MAASTRICHTCONVENTIONBUREAU - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
Dr. Bekkers is a general cardiologist and involved in the Marfan expertise center of Maastricht UMC+. As mentioned earlier, he is also specialized in non-invasive cardiovascular imaging. But what exactly does this mean? We asked Dr. Bekkers. "A patient consultation always starts with thorough history taking and anamnesis, followed by physical examination, electrocardiogram and sometimes a blood test when indicated. Advanced imaging techniques such as high-end echocardiography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging allow us to ‘see inside' the body without opening it. These techniques allow us to image the heart and blood vessels in more detail and help us to make more reliable and accurate cardiac diagnoses. This is important to initiate the most appropriate and tailored therapy for our patients and improve their quality of life and prognosis. In addition, follow-up imaging is often used to determine whether the initiated therapy is successful or a change in management is needed. Because of their increased complexity, in depth knowledge of these advanced imaging techniques is crucial, which has resulted in a sub-specialty in cardiology."
Dr. Bekkers himself visits one to two conferences each year. This is very important to him because of education, creative thinking and socializing. "You can perfectly network at a conference, especially when the local atmosphere and circumstances are good. You meet interesting colleagues who contribute to new research ideas and expand existing knowledge. A conference is the perfect platform and moment to share thoughts with colleagues worldwide." Of course, we asked Dr. Bekkers why he thinks Maastricht is the perfect conference destination. "I really think Maastricht has a lot to offer as a conference destination. The great thing about Maastricht as a conference destination is that it's a very compact and well-arranged city with an extremely friendly atmosphere. From the convention center you can easily walk to the city center along the river Maas. Besides that, Maastricht is a very un-Dutch city with good restaurants, bars and there's also a lot to experience in the surrounding region."
Job Titles:
- Marketing & Communications Manager
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
Job Titles:
- Surgeon at Maastricht UMC
Prof. Dr. Nicole Bouvy has been involved in more than 200 research papers over the years. All these papers concerning diverse subjects on how to treat patients in a more minimal invasive way. Laparoscopic surgery for hernia, adhesions, new biomaterials, transoral surgery are just a few subjects within her large series of research. Even though all these topics may sound very diverse, they do have one thing in common. All these researches focus on making surgeries less invasive or relate to reducing complications (by cutting) after surgery. "By operating with laparoscopic surgery, you have less chance of complications such as wound problems and adhesions. When you use open abdominal surgery, within 10 years almost 10% of patients come back with adhesions, openings in the abdominal wall, etc. Thanks to laparoscopic surgery, you have fewer long-term complications".
Job Titles:
- Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Maastricht
Prof. Dr. Y. Temel is currently a Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Maastricht and Neurosurgeon at the MUMC+. Besides practicing general Neurosurgery he specializes in two clinical and scientific areas of interest:
Functional Neurosurgery / deep brain stimulation: this entails, operating deeply into the brain of patients with for example Parkinson disease, OCD, severe dystonia (especially in children), or severe epilepsy. The areas of treatment are about 7 centimeters underneath the brain's surface, therefore it requires precision. The stereotaxic technique is used to place an electrode (a fine wire) with 1 millimeter of precision without causing any bleeds or bruises. Furthermore, he studies specific areas of the brain that control movement and emotions so to understand how these functions work exactly.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager