Conference Matters 142

'The valorisation and implementation of challenge

cardiovascular research

are still quite a

The Dutch Heart Foundation is the most important financing partner within the Dutch cardio- vascular field. According to Managing Director Hans Snijder, the Foundation depends entirely on gifts and donations, which means they must be able to properly justify their expenses to donors. The Foundation’s top priorities are early detection, diversity and creating a healthy environment.

By Edwin Nunnink. Photo Serge Ligtenberg

Cardiovascular field “In the Dutch cardiovascular field, we’re talking about 24 involved partners who are also part of the Dutch CardioVascular Alliance, the DCVA,” Snijder explains. “We’re the most important driving force within this network organisa tion. We support individual research projects, which are increasingly carried out in consortia in which several partners collaborate. Other research funders are also involved, such as ZonMw (Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development) and NWO (Dutch Research Council).” Seven top priorities The Dutch Heart Foundation has established seven top priorities as pillars of its new Heart

As the managing director, Snijder emphasises that he’s not a cardiologist or researcher and that the Foundation also doesn’t organise conferences. Even when the world’s largest conference of cardiology professionals, the annual conference of the European Society of Cardiology, visited Amsterdam again last year, the Dutch Heart Foundation did not play an organising role, but it did host a partnership of comparable internatio nal foundations in the slipstream. However, the Foundation’s logo could be seen in many places during the conference. The results of Dutch research that were presented were often financed, or at least co-financed, by the Dutch Heart Foundation.

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