Nine new associate professors were appointed at UMC Utrecht on 9 December 2022. The talented staff have been appointed based on performance as well as on their qualifications in research, teaching and management. Mathematical modeler dr. Ganna Rozhnova (Program Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases at the Julius Center) is one of the new associate professors. Her research aims to understand transmission dynamics and interventions for highly relevant emerging and established respiratory and sexually-transmitted viruses that require massive control efforts and have large societal impact (e.g., SARS-CoV-2, HIV, monkeypox, influenza, and CMV)."

Each year, UMC Utrecht promotes a number of researchers to associate professor but this year things went differently. In fact, to make the full breadth of academic activities 'assessable', UMC Utrecht drew up six different academic career profiles. All candidates chose a profile and were assessed accordingly.

Divisions and strategic teams nominated candidates as associate professor with the following profiles: Implementation Researcher, Clinical Researcher, Exploratory Researcher or Methodology & Technology Researcher. Two other profiles, Academic Educator and Valorisation Researcher, have not yet been used this year.

"With the new career profiles, all these diverse people can be valued and have careers," says Rinze Benedictus, research staff adviser in the Research Office. He is a member of the career paths committee that developed the profiles. "With the profiles, we avoid having one universal, measuring rod that seems objective but in fact puts some disciplines or academic activities at an a priori disadvantage." UMC Utrecht is taking a future-proof approach here.

All candidates filled in the qualification portfolio that suits them. For example, a clinical researcher bridges the gap between clinic and science. He does different work and achieves different results than, say, an Exploratory Researcher or an Academic Educator. Each candidate gave a brief summary of their specific knowledge or expertise. In all profiles, the candidates also described their leadership qualities, development, and internal and external collaborations.  

This year’s new associate professors (6 women and 3 men) and their profiles are: Saskia Haitjema (Implementation Researcher, dLAB, Circulatory Health), Wilma Knol (Clinical Researcher, dIGD, Circulatory Health), Karin Jongsma (Exploratory Researcher, Julius Center, Child Health), Joyce Browne (Exploratory Researcher, Julius Center, Child Health), Ganna Rozhnova (Exploratory Researcher, Julius Center, Infection & Immunity), Peter van de Ven (Methodology & Technology Researcher, dB&O, Cancer), Roel Deckers (Methodology & Technology Researcher, dB&O, Cancer), Jeanine Roodhart (Clinical Researcher, dB&O, Cancer) and Edwin van Dellen (Clinical Researcher, dHersenen, Brain).