For example, general practitioner, but also the specialty of geriatrics and physician society & health. In addition, I have a special interest in women's health and inclusion and diversity. From my expertise on gender and gender differences and women's health, I hope to contribute to the education and the guidance of students in their scientific internship."

"Besides thinking about curriculum content, I also find it important to have an eye for atmosphere and culture. It is imperative that all students feel at home on our faculty, and so I am always committed to supporting greater diversity and inclusion.”

Closing the health gap

In the field of research, Vos wants to work together with researchers from department, in the LUMC and in the region, to look at the health of populations (groups with the same characteristics), in order to be able to improve them. “The fact that we have such large health disparities in the Netherlands, and that these are only increasing, I find unacceptable and as a researcher. I would like to contribute to closing this health gap.”

Career

During her studies, Vos was already active in the M.F.L.S board (Medical Faculty of Leiden Students) and as an assessor (student member of the faculty board). After general practitioning school, she received her doctorate on the topic of Prevention and Gender and was administratively and politically active. In 2017, Vos joined LUMC as head of the Extramural LUMC Academic Network (ELAN) and from the end of 2019 until the beginning of November 2024, she served as head of the general practitioner training program. During this time, Vos supervised PhD students and conducted research, including on gender differences in smoking cessation and the implementation of cardiovascular risk management for women after hypertensive disease or diabetes during pregnancy.