Geert Jan Biessels

My area of expertise is vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) and small vessel disease (SVD), with a particular focus on MRI markers to improve diagnosis and prognostication and support personalized treatment.

Using the unique properties of high field 7T-MRI we have been able – for the first time -to detect cerebral microinfarcts in vivo. We have translated the technique to more widely available 3T-MRI, and published standards on microinfarct detection in the Lancet Neurology. Currently we explore small vessel disease at the level of the small vessels themselves using novel measures of small vessel structure and function at 7T MRI and study the cognitive impact of vascular lesions through multicenter lesion symptom mapping studies (META VCI MAP consortium; https://metavcimap.org/ ) and through white matter network studies with diffusion MRI.

I am actively involved in several national and international VCI and SVD research networks, including STRIVE and HARNESS. I lead...