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I am Jurgen A.H.R. Claassen, born on April 20th 1969 in Maastricht. I am a clinician (geriatrician), associate professor, Principal Investigator, and Research Theme Leader (Alzheimer’s disease) at Radboudumc, Deptartment of Geriatrics.
Where do you live?
I live in Nijmegen, nearby Radboudumc and close to the forest (ideal for walks and runs) with my wife Petra (who is also a geriatrician), my two daughters (my son is a student and lives on his own) and a cat.
When you were a kid what did you want to be when you grew up? Can you tell us something about your childhood years?
I wanted to be a pilot, perhaps a fighter pilot as a kid, but that idea was abandoned because I am color blind and would probably end up pressing the wrong buttons. My father was an undertaker, a job that paradoxically has many similarities with being a medical doctor (nightshifts, working weekends, but also dealing with grief-stricken families, who are under emotional stress, and trying to help people in such moments). The realization, since early childhood, that death is an inevitable part of life, that can come at any moment and at any age, has influenced the way I approach life. I became a ‘carpe diem’ fan, rather than a Calvinist. My childhood was filled with playing outdoors, skiing, reading and music. I played piano, even joined a band. So, in summary, becoming an undertaker, or a musician in a band, would also have been possibilities, but I didn’t like that kind of work. I’d always been fascinated by finding out how the body works, so becoming a doctor was quite logical.
What was your previous academic training, where did you study?
I studied Medicine in Nijmegen.
Which of your research discoveries are you most proud of?
I discovered that older adults, and Alzheimer patients, maintain the ability to regulate cerebral blood flow. Before this, it was always assumed that this mechanism (autoregulation) would fail with aging and dementia.
What is your most important scientific challenge in the coming 5 years?
The next step is implementing this finding in clinical care. I think older people, including those with dementia, are undertreated for vascular disease. The first step is to demonstrate that their ability to stabilize blood pressure when they stand up is also maintained, and then we can move toward a more rigorous antihypertensive treatment in older adults.
If you could choose any mentor, who would it be?
Lewis Lipsitz, a geriatrician who at age 73 is still active in research and patient care, and who has applied physiological research to geriatric medicine.
What is your favorite topic: molecules - patients - population?
Definitely patients. And physiology. Physiology is basic science, so closer to 'Molecules' (which I think is a bit of a limited word that was chosen by Radboudumc to describe fundamental science)
What should be changed / improved in the scientific community?
There is (still?) a lot of hidden research 'fraud' - data manipulation, selective reporting, even at high-ranking institutions, which creates unfair competition for more 'honest' scientists.
And we have to stop the explosive increase of journals that will publish anything as long as you pay for it. This practice erodes peer review. It is a weird process: we scientists do all the work to do the research and write it up for free, then we do all the work to peer-review it for free, and the publishers send us a bill to put our work on the internet. Feels like a scam....
Is there anything we can wake you up for in the middle of the night?
No! I am a part-time sleep scientist, so now I know that disrupted sleep causes trouble! But during waking hours, you can always distract me with coffee, chocolate, good food, wine…
What is the thing that irritates you most?
People who proudly share their ignorance on social media.
Who would you like to have dinner with, if you had the chance?
Difficult…Perhaps Scarlett Johansson. But then my wife will want to have dinner with George Clooney, and things could quickly escalate. A safer bet would be Stephen Fry or Hugh Laurie.
How do you relax from the demanding job being a scientist?
I go running 3-4 times per week to empty my mind and enjoy the outdoors, or I play the piano. And I'm learning to play the guitar.
Do you have a tip for our most junior scientists?
Stay curious, stay honest, and don't look too far ahead. For example, the PI criteria imposed by the Radboudumc still seem impossible each time I read them to see what I have to achieve in the coming 5 years. But then each time it turns out I made it, and it wasn't as impossible as it seemed.
Please add a photo which represents a remarkable event or experience you were part of? Please explain.
The event photo is from when we were doing parabolic flight experiments, to investigate the effects of zero gravity on blood pressure and cerebral blood flow. The picture was taken during the experimental set-up on the ground.
