Brenda Penninx, professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology, is to be the new vice president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences effective 1 September. She succeeds Marileen Dogterom, who became president of the Academy on 1 June. Brenda Penninx will combine this position with her work as a professor at Amsterdam UMC and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Brenda Penninx is a multidisciplinary researcher. Her aim in both her research and her teaching is to better understand the consequences and treatment of psychiatric disorders. In her research, she integrates genetics and neuroimaging with clinical, psychological and social science approaches. She also has considerable administrative experience, for example as a member of the management teams for Amsterdam Neuroscience and the department of Psychiatry, and part of the part of the Mental Health program council at Amsterdam Public Health, as well as a lead investigator of large-scale, Dutch and international multi-site research consortia.

Encourage interdisciplinary cooperation

Penninx became a member of the Academy in 2016. She chairs the Medical Sciences Council and is vice chairperson of the Medical, Biomedical and Health Sciences domain. As vice president, she intends to focus on encouraging and facilitating interdisciplinary cooperation in science, for example with respect to climate change and open science. She also plans to engage in discussions about stability and regularity in science, with Recognition and Rewards, science communication and science funding as important themes.

The Academy Board

The Academy Board members are Marileen Dogterom (president), Ivo Giesen (vice president and general secretary), Brenda Penninx (vice president effective 1 September 2022) and members Martin van Hees, Sjaak Neefjes, Ton van der Steen and Clara Mulder.

Source: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)