About us
The aim of the group is to advocate for supplementation and/or therapeutic use of these micronutrients in point-of-care facilities. We aim to stimulate further research on this topic and the translation into applications.
Members
Idelette Nutma is a patient representative at the European Sepsis Alliance, and founder of Sepsis en Daarna. She aims to enhance awareness of sepsis, how to prevent and reduce long term sequelae and improve the quality of life of patients who are facing the aftermath of infectious (critical) illness.
Dr. Manfred Eggersdorfer is Professor for Healthy Ageing University Medical Center Groningen. His scientific work focuses on the role of essential nutrients for health, vitality, and well-being, especially on the impact of inadequate intake and status of micronutrients over the life cycle with a focus on long term health and healthy ageing.
Roland de Wolf is owner of DeWolfPact, though which he aims to stimulate innovation of the health care system. By offering support at the intersection between quality, housing, healthcare and wellbeing. Their focus is to make quality care more affordable and to realize novel types of healthcare and housing.
Dr. Ir. Reindert Graaff (retired) was assistant professor at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in the fields of Biomedical Engineering. He is also co-founder of DiagnOptics, that produces the AGE Reader, a non-invasive instrument to predict cardiovascular risk. Since 2012 he mainly focused on the role of vitamin D in human health.
Jaap Toet (retired) was epidemiologist at the departments of Public Health in Rotterdam and Utrecht and the Netherlands Institute for Mental Health and Addiction (Trimbos-instituut).
He’s now working on a research proposal for a citizen science project with personalized health passports for healthy ageing.
Marjo Kommeren is interim manager & advisor at DeWolfPact. She has experience in healthcare, initially as a nurse, followed by management, quality and safety systems, education and as a consultant and project leader.
She supports CMSM through project management and project advice.
Chaja Hudepol has a background in biomedical research focussed on the self-healing ability of the human body.
She is currently working at a company researching novel therapies for kidney diseases.
Gaston Remmers is Director at the association Mijn Data Onze Gezondheid, which is a citizen science platform. In this field he is an expert, as he has been involved in many innovation and research tracks that connect health with personalized nutrition, consumer data and sustainable agriculture.
Gaston functions as an advisor to the CMSM.
Philosophy and purpose
Inspired by this, a collaboration of international experts and patient and citizen health organizations was initiated. The aim of the group is to advocate for supplementation and/or therapeutic use of these micronutrients in point-of-care facilities. We aim to stimulate further research on this topic and the translation into applications. To achieve these two goals, different methods can be used.
The collaboration is internationally oriented and gathers round table members working in various countries all over the globe. For the scientific reviews, international papers are considered. Furthermore, the collaboration supports similar initiatives in other countries.
Methods to reach our goals
Information gathering
Outreach & advise
Promoting collaboration
Promoting research
Information gathering
Experts in the field are regularly approached to take part as members of the round table. During these discussions, expertise can be exchanged, and the core members of the collaboration can be updated on the latest developments in research and patient experiences. Additionally, these experts increase the impact of our group: by giving advice on the work that is made public, by backing the letters that are sent to the government or other organizations, or by spreading our message through their network.
Outreach & advise
- Advisory role: The group wishes to supply relevant organizations (including the government) with solicited and unsolicited advice regarding the use of micronutrients in the acute phase and during the recovery of a serious illness. In the past this has been done by writing letters and literature reviews, which were sent to the Dutch Ministry of Health, the FMS and the SWAB, among others. It is hoped that in the future, as this collaboration evolves into an institute, the focus will shift from more broad unsolicited advice to more topic-specific solicited advice.
- Educational role: A second important aspect is educating the public about scientific literature and recent insights, as well as covering developments that represent the patients’ values. To ensure their perspective is being heard by the general public and to empower collaboration between scientists and patient and citizen organisazations, we aim to stimulate the involvement of the patient's perspective in considerations with regard to design, possibilities and application of research.
Promoting collaboration
Promotion of collaboration between medical associations and patient representatives is theme to incorporate different perspectives. This includes contacting experts to find new possibilities for patient representatives and scientists to design research together. Furthermore, this collaboration wants to pave the way for more discussion about goals and ethics, and bringing scientific knowledge, experience, and values together.
Promoting research
By promotion of further research, the collaboration hopes to contribute to a lasting change in the field of micronutrients. We expect that by connecting researchers with patient representatives and finance options, studies will be designed that serve both the patient needs and values and the scientific knowledge base, including citizen science, on which new legislative choices can be made. By simultaneously stimulating the societal debate on this topic, hopefully more attention will be given to this field in the future.