From 1 October 2022, Mirjam Sombroek-van Doorm (1968) is Professor of Law and Health at the Institute of Private Law. The broad remit law and health reflects the ambition to strengthen the collaboration between Leiden Law School and the Faculty of Medicine/LUMC, and other faculties. Progress with this collaboration can be advanced in part due to her successful grant applications in the area of law and health. She will also hold the position of Vice-Dean for Internationalisation at Leiden Law School where she is also a member of the Faculty Board. In addition to these positions, she is a judge at the Regional Disciplinary Court for Healthcare in Amsterdam.

More information about Mirjam Sombroek-van Doorm

CV

Mirjam Sombroek-van Doorm teaches, among other things, in the master's programme Rechtsgeleerdheid (Law) at Leiden Law School and in the master's programme at the École de droit de la Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. She supervises theses in the field of health law and child law, teaches on post-graduate courses in these disciplines, supervises PhD candidates, and participates on PhD Committees. 

She is a member of the author’s team for the publication Tekst & Commentaar Gezondheidsrecht (Text and Commentary Health Law). On two occasions, she has been invited as an expert to join a standing committee of the Health Council of the Netherlands. Among other things, she is currently working on a preliminary report for the Netherlands Association for Health Law.

Mirjam Sombroek-Van Doorm studied French at Sorbonne University in Paris (1987). Subsequently, she studied law and French language and literature at Leiden University, graduating in 1993 (law) and 1996 (French language and literature).

In 2019, she was awarded a PhD on the subject: 'Medical confidentiality and the duty of care of the doctor in the legal relationship between doctor, child and parents'. In 2020, she was appointed as Associate Professor in Health Law (0.2 FTE).

Mirjam Sombroek has a special interest in combining her administrative/organisational work for Leiden Law School and Leiden University with her academic work as a lecturer and researcher.  She has always had a special interest in training PhD students and in establishing international collaborations for the Faculty. Recently, she has been particularly active in setting up collaborations between health law and child law within the Faculty, collaboration with international partners, and academic collaboration between Leiden Law School and Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC). In 2022, this latter collaboration resulted in a successful application under the National Science Agenda (NWA).

Education

• PhD: 'Medical confidentiality in cases of child abuse: The duty of care of the doctor in the legal relationship between doctor, child and parents'.
• Law, Leiden University
• French language and literature, Paris III and Leiden University

Principal positions

• Professor of Law and Health at the Institute of Private Law (2022-present)
• Vice-Dean for Internationalisation (2022-present)
• Director of Leiden Law School and appointed to the Faculty Board (2020-2023)
• Associate Professor in Health Law (2020-2022)
• Director of Legal Postgraduate Training (JPAO), Office for International Education, Marketing & Communication, and Faculty Office of Leiden Law School (2019) 
• Director of the E.M. Meijers Institute, research institute and Graduate School (2016-2019)
• Deputy Director of the E.M. Meijers Institute, research institute and Graduate School (1999-2015)
• Head of the Office for International Education (1994-1998)

Other positions

• Co-author of Bijzondere Overeenkomsten in Studiereeks Burgerlijk Recht (SBR) (section on Special Agreements in Study Series on Dutch Civil Law) (from 2023)
• Lecturer at École de droit de la Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (2022-present)
• Consulted as an expert to provide urgent advice to the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) on the vaccination of healthy children aged younger than 12 years, and which vaccine to use (December 2021)
• Consulted as an expert to provide urgent advice to the VWS on the vaccination of healthy children aged 12 years and above, and which vaccine to use (June 2021)
• Judge at the Regional Disciplinary Court for Healthcare in Amsterdam (2017-present)
• Author Text & Comments Health Law (since 2020)
• Assistant Professor at the Department of Child Law (2018-2020)
• Member of the monitoring committee for the evaluation of the Domestic Violence and Child Abuse (Obligatory Reporting Code) Act and the Young People at Risk Reference Index Act (2019)
• Academic Coordinator Pre-PhD programme (2018-2019)
• Chairman of the Foundation KinderrechtenNU (2015-2016)
• Member of Leiden Interdisciplinary Network Child abuse & neglect (LINC) (2012-present)
• Secretary of the Board of Research of Leiden Law School (2000-2019)
• Secretary of the Committee on Legal Postgraduate Education, Leiden  University(2008)
• Secretary of the Advisory Committee for reorganisation of Leiden Law School, Leiden University (2002)

Successful grant applications 2021-2022

• NWA call CURE4LIFE. Development and societal impact of stem cell-based genetic medicines (PhD position)
• NWA-small project Regenerative Medicine in context: let’s start preparing society for the impact. Informed consent and ownership with respect to (the use of) body material in regenerative medicine (0,8 fte postdoc 2 years).
• ZonMw. Clinical DECIsion support system voor het carDiovasculaire risico managEment in de eerstelijnsgezondheidszorg: een Verantwoordelijk- en Aansprakelijkheidsperspectief (DECIDE-VerA)
• Stimuleringsgelden (3x o,5 fte universitair docenten 2023-2026):
  - Regeneratieve geneeskunde
  - Population Health
  - Geneesmiddelenontdekking en -ontwikkeling
• ZonMw. Evaluatie Wet medisch-wetenschappelijk onderzoek met mensen (WMO)
• Nu Niet Zwanger programme

Teaching and lectures

• 2022 Health Law at the École de droit de la Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in the master's programme ‘Droit Européen et international des activités économiques’.
• 2022 Webinar Sterk Huis: Over toestemming & kinderrechten
• 2022 Presentation for professionals 'Nu Niet Zwanger': NNZ: Juridische puntjes op de 'i'
• 2022  Teaching in premaster Pedagogische Wetenschappen, Leiden University: Lecture beroepsethiek (professional ethics)
• 2022 JPAO course Centre for Professional Learning Geweld in afhankelijkheidsrelaties
• 2022 Webinar Sterk Huis: Toestemmingsbeginsel & IVRK vanuit juridisch perspectief
• 2021 JPAO Lecture (in Dutch) on current developments in health law 
• 2020 Lecture (in Dutch) for National Expertise Centre on Child Abuse (LECK): Medical confidentiality and child abuse: New legal grounds for exchanging information 
• 2019 Lecture (in Dutch) for 5th annual conference on health law: The duty of care of medical practitioners
• 2019 Lecture (in Dutch) for confidential doctors and GPs: Medical confidentiality and child abuse: From conflict of duties towards duty of care 
• 2019 Lecture (in Dutch): A Children's rights perspective on mandatory mental health education in schools within the framework of the Gender, Inclusivity and Protecting the 21st Century Family Conference in London
• 2019 Privatissimum: Kind in het gezondheidsrecht (The child in health law) (master's course Child Law)
• 2019 Lecture (in Dutch) Child abuse: From conflict of duties towards duty of care
• 2018 Privatissimum: Kind in het gezondheidsrecht (The child in health law) (master's course Child Law)
• 2018 Practicum Jeugdrecht, Internationale Kinderontvoering (international child abduction) (master's course Child Law)
• 2017 Juridische aspecten van kindermishandeling (Legal aspects of child abuse) (Minor)
• 2016 Lecture (in Dutch) at 3rd national conference on domestic violence: Domestic violence and child abuse: Helping, reporting and helping to report 
• 2015 Lecture (in Dutch): Medical confidentiality and child abuse: recent developments in disciplinary proceedings
• 2014 Presentation (in French) Paris II: Medical Confidentiality in cases of child abuse
• 2012 Lecture (in Dutch) Academisch Genootschap Friesland: Medical confidentiality and child abuse 
• 2012 Lecture (in Dutch) Leiden Interdisicplinary Network Child abuse & neglect (LINC): The duty of care and the duty of confidentiality of the doctor in cases of child abuse
• 2010 Postgraduate course on medial confidentiality in cases of child abuse
• 2010 Lecturer on master's course on health law
• 2009 Boerhaave course (taught in Dutch): The KNMG reporting code one year on - what's possible, what's permitted and what's obligatory (or not); the legal specifics

Recent publications

• Sombroek-van Doorm, M.P. (2023), Palliative Care at the end of life: who should decide?’’ (chapter) in Children's Rights in Biomedicine: Protection from Scientific Risk and Uncertainty in Pursuit of the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (chapter in book: accepted for publication in 2023)
• Sombroek-van Doorm, M.P. & Liefaard, T. (2023), preliminary advice for the Dutch Association for Health Law within the theme ‘Youth, care and law’ entitled Het recht op gezondheid vanuit internationaal kinderrechtelijk perspectief (The right to health from the perspective of international child law’ (publication April 2023.)
• Sombroek-van Doorm, M.P. & Stolker, C.J.J.M. (2022), Promoveren in de rechtswetenschap: de promovendus, de begeleider en het proefschrift (A PhD in Law: The candidate, the supervisor and the dissertation) (Ars Aequi (end 2022).
• Schleiffert, H., Steegers, E.A.P., Van der Velpen, P., Sombroek-van Doorm, M.P. & Rijlaarsdam, C.W. (2022), Naar meer regie over de eigen kinderwens. Stel kinderwens centraal en kies voor een domein overstijgende aanpak, Whitepaper Erasmus MC en het programma Nu Niet Zwanger (Towards more control over one’s own desire to have children. Put the child’s desire first and adopt a cross-domain approach).
• Hendriks, A.C., Sombroek-van Doorm, M.P. & De Vries, M.C. (2022), Geen verplichte anticonceptie meer aan personen met een ernstige psychische aandoening? (No more compulsory contraception for persons with severe mental illness?), NJB 2022/2176: 2510-2511.
• Satink, J., Schuijt, P. & Sombroek-van Doorm, M.P. (2022), A re-evaluation of the role of criminal law in combating parental violence, European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice (ECCL-1255) (Under review).
• Hendriks A.C., Sombroek-van Doorm M.P. & Vries M.C. de (2022), ‘Wet verplichte ggz biedt meer mogelijkheden om zwangeren te begeleiden’, NTvG 166: D6790 Hendriks A.C., Sombroek-van Doorm M.P. & Vries M.C. de (2022), ‘Wet verplichte ggz biedt meer mogelijkheden om zwangeren te begeleiden’ (Dutch Mandatory Mental Healthcare Act offers more options for counselling pregnant women)

For a full overview of publications, click here
 

Editorship

• Sombroek-van Doorm M.P., Boom W.H. van, Ellian A. & Leun J.P. van der (Eds.) (2021), Cum Suis: Vriendenboek Carel Stolker. Den Haag: Boom Juridisch.
• Leerboek Gezondheidsrecht. Houten: Bohn Stafleu van Loghum.

Interviews

• Interview kinderrechtencollectief: Wel/niet vaccineren: 'Houd kinderen en jongeren niet klein, maak ze groot en sterk!'
• Medisch contact: Kindermishandeling: zorg-, meld- en zwijgplicht afwegen
• Nederlands Jeugdinstituut: ‘Juridische hulp voor toepassen meldcode’
• Leidsch Dagblad: ‘Oplossing voor duivels dilemma: wat doet arts bij vermoeden van kindermishandeling?’
• Reformatorisch Dagblad: ‘De dokter moet zwijgen of juist niet'
• Defence for Children: ‘Het medisch beroepsgeheim versus het melden van (mogelijke) kindermishandeling’
• Mare: ‘Kindermishandeling: wanneer moet een arts het beroepsgeheim doorbreken?’
• Zorg & Welzijn: ‘Huisarts kan niet uitgaan van meldingsplicht bij kindermishandeling’
• Privacyweb: ‘In gesprek met een beweger: Mirjam Sombroek-van Doorm promovenda aan de universiteit Leiden’

Working days

Monday to Friday, 09.00-18.00.

Publications