Presently, I am Senior lecturer at the Department of Communication Science.
I’m also Chair of the admissions board: our team decides upon the admission of students to the Master’s and Research Master’s programme in Communication Science.
I am the previous managing director of the Graduate School of Communication.
Together with prof.dr. Peter Neijens and later prof.dr. Edith Smit, we set up the school and formulated the Master’s and Research master’s programmes in Communication Science.
I am also the previous managing director of ASCoR, the Amsterdam School of Communication Research.
Together with prof. dr. Jan van Cuilenburg, prof. dr. Peter Neijens, and prof.dr. Claes de Vreese, we organized the research, funding, and PhD programme.
Studied Social Psychology at the University of Amsterdam and the University of Exeter (UK), graduated cum laude.
I obtained my Ph.D. in Social Psychology at the Free University Amsterdam in 1998.
My research broadly focuses on medical & healthcare marketing.
Society’s view on medical marketing tends to be rather negative. Reminiscing the Lady with the Lamp in the dark cold night, the very idea of marketing healthcare & medicine often seems unethical or even ‘perverted’. This is often paired with concerns over the effects, such as overconsumption, the erosion of trust in medicine, negative body image, and inequities, among others.
My research questions these assumptions and puts them to empirical test.
I often supervise research theses in advertising effects, be they online behavioral advertising, native advertising, or AI-created advertisements, among others.
Bachelor's programme: Semester 1 & Semester 2: Bachelor’s Graduation Project
Master's programme: Thesis Preparation Group
Master's programme: Semester 1 & Semester 2: Master’s theses in persuasive communication