Rate My Professor Josée Zijlstra

Josée Zijlstra-Baalbergen is Professor of Hematology in the Medicine faculty at Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc. She was appointed to this professorship on September 1, 2019, delivering her inaugural lecture entitled "Verbeelding verbindt," which highlighted the integration of modern medical imaging technologies like PET/CT and MRI scans in the treatment of hematological disorders, underscoring the need for interdisciplinary collaboration. As an internist-hematologist and Principal Investigator at the Cancer Center Amsterdam, she leads research focused on lymphoma. Her academic interests encompass functional imaging in hematology, including FDG-PET/CT radiomics applied to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), Hodgkin lymphoma, and follicular lymphoma. She explores imaging biomarkers by correlating FDG-PET with diffusion-weighted MRI in DLBCL, examines the relationship between 18F-FLT uptake and error-prone DNA repair mechanisms in follicular lymphoma, assesses the risk, localization, and timing of second and third primary malignancies among Hodgkin lymphoma survivors, and evaluates long-term treatment outcomes, including neurocognitive function, in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma and primary CNS lymphoma. Zijlstra also contributes to the development of online interventions that promote active patient participation in managing cancer-related issues. One of the founders of the BETER-poli at Amsterdam UMC in 2013, she enhances survivorship care.

Zijlstra holds key leadership roles, including Chair of the HOVON Imaging working group, former secretary of the HOVON Lymphoma working group (2009-2011), member of the Ethics working group, and member of the CCA Research board-education committee. She is affiliated with the European Hematology Association, American Society of Hematology, and Nederlandse Vereniging voor Hematologie. Her scholarly impact is evident in highly cited publications, such as the EANM procedure guidelines for FDG PET/CT tumor imaging (European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, 2015), consensus recommendations on PET for lymphoma response assessment (Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2007), the phase 3 HD15 trial on reduced-intensity chemotherapy and PET-guided radiotherapy in advanced Hodgkin lymphoma (The Lancet, 2012), analysis of second cancer risks up to 40 years post-treatment (New England Journal of Medicine, 2015), and treatment outcomes for older mantle-cell lymphoma patients (New England Journal of Medicine, 2012). Recent contributions include studies on prognostic value of baseline PET/CT in DLBCL (2025) and atezolizumab consolidation in high-risk DLBCL (Blood, 2025).