Dr. Maartje Dijkstra has defended her PhD successfully

After years of dedication as medical researcher at the Infectious Diseases Department of both the AMC and the GGD Amsterdam, on 10 December 2021, Dr. Maartje Dijkstra successfully defended her PhD titled “Early Diagnosis and Immediate Treatment of HIV Infection”.

Maartje Dijkstra did her PhD research as a member of the H-TEAM. Her PhD research focuses on early diagnosis and immediate treatment of HIV infections. Her conclusions show, among other things, that the earlier a treatment is started, the more successful it is. Therefore, she argues that individuals should be diagnosed in the first weeks after infection, rapidly confirmed, linkage to care needs on the day of diagnosis should be facilitated, and barriers to immediate cART initiation should be removed.

Maartje Dijkstra obtained her doctorate at the Faculty of Medicine under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Maria Prins (AMC-UvA) and Prof. Dr. Jan Prins (AMC-UvA). Her co-promoters were dr. G.J. de Bree (AMC-UvA) and prof. dr. M.F. Schim van de Loeff (AMC-UvA). The other members of the Doctorate Committee were prof. dr. M. van der Valk (AMC-UvA), prof. dr. A. Verbon (Utrecht University), prof. dr. F.G.J. Cobelens (AMC-UvA), prof. dr. J.B.F. de Wit (Utrecht University), prof. dr. G.J.P. van Griensven (University of California) and prof. dr. J. Ananworanich (AMC-UvA).