What do you do at VU and how long do you work there?
I have been working at VU Amsterdam since 2004, in the Department of Health Sciences. I studied Biology in Leiden. I worked and lived abroad a lot both during my studies and after: Spain, Venezuela, Belgium, Cuba, China and England, where I did my PhD.
What I find most important is the feeling that I am making a difference through my work: contributing to improving people's health through applied research, for example. In teaching, I enjoy seeing that I can inspire our students to engage in infectious disease research or policy.
Nowadays, I also work at the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL). At the CTL, among other things, I work with the university's gems: our junior lecturers. I find it super inspiring to see how they develop and come up with beautiful teaching innovations. I also try to combine my work at Health Sciences and CTL in such a way that both places benefit from me working at both places.
What is the best thing about working at the Faculty of Science?
What I like most is that I have been given a lot of freedom to develop. That I can now also work at the CTL for a large part of my appointment and, among other things, further develop myself in the field of education.
What could be better at the faculty?
Our faculty is very large so it sometimes seems like there are too many different groups. I would like more to be done to connect the different departments.
What book, film or album (or anything else) do you think your colleagues should read, see or hear?
The last book I read was 'The Wind Knows My Name' by Isabel Allende. In this book, Isabel Allende interweaves the story of three refugee children. Like Isabel Allende, I myself am from Chile and my father was a (political) refugee. I think it is important, especially in this day and age, to know what it is like to have to flee, or migrate in general: having to leave everything behind and start all over again. I have another tip to illustrate this: Herinneringen aan Chili - Andere Tijden. A great documentary where my father also tells what it was like for him at that time to come to the Netherlands.
What did you do last weekend?
Last weekend, we had a festive family weekend: on Saturday, my niece gave her graduation party (she studied medicine) and we celebrated my littlest nephew's birthday with our family.
Who are you handing over the baton to?
I was nominated by Joris Koenen, we did the Educational Leadership Course together. And now I am handing over the baton to another ‘LOL’ fellow: Sandjai Bhulai.