Assistant Professor - medical
Strategic program(s):
Biography
Mienke Rijsdijk serves as an anesthesiologist-pain specialist and heads the Pain Clinic at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands. She integrates her clinical practice with translational and interdisciplinary research focused on various aspects of pain. Currently, her research explores sensory alterations and immunological changes associated with the chronification of pain within a psychosocial context across different patient cohorts. Employing advanced diagnostics, her team evaluates biological aspects such as neuroinflammation by assessing inflammatory markers and sensory profiles. Acknowledging the significance of psychological factors in patients' social contexts, they strive to identify novel clinical phenotypes within chronic pain populations. Subsequently, their objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of existing pain treatments within these specific chronic pain subgroups. Collaborating closely with Niels Eijkelkamp's group, their clinical pain center fosters a multidisciplinary approach. In 2020, they expanded their research team to include professionals from diverse fields, including psychology, behavioral science, neuroscience, engineering, and linguistics, spanning across the University of Utrecht, Wageningen University, and TU Eindhoven.
Research aim
Our group aims to integrate fundamental research and clinical pain studies with a focus on neuroinflammation to design strategies preventing and reversing the transition from acute to chronic pain in patients.Research aim
Our research groups integrate fundamental research and clinical pain studies to understand the neurobiology of chronic pain. We focus on the interactions between the immune system and the nervous system to defeat chronic pain.