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26 February 2020
Arnt Schellekens (Loon op Zand, 1977) studied medicine at Radboud University and graduated cum laude in 2003 with a Master's degree in medicine. He specialised in psychiatry and in 2011 he obtained his PhD on research into alcohol addiction, in particular the relationship between genetic and environmental factors.
Arnt Schellekens has been working as a psychiatrist at Radboud university medical center since 2012, where he further specialised in addiction, and was appointed as head of the medical-psychiatric unit in 2017. His research focuses on neurobiological and psychological mechanisms that contribute to addiction. He aims to better understand why patients with addictive behaviour often also suffer from other psychiatric disorders (for example ADHD and depression) or vice versa. His ultimate goal is to develop more effective treatment strategies based on these insights.
By the combination of clinical work, scientific research and his position as scientific director of NISPA, Schellekens plays a key role in the collaboration between addiction care facilities, neuroscientific colleagues from the Donders Institute and behavioural scientists from the Behavioural Science Institute (BSI).
Arnt Schellekens (Loon op Zand, 1977) studied medicine at Radboud University and graduated cum laude in 2003 with a Master's degree in medicine. He specialised in psychiatry and in 2011 he obtained his PhD on research into alcohol addiction, in particular the relationship between genetic and environmental factors.
Arnt Schellekens has been working as a psychiatrist at Radboud university medical center since 2012, where he further specialised in addiction, and was appointed as head of the medical-psychiatric unit in 2017. His research focuses on neurobiological and psychological mechanisms that contribute to addiction. He aims to better understand why patients with addictive behaviour often also suffer from other psychiatric disorders (for example ADHD and depression) or vice versa. His ultimate goal is to develop more effective treatment strategies based on these insights.
Key role in addiction research
During his training as a psychiatrist, Schellekens also worked on HIV/AIDS research in Bandung, Indonesia. Besides his clinical work as a psychiatrist, he is a researcher at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, and coordinator of a large number of research projects. He is also a postdoctoral researcher at the Nijmegen Institute for Scientist Practitioners in Addiction (NISPA), where he has been scientific director since 2015.By the combination of clinical work, scientific research and his position as scientific director of NISPA, Schellekens plays a key role in the collaboration between addiction care facilities, neuroscientific colleagues from the Donders Institute and behavioural scientists from the Behavioural Science Institute (BSI).
Addiction Medicine training
Arnt Schellekens has given addiction medicine training an important place in the medical curriculum, is principal lecturer in the national masters program on addiction medicine, and coordinator of the national addiction psychiatry curriculum.Related news items
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