Researcher and family physician Geert-Jan Geersing has been appointed professor of “Personalized cardiovascular care in primary care” at Utrecht University’s Faculty of Medicine, effective July 15, 2024. In his new role, he will focus on improving care for patients with cardiovascular disease in primary care through a personalized approach. “Keeping primary care sustainably accessible is the driving force behind my research.”
Geert-Jan Geersing is a “clinician scientist” with extensive clinical experience and knowledge of scientific research. Since 2007, he has been both a practicing family physician and part-time researcher at the Department of Family Medicine & Nursing Science at UMC Utrecht. Here he specialized in the development of prediction models and integrated chain care for cardiovascular disease in primary care. His research has led to important insights into diagnostics for pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis in general practice, and improving chronic care for elderly patients with atrial fibrillation in general practice.
“Findings from research conducted in the hospital are not applicable one-to-one in general practice,” explains Geert-Jan Geersing. “Because patients are the first to consult the general practitioner for many complaints, it is often a challenge for the general practitioner to make the correct diagnosis quickly. Underlying diseases are usually at an earlier stage where complaints are less obvious. Treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease is also different because it is performed in older, often frail patients. A striking example is the FRAIL-AF study. This study found that switching from traditional blood thinners to newer variants is not safe in frail elderly patients with atrial fibrillation. This unexpected finding, which was not found in previous research in younger patients treated in the hospital, underscores the need to conduct research in general practice as well.”
Optimization of care for patients with cardiovascular disease in primary care is therefore becoming increasingly important. Moreover, a personalized approach is a good way to keep care sustainable and future-proof. To tie in with this, Geert-Jan Geersing’s chair brings this innovative approach to general practice, aimed at improving the diagnosis and chronic treatment of cardiovascular diseases by general practitioners through data-driven care innovation projects in the region.
Geert-Jan Geersing foresees a growing need for personalized care. “In an aging society with an ever-increasing number of patients with multiple conditions simultaneously, it is crucial to adapt our approach to the unique needs of each patient,” he says. The professor aims to refine decision support to help family physicians improve care for patients with cardiovascular disease in primary care. Routine care data, prediction and intervention research play a key role here. “In this way, we can develop and personalize care models and also offer our most vulnerable patients with cardiovascular disease a higher quality of life.”
In his new role, the professor will conduct research and design interventions that are directly applicable in practice. He aims to create an ecosystem in which science and care flow seamlessly together, ensuring rapid and effective implementation of research results. To this end, he works closely with healthcare professionals at UMC Utrecht, as well as with national and international partners. His multi-professional approach includes collaboration with cardiologists, internists, methodologists, statisticians, ethicists, and other primary care providers such as district nurses and pharmacists. One example is the recently launched RAPHAEL project. In this EU-funded project, new care models are being developed and tested to improve care for patients with heart failure in the last phase of life.
Geert-Jan Geersing continues to work on long-term treatment strategies for vulnerable patients with cardiovascular disease in primary care. “I look forward to setting up multi-professional care innovation projects with patient participation,” he says. With his appointment, the professor takes an important step in the further development of personalized cardiovascular disease care in primary care, using his clinical knowledge and methodological and practical research skills to improve the health and well-being of patients. “Keeping primary care sustainably accessible is the driving force behind my research. I look forward to working on this within my chair together with hospital specialists and all primary care partners in our region.”
Geert-Jan Geersing studied Medicine in Groningen (registered as a physician in 2002). After several internships in the departments of emergency medicine, cardiology, internal medicine and pulmonary diseases, he decided to start vocational training as a general practitioner at the University Medical Center in Groningen. In 2007 he completed his general practitioner training and shortly thereafter started his doctoral research at the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care of the UMC Utrecht, on the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism in general practice. He received his doctorate in 2011 and has since worked part-time as a researcher at the Julius Center at UMC Utrecht in addition to his practice as a general practitioner, a combination he will continue within this chair.
