prof.dr. D.W. Donker MD (Dirk)

In March 2021, I was appointed on the chair of Cardiovascular and Respiratory Physiology (CRPH) at the faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Twente.

The chair is specifically intended to stimulate translational research and education. This, in order to allow patients and health care professionals to maximally benefit from the latest ingenious technologies integrated into modern clinical practice. In this sense, I consider my academic-clinical ambitions equally important as my dedication to professional education in technical medicine, biomedical technology and medicine.

I am indebted for the opportunity to combine my professorship with a position as a senior staff member and intensivist-cardiologist in the Intensive Care Centre at the University Medical Centre Utrecht.

The care for patients with acute and life-threatening disease remains complex and challenging. My experience from daily critical care underlines my enduring personal aspiration to advance technological innovation and improve clinical practice.

After attending medical school in Essen, Germany, I received my PhD thesis entitled ‘Cardiac mechanomyopathy - integrating the picture from cell to beating heart’ from Maastricht University in 2008. Meanwhile, I completed my medical specialization in Cardiology followed by Intensive Care training at the Maastricht University Medical Center. In 2013, I joined the staff of the Intensive Care Centre at the University Medical Centre Utrecht and in 2019, I expanded my academic-clinical experience in Cardiological Critical Care at the La Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris.

My clinical, educational and research interests center around complex cardiovascular and respiratory care. In recent years, I focused on cardiac and pulmonary extracorporeal life support to optimize its clinical use and expand practice-relevant mechanistic insights. My affinity with echocardiography and an inspiring collaboration on patient-specific computer simulation through the years has greatly enlarged my comprehensive physiological understanding and contributes importantly to my work as a physician.

I am actively involved in national and international scientific organizations in the field, collaborate with many dedicated clinicians, researchers and companies, authored many scientific publications and provided numerous presentations. All this, to foster professionals’ enthusiasm and strive to realize a continuing translation of technology, where it is most urgently needed: at the bedside of the individual patient.

Medicine & Life Sciences

# Cardiogenic Shock
# Computer Simulation
# Critical Illness
# Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation
# Heart Failure
# Heart-Assist Devices
# Hemodynamics
# Weaning

Faculty of Science and Technology (TNW), Cardiovascular and Respiratory Physiology (CRPH)

University Medical Center Utrecht
Intensivist-Cardiologist
Sonion BV
Contract research
HBOX Therapies
Research consultancy

On behalf of the Dutch ECLS Study group (2024). International Survey on Mechanical Ventilation During Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation. ASAIO Journal, 70(4), 300-304. https://doi.org/10.1097/MAT.0000000000002101

Ali, S., Meuwese, C. L., Moors, X. J. R. , Donker, D. W., van de Koolwijk, A. F., van de Poll, M. C. G., Gommers, D., & Dos Reis Miranda, D. (2024). Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation for refractory cardiac arrest: an overview of current practice and evidence. Netherlands heart journal, 32(4), 148-155. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12471-023-01853-5, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12471-023-01853-5

Kurusz, M. , & Donker, D. W. (2024). What’s new? Perfusion (United Kingdom), 39(1), 5-6. https://doi.org/10.1177/02676591231216786

Kruit, N., Burrell, A., Tian, D., Barrett, N., Bělohlávek, J., Bernard, S., Braude, D., Buscher, H., Chen, Y. S. , Donker, D. W., Finney, S., Forrest, P., Fowles, J., Hifumi, T., Hodgson, C., Hutin, A., Inoue, A., Jung, J.-S., Kruse, J. M., ... Dennis, M. (2024). Corrigendum to “Expert consensus on training and accreditation for extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation an international, multidisciplinary modified Delphi Study” [Resuscitation 192 (2023) 109989]. Resuscitation, 194, Article 110046. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation.2023.110046

Pladet, L. C. A., Luijken, K. , Donker, D. W., Cremer, O. L., & Meuwese, C. L. (2024). Neuropsychiatric sequelae following extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in the intensive care unit. Journal of critical care, 79, Article 154428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrc.2023.154428

Huang, F., Ammirati, E., Ponnaiah, M., Montero, S., Raimbault, V., Abrams, D., Lebreton, G., Pellegrino, V., Ihle, J., Bottiroli, M., Persichini, R., Barrionuevo-Sánchez, M. I., Ariza-Solé, A., Ng, P. Y., Sin, S. W. C., Ayer, R., Buscher, H., Belaid, S., Delmas, C., ... Grp, FULLMOON. S. (2023). Fulminant myocarditis proven by early biopsy and outcomes. European heart journal, 44(48), 5110-5124. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehad707, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehad813

Kruit, N., Burrell, A., Tian, D., Barrett, N., Bělohlávek, J., Bernard, S., Braude, D., Buscher, H., Chen, Y. S. , Donker, D. W., Finney, S., Forrest, P., Fowles, J. A., Hifumi, T., Hodgson, C., Hutin, A., Inoue, A., Jung, J. S., Kruse, J. M., ... Dennis, M. (2023). Expert consensus on training and accreditation for extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation an international, multidisciplinary modified Delphi Study. Resuscitation, 192, Article 109989. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation.2023.109989

Verkerk, K., Pladet, L. C. A., Meuwese, C. L. , Donker, D. W., Derde, L. P. G., & Cremer, O. L. (2023). Interrater agreement in classifying infections during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. International Journal of Artificial Organs, 46(10-11), 597-601. https://doi.org/10.1177/03913988231193448

Raasveld, S. J., Karami, M., Schenk, J., Dos Reis Miranda, D., Mandigers, L., Dauwe, D. F., De Troy, E., Pappalardo, F., Fominskiy, E., van den Bergh, W. M., Oude Lansink-Hartgring, A., van der Velde, F., Maas, J. J., van de Berg, P., de Haan, M. , Donker, D. W., Meuwese, C. L., Taccone, F. S., Peluso, L., ... Vlaar, A. P. J. (2023). Transfusion of red blood cells in venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: A multicenter retrospective observational cohort study. Transfusion, 63(10), 1809-1820. https://doi.org/10.1111/trf.17505

Van Haeren, M. M. T., Raasveld, S. J., Karami, M., Miranda, D. D. R., Mandigers, L., Dauwe, D. F., De Troy, E., Pappalardo, F., Fominskiy, E., Van Den Bergh, W. M., Oude Lansink-Hartgring, A., Van Der Velde, F., Maas, J. J., Van De Berg, P., De Haan, M. , Donker, D. W., Meuwese, C. L., Taccone, F. S., Peluso, L., ... Müller, M. C. A. (2023). Plasma Transfusion and Procoagulant Product Administration in Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: A Secondary Analysis of an International Observational Study on Current Practices. Critical Care Explorations, 5(8), Article e0949. https://doi.org/10.1097/CCE.0000000000000949

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