Thomas van den Akker appointed professor
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Maternal care, Van den Akker’s area of expertise, deals with women's health during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period. “Strengthening research into the prevention of women's health problems is something I do by, for example, improving international cooperation from LUMC. And also by involving women themselves in asking the right scientific questions and finding the right research design.”
Excellent maternal care
LUMC is a center of expertise for rare pregnancy-related disorders. Van den Akker aims to provide excellent maternal care within the center of expertise. “Maternal care is network care. That's why I work closely with other specialties that treat pregnant women, and also with Neonatology.”
Health influenced by context
Van den Akker also believes it is important to promote critical academic reflection among students. “It is important here that students know what is going on in the world. That health is also influenced by the context in which we live. This requires a participative, active and interactive attitude from students and teachers.”
Resume
Van den Akker studied Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Leiden. He then became an International Health and Tropical Medicine physician and worked as a district physician in Malawi for four years. After returning, he received his doctorate from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) for a dissertation centered on the prevention of maternal mortality and other serious complications of women around childbirth. This has always remained his passion.
Van den Akker studied Gynecology at the LUMC and Haaglanden Medisch Centrum, followed by a fellowship in Perinatology in Leiden and Oxford. As a staff member in Obstetrics, he developed, courtesy of a supportive department, a line of research to reduce serious maternal problems, with a large global research network. Van den Akker was already Extraordinary Professor of Global Maternal Health at the VU, so now he is a professor in what feels like his home to him: the LUMC.
