Arts-Promovendus/ Promovendus: Women and Cardiovascular Diseases

Do you want to contribute to better cardiovascular care for women and conduct research that is directly relevant to clinical practice? Are you curious, scientifically driven, and interested in various research methods? Then this PhD trajectory within internal medicine and cardiology is for you.

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death among women worldwide. Yet, women have been historically underrepresented in clinical research. As a result, research findings and treatment recommendations do not always align optimally with female patients. This underrepresentation is even greater among women with a diverse cultural or ethnic background.

Within this doctoral research, you will investigate why women participate less frequently in clinical trials and how research can be designed more inclusively. You will combine different research methods and work with both existing datasets and new data from ongoing studies.

Your research includes:

Large-scale analyses of existing data, such as meta-analyses.

Re-analyses of existing trial data.

Prospective research within ongoing clinical trials.

Qualitative research, including focus groups and interviews.

Co-creation sessions with patients, researchers, and other relevant stakeholders.

You do not need to be an expert in all research methods beforehand. It is precisely the combination of qualitative and quantitative research that offers you the opportunity to develop broadly as a scientific researcher. Additionally:

You will collaborate with researchers and clinicians from, among others, cardiology, internal medicine, vascular surgery, psychology, pharmacy, and statistics.

You can contribute to additional projects within the broader research line into sex- and gender-specific risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.

As a physician, you can see patients within ongoing cardiovascular trials.

You will get the opportunity to present research results at national and international congresses.

If desired, you can be involved in teaching activities.

There is room to deepen your knowledge in epidemiology and research methodology, for example, via an additional master's degree to become a (clinical) epidemiologist.

The project is part of the national impressive consortium and builds upon the ongoing Marie Curie project. Within this network, you will work together with researchers and healthcare professionals from various disciplines and institutions on research that can directly contribute to better and more inclusive care for women with cardiovascular diseases. https://impressconsortium.nl/marie-curie/.