Specialization
Focus of research
Natasja van Schoor works as an associate professor at the Department of Epidemiology and Data Science, Amsterdam UMC.
Her research focuses on the prevention of functional decline, falls and fractures in older person as these may lead to loss of independence and wellbeing in older adults. In 2020, she extended her research line with research on healthy ageing. In that year, the World Health organization (WHO) announced the decade of healthy ageing and they stated that healthy ageing research should focus on maintaining and enhancing the functional ability of older adults. Functional ability is determined by the intrinsic capacity of older adults and the environment they live in.
Natasja is involved in research of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA). LASA is an ongoing population-based cohort study that started in 1992 and which is performed in a representative sample of the Dutch older population. The aim of LASA is to determine predictors and consequences of ageing (www.lasa-vu.nl). Natasja is chair of the LASA physical functioning group and biobank coordinator of LASA.
Currently, Natasja is PI of the IMPROve study (Maintaining intrinsic capacity in an optimal environment to increase healthy ageing: combining population-based data with experiments in a living lab) and co-PI of the ADFICE_IT study (Alerting on adverse Drug reactions: Falls prevention Improvement through developing a Computerized clinical support system: Effectiveness of Individualized medication withdrawal).
She is also activvely involved in the Amsterdam Cohort Hub (ACH) and Netherlands Cohort Consortium (NCC) as she believes that initiatives like ACH and NCC are vital for fostering collaboration, harmonizing and expanding data, and promoting the reuse of existing high-quality datasets.
Natasja teaches epidemiology and is course coordinator of a first year course for Medicine students: Medical Scientific Research 1 (Medisch Wetenschappelijk onderzoek 1, MWO1).
Natasja closely works together with the Departments of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics.