Professor, University Medical Centre Groningen; Netherlands

B.L. van Leeuwen, MD, PhD is a professor in surgical oncology with the elderly patient as main interest. She was employed by the Dutch Cancer Foundation 2006-2008 as a clinical and research fellow in “cancer in the elderly”. As such she gained valuable working and research experience in Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden, Whiston Hospital in Liverpool and the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, USA. Her clinical work focuses on melanoma, sarcoma and peritoneal disease. She started work in the University Medical Center Groningen in September 2008 and was rewarded a tenure track fellowship by the University.

Since then she has been the primary investigator in several clinical studies. focusing on the elderly cancer patient. Related subjects include: value based healthcare, the decision making process, preoperative risk stratification, the surgery evoked inflammatory response and its detrimental effects, postoperative complications and telemonitoring. With her international consortium CHANGE, she contributes to knowledge necessary to change the healthcare system from disease centered to patient centered. In addition she is a member of the steering committee of the Arts in Health Netherlands alliance that presented a white paper on arts in health in 2024, with contributions of over 200 participants.

Collaborative partners include: LUMC, AMC, MUMC, Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen, Guildhall school of music and drama, ZIN, NFK, NFU, Menzis, Zilveren Kruis, Hanzehogeschool (University of applied sciences) Groningen.

She is the author of over 160 scientific papers and supervisor of many medical students and phd candidates.