UT alumni Roel Verhoeven and Richte Schuurmann, both graduates of the Technical Medicine programme, still feel connected to UT in general and the TechMed Centre in particular. They frequently return to their alma mater for research and education purposes and the medical technical facilities.
Can you tell us more about your cooperation with UT?
Schuurmann (pictured left): ‘When it comes to research, I cooperate with various groups including the Multi-Modality Medical Imaging (M3I) chair and the Magnetic Detection and Imaging group. Our projects always have a clinical question and sometimes require technical support from the TechMed Centre. If we want to use artificial intelligence (AI) in stenting, for example, then we cooperate with UT to develop a tool that can be used to virtually place a stent prior to the operation.’
Verhoeven: ‘Multiple roles require my involvement with TechMed Centre. As president of the Dutch association for technical physicians, I enjoy brainstorming with the people at the TechMed Centre and the educational programme, to correlate the professional field with education. We also welcome students to our Department of Pulmonary Diseases at Radboudumc, to show them what Technical Physicians do in practice. I am also involved in the endoscopic and surgical skills courses of the Technical Medicine Master’s programme, in order to boost education with expertise from the field.’
In what way do you use the facilities of the TechMed Centre?
Verhoeven: ‘Together with colleagues at Radboudumc, we are working on the nationwide introduction of the navigation bronchoscopy procedure we developed. Training can be offered in the hybrid OR here, in a simulation environment with peers from all over the Netherlands. But soon a delegation from our pulmonary diseases department will for example also return to the TechMed Centre, for a refresher course on ultrasound technology.’
Schuurmann: ‘Together with a group of vascular surgeons and intervention radiologists, we recently took a trip to the hybrid operating room to attend a simulation operation. It is amazing that a fully-equipped OR is available. We have one in Groningen as well, of course, but the one at UT is readily accessible and we can perform many different tests all on the same day.’
Verhoeven: ‘Yes, that is an advantage, the layer of researchers and scientists around a centre like that. Having everything in one place provides fertile ground for innovation.’
Continue reading the entire interview in the TechMed Magazine 2024.
