Professor Erik Hensen is professor in Neurotology and skull base pathology at the department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery. He is coordinator of the Skull Base Center Leiden and of the Expertcenters for Vestibular Schwannomas and NF2-assciated schwannomatosis. He is co-founder and secretary of the Dutch association for expertcenters in skull base pathologies (LOES). In addition, het is chair of the resident training programme for Otorhinolaryngology in the region (OOR) Leiden, The Netherlands, and board member of The Dutch Otorhinolaryngology Society (NVKNO).

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Professor Erik Hensen is professor in Neurotology and skull base pathology at the department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery. He is coordinator of the Skull Base Center Leiden and of the Expertcenters for Vestibular Schwannomas and NF2-assciated schwannomatosis. He is co-founder and secretary of the Dutch association for expertcenters in skull base pathologies (LOES).

In addition, het is chair of the resident training programme for Otorhinolaryngology in the region (OOR) Leiden, The Netherlands, and board member of The Dutch Otorhinolaryngology Society (NVKNO).

Neurotology and Skull Base Pathology

The chair ‘Neurotology and Skull Base Pathology’ focusses on lateral skull base pathology, including cerebellopontine angle tumors, NF2-related schwannomatosis an paragangliomas. It also comprises other lateral skull base pathologies such as giant cholesteatomas, cerebrospinal fluid leaks and includes ear implantology.

Most skull base pathologies are relatively rare, but have the potential to severely impact on hearing, balance, and various cranial nerve functions. The management of these disorders is complex and requires dedicated, multidisciplinary care.

Academic career

From 2001, prof. Hensen has been involved in paraganglioma research. In 2012, he succesfully defened his thesis entitled ‘Head and neck paragangliomas. Genetics, heredity and clinical characteristics’. Afterwards he continued in this field as principal investigator, and broadened the scope of his research to in include other topics in neurotology (e.g. cochlear implantation and pediatric sensorineural hearing loss).

From 2017, he is a principal investigator of the Leiden Skull Base Center research group and has supervised several successful PhD projects in neurotology. Current research projects focus on cerebellopontine angle tumors, NF2-type schwannomatosis, paragangliomas, and rare lateral skull base pathologies. Overarching research themes are value-based and data-driven care, outcome prediction and applied machine learning and artificial intelligence.

The research is closely linked to the clinical care pathways of the Skull Base Center Leiden, and is quintessentially multidisciplinary in nature.