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Uyên Châu Nguyên wins UM Dissertation Prize 2025

Uyên Châu Nguyên wins UM Dissertation Prize 2025

29 January 2026

During the Dies Natalis of Maastricht University, Uyên Châu Nguyên received the UM Dissertation Prize 2025.

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Global research network launched to study menopause and heart health

Global research network launched to study menopause and heart health

20 January 2026

Ten international health research funders, including the Dutch Heart Foundation, are investing $10 million in a new global research network to improve early prevention of cardiovascular disease in women. The initiative focuses on understanding how menopause affects heart health and how early intervention can reduce risk.

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Carim Maastricht
Carim Maastricht

Vanessa van Empel

Associate professor

Dr Vanessa van Empel studied Medicine at the University of Maastricht. During her studies, she started her PhD on the topic heart failure. She obtained her PhD from the University of Utrecht in 2007. Subsequently she started her training as a cardiologist at the Maastricht University Medical Centre. After finishing her cardiology training in 2011, Vanessa was rewarded the ICIN fellowship, which enabled her to do a post-doctoral fellowship at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, where she gained more expertise in the field of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). She now is a staff member at the Maastricht UMC+ with an expertise in heart failure, and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction specifically.

Her clinical work and research has been dedicated to HFpEF. She initiated the HFpEF clinic in Maastricht, which started in 2015, and is responsible for the Maastricht HFpEF cohort. She obtained a grant 'Vrouwelijk Hartfalen' from the Health Foundation Limburg together with Prof. Blanche Schroen, is co-PI on the CVON project Early detection of HFpEF and is project leader of the CVON SHE-PREDICT-HF, which studies sex differences in HFpEF. These projects allow her to continue her research on HFpEF with special focus on cardiovascular imaging, biomarkers and microvascular dysfunction.

Vanessa-van-empel

Department of Cardiology
P. Debeyelaan 25, 6229 HX Maastricht 
PO Box 5800, 6202 AZ Maastricht
Room number: Maastricht UMC+ level 3
T: +31(0)43 387 70 95

  • 2026
    • Mourmans, S. G. J., Achten, A., Weerts, J., Scheepers, M., Barandiarán Aizpurua, A., Henkens, M., Uszko-Lencer, N., Brunner-La Rocca, H.-P., Knackstedt, C., & van Empel, V. P. M. (2026). The diagnostic yield of an elaborate workup for comorbidities in a real-life heart failure with preserved ejection fraction outpatient population. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 33(2), 276-285. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurjpc/zwaf429
  • 2025
    • Weerts, J., Aizpurua, A. B., Patel, R. B., van de Bovenkamp, A. A., Amin, H., Sanders-van Wijk, S., Mourmans, S. G. J., Achten, A., Handoko, M. L., Bayes-Genis, A., Brunner-La Rocca, H.-P., Shah, S. J., Knackstedt, C., & van Empel, V. P. M. (2025). A simplified approach for diagnosing heart failure with preserved ejection fraction by assessing the left atrium and natriuretic peptides. European journal of heart failure, 27(12), 2897-2902. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejhf.3651
    • Li, X., Achten, A., Nassiri, S., Mourmans, S., van de Bovenkamp, A. A., Knackstedt, C., Handoko, M. L., Weerts, J., & van Empel, V. (2025). Sex-specific performance of clinical diagnostic algorithms for HFpEF across two independent cohorts. Netherlands Heart Journal, 33(12), 412-420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12471-025-02000-y
    • Achten, A., Peeters, L., Verkoulen, G., Weerts, J., Knackstedt, C., Boerma, E.-J., van Empel, V., & Wijk, S. S. (2025). Time to screen: rationale and roadmap for HFpEF screening in individuals with obesity. Heart Failure Reviews, 30(6), 1207-1213. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10741-025-10540-z
    • Stroeks, S. L. V. M., Merlo, M., Mora-Ayestaran, N., Jason, M., Tayal, U., Wang, P., Cannatà, A., Sikking, M. A., Dal Ferro, M., Peiro, B., Willemars, M., Hellebrekers, D. M. E. I., van Leeuwen, R. E. W., Setti, M., Gonzalez-Lopez, E., Krapels, I. P. C., Pio Loco Detto Gava, C., van den Wijngaard, A., Henkens, M. T. H. M., ... Verdonschot, J. A. J. (2025). Sex Differences in Prognosis of Patients With Genetic Dilated Cardiomyopathy. Circulation-Heart Failure, 18(11), e012592. Article 012592. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.124.012592
    • Chua, A. P. A., Weerts, J., Achten, A., Nabeta, T., Sarrazyn, C., Lopez-Santi, P., Mourmans, S. G. J., Su, J. L., Bax, J. J., Knackstedt, C., van Empel, V. P. M., & Ajmone-Marsan, N. (2025). Left Atrial Strain Index in Patients with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction. Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, 38(11), 1099-1101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.echo.2025.07.008
    • Adamo, M., Pagnesi, M., Chioncel, O., Bayes-Genis, A., Abdelhamid, M., Antohi, E.-L., Bucciarelli-Ducci, C., Chieffo, A., Cosyns, B., Gilard, M., Grapsa, J., Gonzalez, A., Gustafsson, F., Iung, B., Joner, M., Karam, N., Lund, L. H., Maisano, F., Moura, B., ... Metra, M. (2025). Management of aortic stenosis and chronic heart failure: A clinical consensus statement of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) and the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI) of the ESC. European journal of heart failure, 27(11), 2623-2633. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejhf.70023
    • Gawalko, M., Habibi, Z., Verhaert, D. V. M., Engels, M., Weerts, J., Adriaans, B., Chaldoupi, S.-M., ter Bekke, R. M. A., Den Uijl, D. W., Luermans, J. G. L. M., Van Empel, V. P. M., Schotten, U., Vernooy, K., & Linz, D. (2025). Discordance between left atrial pressure and risk scores in assessment of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction in patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing catheter ablation. EP Europace, 27(10), Article euaf245. https://doi.org/10.1093/europace/euaf245
    • Sikking, M., Wiethoff, I., Henkens, M., Evers, S., Stroeks, S., Venner, M., Weerts, J., Brunner-la Rocca, H.-P., Knackstedt, C., van Empel, V., Michels, M., Heymans, S., Hiligsmann, M., & Verdonschot, J. (2025). High societal costs and reduced health-related quality of life in inflammatory and systemic immune disease-associated dilated cardiomyopathies. Quality of Life Research, 34(10), 2901-2910. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-025-04027-5
    • D'Italia, G., Coenen, D. M., Lemmens, T. P., Brandts, L., Wielders, S. J. H., Nagy, M., Mourmans, S. G. J., Achten, A., Al-Abadi, A., Weerts, J., Aizpurua, A. B., van Empel, V., Schroen, B., & Cosemans, J. M. E. M. (2025). Immuno-haemostatic dysregulation in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Esc heart failure, 12(5), 3444-3460. https://doi.org/10.1002/ehf2.15361
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