Stefan van Rooijen
MD, PhD
Candidate Surgery, Maxima Medical Center, The Netherlands
After graduating medical school in January 2015, Stefan was offered a position as PhD student at the Department of Surgery at Máxima Medical Center (Eindhoven/Veldhoven) and the Maastricht University Medical Center (Maastricht), the Netherlands (Dr. R.M.H. Roumen, Dr. G.D. Slooter, Prof. N.D. Bouvy). His research focused on improvements in colorectal care, in particular to find practical solutions to lower the morbidity - especially anastomotic leakage - and mortality rates following major oncological surgery and to improve patients’ long-term quality of life. From the start of his PhD, he believed in multidisciplinary collaboration and was offered a position on the board of the Dutch Taskforce Anastomotic Leakage (Dr. F. Daams, Dr. M. den Dulk, Dr. M.N. Sosef).
He has further developed his fascination and penchant for technology by introducing a patient information application. He has designed a novel and worldwide prehabilitation program based on the needs of patients, together with a research team at the Montréal General Hospital in Canada (led by Prof. F. Carli). The Reshape Center in Nijmegen and Health Innovation Campus in Veldhoven provided Stefan with the right tools to further develop patient directed technologies, such as virtual reality for patients (VisitU and Infor-Med). He is also involved in health innovation as a lecturer at the first Health Innovation School (Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and Reshape innovation). At the moment he is working at the Department of Surgery at Maxima Medical Center (ANIOS). Stefan will apply for a resident position in the field of surgical oncology. He is living with his wife Maudi in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.