I was born in Bridgeport, CT, U.S.A in 1981 and have dual citizenship (U.S.A. and the Netherlands), as well as being a permanent resident to Australia.
I studied medicine at the Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands from 1999 - 2005 and achieved the degree of Master of Science (MSc) in 2005. Afterwards, I continued to work on a PhD thesis full time between 2005-2006 and returned to complete internships between 2006-2008, while continuing to complete my PhD thesis in my spare time. I achieved the degree of Medical Doctor (MD) in 2008, also at the Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
I started in the surgical residency training program from 2009 with the first 4 years of common trunk general surgery, including pediatric, lung, vascular, trauma, gastro-intestinal and surgical oncology at the Maasstad Ziekenhuis in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
During this period I also completed my PhD thesis and defense cum laude (with honors) in 2011.
The final 2 years were spent specializing in surgical oncology, including breast cancer, thyroid, melanoma and soft tissue sarcoma, at the Netherlands Cancer Institute - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (NKI-AVL) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (2013) and Erasmus Medical Center Cancer Institute (EMC), Rotterdam the Netherlands (2014). Thereafter, I have become a fully recognized surgeon, with the specialization of surgical oncology. Recently (2021), the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) has recognized my training to be comparable and have allowed me to start practicing in Australia and awarded me fellowship (FRACS) by January 2024.
I have extensive experience in cutaneous oncology as I have held the position of consultant surgical oncologist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (NKI-AVL) between 2015-2021.
Moreover, during this period I was the head of the NKI-AVL melanoma and skin cancer unit.
Besides this work, I have been heavily involved in a number of important organizations and committees, such as the the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). I have been on the Steering Committee of the Melanoma Group for this not-for-profit organization for a decade and been secretary (2015-2018) and chair (2018-2021). I have also served on guideline committees for American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), European Organization of Dermato Oncology (EADO) and European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).
I joined the University of Sydney (USYD), Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) and Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) in 2022, as a clinical academic.
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Since I was young I wanted to become a doctor to treat patients, but also to perform meaningful science to help improve future patient care.
Ever since I started my first medical research in 2005 I have been very much focused on melanoma and cutaneous oncology.
My Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis was entitled: "Sentinel Node Tumor Load Assessment in Melanoma: Dilemmas and Clinical Management" and I had the honor to be awarded this degree cum laude on the 19th of January 2011.
Areas of research include (amongst others): melanoma, sentinel node staging and management, adjuvant and neo-adjuvant systemic therapy (NAT), locoregional therapies, including intralesional therapies, such as for example with oncolytic virus therapy (T-VEC amongst them), but also merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) and other rare skin cancers.
I have had the honor to publish in a few very high impact journals, such as the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), Nature Medicine, the Lancet, Lancet Oncology and Cell. Currently I have over 250 peer reviewed papers published with an H index of 43.
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