Dr Joost van Melle is a cardiologist specialized in the care for patients with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD). In the Netherlands, the prevalence of CHD is approximately 0.7%. In the last decades, more and more CHD patients reach adulthood, however a substantial part of these patients are faced with serious morbidity (rhythm disturbances, heart failure, endocarditis, etc). Joost van Melle was trained in cardiac imaging, which is in the setting of CHD care, of utmost importance. From 2012-2019 he was head of the Echocardiography Department UMCG and Medical director of the Echocardiography Corelab.
He is Chair of the Dutch Working Group on Echocardiography of the Dutch Society of Cardiology. Within the broad area of CHD, Joost van Melle has a special interest in the imaging of the pressure and/or volume loaded right ventricle and the physiology of patients with univentricular hearts (Fontan patients) leading to more than 100 peer reviewed articles and 6 PhD trajects for medical students. He is Principal Investigator CardioVascular Center research program of the Groningen University Institute for Drug Exploration (GUIDE). Joost van Melle is editor of several Books related to echocardiography and CHD. He and his team will welcome any enthusiastic students for future research programs and it is expected that 1 january 2021 we have place for a MD/PhD student.
