The University of Twente’s Technical Medical Centre (TechMed Centre) has appointed Katja Haijkens as the new Director of Education within the management team. Haijkens has assumed her new position at the TechMed Centre starting November 15. She succeeds Heleen Miedema, who is now interim dean for Atlas, University College of Twente. She has been appointed for four years.
As Director of Education, Katja Haijkens will connect all educational developments within the study programmes and lifelong learning programmes at the TechMed Centre, and she will represent UT in setting the educational agenda in the domain of healthcare, promoting the institute, creating and maintaining partnerships, and seeking areas relevant to the area of expertise of the TechMed Centre in which the Centre can be influential. Haijkens is looking forward to her new role: “I am proud to represent education in this consequential area. I will commit myself to connect education and our field of research even more. I would like to make the best use of our knowledge and expertise of medical technology and education in order to further education so that together we can truly improve healthcare.”
ABOUT KATJA HAIJKENS
Katja Haijkens has a long career within higher education, both as a lecturer, educational advisor, and manager. She has worked at UT since 2006, in the last few years as a programme director in the Biomedical Engineering programme. The Health programmes within TechMed work together constructively, and as a result, Katja has a clear picture of the continuum of education within TechMed. From her position as the Director of Education, she also hopes to make a connection with other related areas of education within UT and to contribute to (inter)national developments in this area, thus strengthening TechMed Centre’s strong position on the academic map, even more, both at home and abroad.
The management team of TechMed Centre is pleased with the appointment of Katja Haijkens: “We are very happy with the appointment of Katja as a new member of our management team. She is an experienced expert on education in the domain of technology and healthcare and she knows UT and its structure well. We are convinced that she will play an important role in further integrating and strengthening our educational, research and innovation efforts, which will contribute towards true impact on healthcare by personalised technology.”
Katja Haijkens herself about her appointment: “I have found a very strong management team within TechMed and I am happy to be part of it. I look forward to working with them in this important area.”
ABOUT THE TECHMED CENTRE
The mission of the Technical Medical Centre (TechMed Centre) is to improve healthcare by personalised technology. It impacts healthcare by excellent research, innovation and educational programmes, and as leading Innovation Hub connects multiple innovation ecosystems from the MedTech Industry to healthcare. It is equipped with a state-of-the-art infrastructure ranging from research labs and preclinical testbeds to simulated hospital and training environments.
