Her research interests include the digestion of protein, the absorption of amino acids, and the impact of nutrition on amino acid metabolism, especially under circumstances of critical illness. She completed her BSc in Nutrition & Dietetics in the Netherlands (Europe) in 1991 and worked until 2013 as an RD at the Departments of Surgery, Neurology, Pediatrics, Surgical Oncology, at the Intensive Care and as a member of the Nutritional Team (first at the Isala Hospital of Zwolle, Netherlands, and subsequently in the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, Netherlands).