Geneticist and epidemiologist at Amsterdam UMC, Jorien Treur receives the Senior Scientist Dekker grant of almost 500,000 euros for a duration of four years. With this grant, Treur wants to investigate the causal relationship between cardiovascular disease and mental health problems. People with cardiovascular diseases have an increased risk of stress, anxiety and depression. These psychological symptoms also seem to aggravate cardiovascular diseases.
Relationship between the heart and the brain
Treur will study the relationship between cardiovascular disease and mental health problems with the help of a large patient database collected over several years. She wants to bring to light which of the conditions develops first and which develops second. In addition, she is going to use innovative genetic methods to investigate how the relationship between cardiovascular disease and mental symptoms comes about. Several things that might play a role in the development of the complaints are smoking, exercise and BMI. But also social factors such as loneliness and having social support will be studied by Treur. During her research, Treur will work closely with patients, patient organizations, cardiologists, psychologists and psychiatrists. Together they can properly interpret the results of this research and use them to treat or even prevent health problems in the future.
Dekker grant
The Dutch Heart Foundation are awarded the Dekker grants for the 36th time. Ten talented researchers received a Dekker grant, of which four are from Amsterdam UMC and one is affiliated with the Amsterdam Neuroscience research institute.
Visit the Heart Foundation website for more information regarding the awarded projects.