Annemie Schols

A Metabolic perspective on Chronic Respiratory Disease

Prof. dr. Annemie Schols has dedicated her scientific career to the pathophysiology of respiratory disease induced metabolic derangements and their impact on patients. Schols combines fundamental and patient associated research in a translational sense with a specific focus on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and lung cancer. She started by challenging the fatalistic attitude towards weight loss and muscle wasting (cachexia) in COPD in proof-of-concept clinical experiments and landmark randomised clinical intervention trials.

Annemie Schols’s approach included synergistic multimodal intervention strategies with efforts to implement the results in patient care. It boosted the positioning of metabolism as an integrated part of health care. A telling example of its impact is the current management of Covid-19 recovery and its long-term health implications.

Her work provided the basis for translational and interdisciplinary team efforts resulting in new monitoring tools for intervention, and for research focusing on muscle tissue repair and restoration of mitochondrial health to prevent progressive muscle tissue damage in COPD. It also revealed metabolic targets for optimising cancer treatment.

The participation of Annemie Schols in (inter)national taskforces and guidelines panels contributed to papers with societal impact, illustrating integration and implementation of her scientific work.

Schols advocated her interdisciplinary translational approach, as scientific director of NUTRIM (2006-2020), which under her leadership became a world-leading Research School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism. As dean of FHML and vice-president of Maastricht UMC+, Schols has continued a proactive approach to anticipate current health challenges and societal positioning of UMCs.