CBR welcomes new director

For Professor Hanneke Hulst, moving halfway across the world has offered a chance to fulfil her dreams.

The brain scientist has shifted from the Netherlands to become director of the University’s Centre for Brain Research (CBR). She takes the reins from its founding director, Distinguished Professor Sir Richard Faull, who has moved into a part-time role.

Hanneke stumbled across the advertisement for the CBR job while in her previous role as scientific director at Leiden University’s Institute of Psychology and says it reawakened her youthful dream of working overseas.

“It’s an adventure moving across the world,” says Hanneke, who first visited New Zealand 13 years ago, travelling around the South Island in a campervan. “And when I read the vacancy description, it felt like it was written for me.”

Part of that sense of destiny arose because CBR aims to launch a new centre focused on the inflammatory and neurodegenerative disease multiple sclerosis (MS) – an initiative that aligns closely with her research expertise. She also felt inspired by the sheer range of neuroscience the centre embraces.

Hanneke grew up with a mother with MS, sparking her decision to study neuroscience and brain disorders. She started looking into MS during her PhD and has since specialised in MS research, while also learning about a range of other brain disorders and treatment approaches.

“From living with mum, I knew MS impacts not only the person with the disease, but the life of their family,” she says.

“MS often surfaces when people are between 20 and 40 years old, so they’re in the prime of their life when they’re hit by this brain disorder.

“There are a lot of years left, so there’s the potential to make a big difference for this group, who are making career decisions and deciding whether to start a family.”

Gaining a Master of Health Sciences in 2005 from Vrije University in Amsterdam gave her a strong foundation in population health, disease prevention and policy making. She then completed a second masters degree, in neuroscience, in 2008.

During her PhD in neuroscience, she examined why some people with MS suffer cognitive decline, yet others don’t. Hanneke realised MRI scans of the brain only revealed half the story and she felt frustrated by the missing half – a “black box” she seemingly couldn’t open.

Then, in 2020, she completed her third masters degree, in philosophy, bioethics and health. She uses perspectives from neurobiology, psychology and philosophy, she says, to approach her research holistically.

“I realised we tend to make everything in research as simple as possible to aim for clear-cut outcomes, but often a simplistic approach doesn’t fit the complex phenomena we’re studying – especially when studying brain disorders.

“When examining cognitive processes, it’s essential to look at brain structure and function, but other factors also have a profound influence on cognition, such as a person’s social life, friendships, support networks, employment, sense of purpose, financial independence, mood and fatigue.”

Hanneke worked for 14 years as a researcher and assistant professor in the department of anatomy and neuroscience and the MS Centre Amsterdam at Amsterdam University Medical Centres, before moving to Leiden University four years ago. There, she was chair of neuropsychology of health and disease. She also led the MindS-lab, a research team focused on cognitive rehabilitation in people with MS and Parkinson’s disease.

At the University of Auckland she will lecture in psychological medicine, in the Schools of Medicine and Psychology; at CBR, a focus will be on forging connections. She plans to build on the centre’s existing international collaborations with universities in the Netherlands, Europe and the US, and hear how CBR can continue to create impact locally.

“I hope to integrate New Zealand even more strongly into international research projects, building bridges that enhance the centre’s global impact,” she says.

“I’m open to what the community wants. I will start by listening to the people first and seeing what the Centre for Brain Research needs most.

“In this climate of limited funding, I believe that by working together and using our resources wisely, we can make a real difference for people living with brain disorders.”

Rose Davis