Effective January 1, 2024, Cora Nijboer has been appointed department head of the Department
for Developmental Origins of Disease (DDOD), the translational research department of Division Woman and Baby.
Cora takes over the duties of Freek Hoebeek who started as program director in the bachelor’s program Care, Health and Society on January 1. This focus on education and training fits well with his role as education manager of the Division of Women and Baby and the Division of Children.
Cora is a medical biologist and has worked at the DDOD since 2003, where she first received her PhD and later served as a post-doc and principal investigator. The research within the DDOD focuses on the causes and consequences of impaired development early in life. For example, we conduct research on fetal growth retardation, (extreme) preterm birth, stress and perinatal brain damage. A major overarching goal of the DDOD is to develop new bench-to-bedside treatment options. A good example of this is the nose drop stem cell therapy for babies with perinatal brain damage, in collaboration with the Department of Neonatology.
Cora received a Vici grant from ZonMw in 2023 for her research on repairing brain damage in newborn babies.
“I look forward to continuing to shape and direct our valuable translational research together with the DDOD team, who put their heart and soul into this every day.”
