Combination
When Marie-Christine started her Bachelor's degree in Psychology, she knew right away that she wanted to do neuropsychology. She resolved her initial doubt about whether she would focus more on clinical practice or research by taking a clinical minor in combination with the Honours Programme, where she mainly took research subjects. She actually continued this combination after her bachelor by choosing the research master's in Cognitive Neuropsychology with clinical track.
"I would like to go in the clinical direction and then eventually work as a neuropsychologist, where I can apply insights from scientific research in daily practice and vice versa," Marie-Christine indicates. By choosing the clinical neuropsychology minor and doing a clinical internship in the research master's programme, she also immediately meets the application requirements of the GZ programme. In short, perfect if you can't choose between healthcare and research.
Asked what she likes most about her studies, Marie-Christine replies: "We already know a lot about our brains and we learn more every day, but there is also so much to discover. That you can see how behaviour and brain areas work together based on external features, that is so special." Subjects with a clinical focus, but where aetiology and biological basis are also central, are her preference in this regard. What particularly appeals to her in the course is not only to look at hardcore cognitive abilities, but also to fit them into the overall picture.
Making choices
Marie-Christine is doing her clinical internship at Erasmus MC in the Department of Neurology, subdepartment of Neuropsychology. After that, she would prefer to work in clinical practice, combined with doing scientific research. This combination, which runs like a thread through her studies, is something she would prefer to stick with afterwards. "I don't really want to make a choice," she says. "I would love to use research to contribute to science and, for example, to develop tests and materials, but ideally I would also like to translate that into clinical practice to help people directly."
