Prof. Diane van der Woude is a professor of rheumatology, specializing in the mechanisms underlying rheumatic autoimmune diseases. She works as a rheumatologist at Leiden University Medical Center, combining her scientific research with patient care. She is responsible for the care of patients with rare autoimmune diseases such as vasculitis. In addition, she coordinates the care of clinically admitted rheumatism patients in the hospital. Previously, she was head of the rheumatology outpatient clinic, one of the largest outpatient clinics at the LUMC, and responsible for quality management within her department. Van der Woude has received several prestigious research grants, including a Veni and Vidi grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

More information about Diane van der Woude

Prof. Diane van der Woude is a professor of rheumatology, specializing in the mechanisms underlying rheumatic autoimmune diseases. She works as a rheumatologist at Leiden University Medical Center, combining her scientific research with patient care. She is responsible for the care of patients with rare autoimmune diseases such as vasculitis. In addition, she coordinates the care of clinically admitted rheumatism patients in the hospital. Previously, she was head of the rheumatology outpatient clinic, one of the largest outpatient clinics at the LUMC, and responsible for quality management within her department.

Van der Woude has received several prestigious research grants, including a Veni and Vidi grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

Chair

Van der Woude wants to help patients by gaining a better understanding of the cause of their disease. She does this in her research by looking at the immune system. She focuses primarily on risk factors and autoantibodies. Autoantibodies are important markers (biomarkers) of autoimmune diseases. “By investigating how these autoantibodies develop and what their properties are, we have already learned a lot about rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the most common rheumatic autoimmune disease.”

Academic carreer

Diane van der Woude studied medicine at Heidelberg University in Germany, graduating summa cum laude in 2004. She then trained as an internist and rheumatologist at the LUMC, combining this with doctoral research. In 2012, she obtained her PhD cum laude with her thesis entitled ‘Anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) in rheumatoid arthritis – linking genetic predisposition to clinical outcome’. Two years later, she completed her specialization as a rheumatologist.

Van der Woude has received several prestigious research grants, including a Veni and Vidi grant from the NWO. She is actively involved in international research consortia and supervises PhD students and medical students. She is also editor-in-chief of the Dutch Journal of Rheumatology and rheumatology editor of the Dutch Journal of Medicine.

Her inaugural lecture will take place in the fall of 2026.