ROTTERDAM – On Monday afternoon, 26 September, Mayor Sacha Ausems presented a Royal Award to Professor Dr. JMW (Mieke) Hazes from Sprang-Capelle.
Professor Hazes received the Royal Award Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion during a special meeting at Erasmus MC.
Prof. dr. Dr Hazes held/holds the following positions:
- 2000 – present: professor of rheumatology and thus the first female professor of rheumatology in the Netherlands.
- 2019 – present: director of the quality and patient care department.
In its early years, rheumatism was only cured with gold injections and rest, which involved loss of functionality. Professor Hazes independently set up the rheumatology department within the former Dijkzigt hospital (nowadays Erasmus MC) in Rotterdam. Rheumatology has therefore developed into a specialty in which there are many new treatment options to prevent deformities caused by rheumatism. Professor Hazes combined clinical care with scientific research in the special rheumatism laboratory. Her research into the origin of rheumatism determined that rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease.
Professor Hazes was one of the first to show that the disease can be calmed down most quickly with a combination of medicines, which prevents permanent damage. She contributed to the amendment of European directives.
In 2005, together with general practitioners and physiotherapists, she developed a program to identify rheumatism early and refer patients quickly to prevent permanent damage.
Professor Hazes was the first to pay attention to women with rheumatism and a desire to have children. Together with nurses and a patient panel, she developed a care path, in which she not only paid attention to rheumatism medication, but also to exercise, nutrition and ergonomics. Pregnancy is currently a spearhead of the rheumatology department at Erasmus MC.
As director of the quality and patient care department and chair of the service company, she connected the care providers with the care management. She was responsible for the start of the ‘digitally connected’ programme, in which tailor-made and remote care will be set up in the coming years with a personalized app for each patient within Erasmus MC. This will be extended to other hospitals in the Rotterdam region and possibly to all academic hospitals in the Netherlands.
In addition, Professor Hazes has/is developing the following activities related to her main position:
- 1996 – 2010: co-founder and board member of the European Declaration of Expectations for those with Musculoskeletal Conditions; this led to the creation of the Bone and Joint Decade (2000) initiative.
- 2002 – 2011: member of the Council for Medical Sciences at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2006 – 2016: member of the Health Council
- 2010 – 2019: member of the Medicines Evaluation Board
- 2018 – present: member of the Supervisory Board of the Martini Hospital in Groningen and chairman of the quality & safety committee.
- 2019 – present: member of the Board of Medical Directors at the Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers.
Professor Hazes received the following awards/ratings:
- 1987: Boots Research Prize: Department of Epidemiology, The London Hospital Medical College.
- 1989-1990: Fellowship in Epidemiology of the Rheumatic Diseases: Arthritis and Rheumatism Council, Epidemiology Research Unit, Manchester University.
- 2006: Swedish Rheumatism Surgery Penning.
- 2012: Sima Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing: Friend of Nursing for improving nursing at the local level.