Marieke Wermer is professor of Neurology with emphasis on neurovascular diseases in the Leiden University Medical Center. Personal research awards and grants 2011 VENI grant NWO/ZonMw 2011 Dekker Grant Netherlands Heart Foundation Junior Staff member 2014 Fellowship Netherlands Brain Foundation 2016 Dekker grant Netherlands Heart Foundation Clinical Established investigator 2017 Marie Parijs science award LUMC 2017 VIDI grant NWO/ZonMW

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Neurovascular diseases

The chair neurovascular diseases is embedded in the translational research line on stroke pathophysiology. 

Overall aim: To investigate disease mechanisms underlying stroke with translational multidisciplinary research methods because this is the ultimate way to open new avenues for personalised stroke prevention and innovative stroke treatment. 
The research line focuses on two topics: 

1. Migraine-spreading depolarisation(SD)-stroke relationship. Aim: to understand why migraineurs are at increased risk of stroke. This understanding will increase insight in general stroke pathophysiology and will open avenues for new treatments. The group of prof. Wermer showed that SDs, the mechanism behind migraine aura, enhance secondary ischemia in rats after stroke and that SD-inhibition can prevent this damage. Currently the group is investigating SD-inhibition in stroke patients. Furthermore, with the VIDI grant, this research line will further expand towards other female specific risk factors for stroke such as coagulation and reproductive disorders and their interaction with migraine.

2. Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). Aim: to understand why intracerebral hemorrhage develops in CAA and to identify MRI and biomarkers. The presymptomatic phase of CAA in the heredity form (“Katwijkse ziekte”) will be studied. With the Clinical Established Investigator grant triggers for amyloid related hemorrhage will be unraveled to prevent these hemorrhages and develop new therapies

Academic career

Marieke Wermer studied Pharmacy (master 1998) and Medicine (MD 2000) at the University of Utrecht. In 1997 she performed experimental research for 10 months on neurodegenerative diseases in the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, in Boston. In 2000 she started her residency in Neurology which she combined with a master in clinical epidemiology (NIHES Erasmus University Rotterdam, MSc 2004) and a PhD on intracranial aneurysms (Utrecht University, supervisor prof.dr. G.J.E. Rinkel). She defended her PhD thesis  “Long-term follow-up and screening for new aneurysms after subarachnoid haemorrhage” in September 2006. In January 2009 she started as vascular neurologist in the Leiden University Medical Center. In 2017 she spend 6 months as visiting scientist in the cerebral amyloid angiopathy research group of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, in Boston Currently she combines her work as vasculair neurologist with scientific research and eduction of medical students. On February 1st 2018 she was appointed as full professor of Neurology (date of inaugural speech planned on June 14th 2019)

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