Mart A.F.J. van de Laar

Mart van de Laar finished het MD at the University of Amsterdam. After a full training in internal medicine he was trained in Rheumatology. He completed his PhD at the university of Amsterdam where he was a consultant in Rheumatology at both Amsterdam University hospitals.

After accepting his present position as consultant in Enschede, the Netherlands he was appointed as professor of rheumatology in 2004 at the University of Twente. He is chairing the training program for rheumatologist in his teaching hospital. From 2005-2009 he was Dean of the Medical School Twente. Mart van de Laar, is the chairman of the “consilium Rheumatologicum Neerlandicum and het is the vice-chairman of the “Medisch Specialisten Registratie Commissie” of the Netherlands. http://www.utwente.nl/gw/pcgr/mw/laar/index.html

His research activities focus on the patient reported outcome measures especially in rheumatology. Taking the patient seriously is most important in chronic conditions, therefore improving questionnaires and especially designing computer adaptive tests using item banking and Item response theory is the specialty of his research group. In his department 5 senior research and 14 junior researchers are constantly working on improving the understanding patients suffering from rheumatic diseases as well as clinical aspects of rheumatic diseases. http://www.utwente.nl/gw/pcgr/actueel/Reumagroep

With Prof. dr. Piet van Riel, University Medical Centre Radboud he is chairing the DREAM consortium. Thirteen departments for rheumatology in the East of the Netherlands collaborate to improve the care for their patients and use the prospective data for their clinical as well as applied research activities http://www.dreamregistry.nl