prof.dr.ir. G.J.M. Tuijthof (Gabriëlle)

Independent living and mobility is becoming a key condition for quality of life and social participation. Even though the musculoskeletal system is capable of fascinating complex actions, analogous to other systems it can break down due to dysfunction, wear or trauma. In my academic career, I have contributed by focusing on minimally invasive diagnosis and intervention and strived for the design of medical devices that form a ‘perfect’ synergy with the capabilities of the clinician. My approach has been ‘clinically driven’ and combining of (experimental) research, conceptual design and management of multidisciplinary teams. This has resulted in various awarded grants VENI, TTW OTP, ASPASIA, RAAK, IMDI and TKI LSH, over 85 peer reviewed applications, several patents, and contributions to various start-ups.  I find it very important that fruitful ideas in the end can actually be used by the clinicians to diagnose of treat patients in their best effort. This means that apart from prototyping and testing, attention needs to be paid to the business case and Medical Device regulation. In my role of chair of Biomedical Device Design & Production, I aim to further develop my approach towards personalized & circular device design, shortening the development and validation phases and facilitating production of complex devices. 

The sharing of my knowledge I value highly, which is expressed in my active involvement in education of engineering and design courses and supervision of students. Also, I contributed to the development of various bachelor and master programmes at Delft University of Technology, Zuyd University of Applied Science and Maastricht University.

Organisations

• Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET), Biomedical Device Design and Production Technology (BDDP)