2020 – current      UNIVERSITY LECTURER & FFU Ambassador - Utrecht university

• University teacher (and coordinator) in the Bachelor Pharmacy (courses: Infection & Immunity, Airway disorders, Nutrition).
• University teacher and coordinator in the Bachelor Health, Care and Society (course: Early development).
• Supervisor Bachelor thesis on topics related to nutrition and immunity. 
• Future Food Utrecht Ambassador Nutrition & Immune Resilience.
• Member supervisory board Louis Bolk Institute.

2020                    SCIENTIFIC CONSULTANT - Dare2Bee Science

D2B Science supports scientists within the field of Food, Health and Immunology. I translate technical and complex scientific content into plain messages easily understood by a wide range of audiences. As generalist, I aim to capture the essentials of the in-depth scientific expertise's and use the helicopter-view to paint a comprehensible overall picture. I intend to connect different parties with complementary ideas like universities, institutes, SMEs or multinationals, aiming for the development of new value propositions.

2018 - 2020     CLUSTER LEADER NUTRITION & CELL BIOLOGY - FrieslandCampina R&D

Nutritional Sciences, headed by Dr. M. Bragt. Main tasks as cluster leader are supervising people development of the 6 (senior) scientists within the cluster, align business strategies of different business units to the research strategy, facilitate connections between projects, secure IP,  stimulate scientific publications and promote the usage of scientific output into the Marketing storylines. Besides the role as Cluster Leader, I am a project leader for multiple projects that are connecting external experts at other companies and/or academia to reach new insights into the effectiveness of nutritional ingredients or products towards a healthier life for infants up to elderly.

2012 - 2018     SENIOR SCIENTIST IMMUNOLOGY - Nutricia Research

Global center of Excellence Immunology, headed by Prof. Dr. J. Garssen. Main tasks are alignment of external grant projects with business related research questions, exploration of new possibilities to collaborate or obtain funding for new external grants, and communication of (new) findings with scientific peers and business relations. Key role in optimizing the strategic alliance between Nutricia Research and UIPS (University of Utrecht) and alignment of immune-relevant topics within the cross-functional Human Milk Research team. Team leader of a senior assistant scientist and two scientists within Nutricia Research as well as supervisor of two post-docs and co-promotor of three PhD students within the UIPS alliance.

2008 - 2012      SCIENTIST IMMUNOLOGY - Nutricia Research

Global center of Excellence Immunology, headed by Prof. Dr. J. Garssen. Responsible for the execution of the in-vivo experiments required to substantiate business related research questions. Alignment of external grant projects, exploration of new possibilities to collaborate within running projects and communication of (new) findings with scientific peers and business relations.

2003 - 2008       PHD STUDENT - Wageningen University

Department of Cell Biology and Immunology, under supervision of Prof. dr. ir. H.F.J. Savelkoul. PhD student project Title: Mutual influence of consumption patterns on the development of food allergy.

Jan – Jun 2006   VISITING PHD STUDENT - Göteborg University

External research period at the Göteborg University, Lung Pharmacology group, under supervision of Prof. J. Lötvall: The influence of T cell subtypes and IL-5 on the distribution of B cells using a mouse model of allergic asthma.

Oct – Dec 2002   VISITING TECHNICIAN - WEHI Melbourne

Performing experiments at the WEHI in Melbourne, Australia. A collaboration between Dr. A.J.M. van Oosterhout and Dr. S. Foote: Determination of asthma susceptibility of recombinant mice resistant for Leishmania Major.

2000 - 2003       IN VIVO TECHNICIAN - Utrecht university

Department of Pharmacology, under supervision of Dr. A.J.M. van Oosterhout. Project title: Localisation of asthma susceptibility genes in recombinant congenic mouse strains.

2000                BSC THESIS - Radboud university

Higher Laboratory School, Utrecht, Study Biotechnology, June 2000; Study Experimental Animal Science, June 2000. Internship at the Radboud hospital, Department Central Haematological Laboratory, under supervision of Dr. J. Meijerink and Drs. A. De Graaf. Research subject: The role of Bax and Bcl-2 in malign haematopoiesis.