Maaike ten Hoor

Maaike ten Hoor is pursuing the MD/PhD track, which means that she is expanding the final part of her regular three-year Master’s degree programme, i.e. the clerkships (two years), and combining them with her PhD project (two extra years). She has also taken the Honours Programme for both her Bachelor's and Master’s degree programmes. Besides her studies, Maaike has been an elite rower for many years. Since 2014, she has held NOC*NSF (Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation) status as an international rower, is a ski instructor, and, as a member of the Topsport Noord Dreamteam, gives lectures to companies and schools on the importance of elite sport. This naturally all aligns perfectly with her medical studies; as she wrote in her motivation letter, sport is not only important for physical health but also plays a crucial role in preventing mental and all sorts of physical issues.

In her research, Maaike is studying the existing practice of treating thyroid cancer. In her pitch, she explained that the current treatment does have a high recovery rate (95%), but that the quality of life after treatment is often poor. This poses the questions of whether there may be such a thing as over-treatment and whether high-risk patients who would require intensive treatment could be identified in advance, while for other groups, milder treatment may be sufficient and accordingly improve their quality of life afterwards. This is certainly an important issue, in which Maaike would like to prioritize the interests of (often female) patients by informing them as well as possible.

Informing patients and engaging in outreach in general is something that suits Maaike very well, as she is passionate about journalism. For instance, she made a short documentary on the experiences of students during their clerkships. This documentary is now used in teaching to introduce the clerkships. Maaike certainly strives to develop broadly, as, besides her busy medical studies (MD/PhD track), she has also obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Law in three domains (fiscal, notarial, and IT law, with cum laude distinction for her first year), a Bachelor’s degree in the Philosophy of Life Sciences (with summa cum laude distinction for her first year), a Bachelor’s degree in European Languages and Cultures (with cum laude distinction for her first year), and a Master’s degree in Philosophy, Science and Humanities. She will also soon complete the Pre-Master’s degree programme in Business Administration and Health.

Maaike has combined multiple disciplines and activities and, in doing so, has taken every opportunity presented to her. She also still has a lot of plans for the near future, as she wrote in her motivation letter. In short, Maaike knows what she wants, takes on a lot, and does so in an excellent manner.