Prof. Irma Verdonck-de Leeuw (1963) is a full professor in Psychosocial Oncology at AmsterdamUMC (Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery) and at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Department of Clinical, Neuro- and Developmental Psychology).

She has significant experience in health related quality of life and psycho-oncology research.

She is the principal investigator of the Netherlands Quality of life and biomedical cohort study (NET-QUBIC), a multicentre cohort study on head and neck cancer. In NET-QUBIC, a rich Data Warehouse and Biobank is established including data (clinical, personal, lifestyle, and physical, psychological and social functioning and health related quality of life) and samples (blood, saliva, oral rinse) of 738 head and neck cancer patients and 262 informal caregivers. www.kubusproject.nl.

Furthermore, she focusses on innovating (cost)effective supportive cancer care, including self-management and eHealth. She has translated several research projects into clinical practice, such as OncoQuest (a system to collect and process PRO data in clinical practice), Oncokompas (a self-management behavioral intervention technology to monitor quality of life and obtain personalized advice on supportive care), Halszaken and VerderZonderStembanden (self-care exercise programs targeting head and neck cancer patients), and Meaning-Centered Group Psychotherapy.

Irma Verdonck-de Leeuw currently supervises 6 PhD students and is (co-)author of more than 275 publications. www.samenlevenmetkanker.nl