STICHTING CATHARINA ZIEKENHUIS

Their core work

Catharina Ziekenhuis is a major teaching hospital in Eindhoven, Netherlands, with a strong cardiology and cardiac surgery department. In EU research, they contribute clinical expertise in heart valve disease, cardiovascular simulation, and cardiac interventions. Their work focuses on translating computational models and imaging techniques into better patient-specific treatment decisions for cardiac conditions. Most recently, they are involved in validating stereotactic radiotherapy approaches for treating dangerous heart rhythm disorders.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2015–2018), Catharina Ziekenhuis focused on computational cardiology — cardiovascular simulation, patient-specific imaging, tissue modelling, and transcatheter procedures through projects like VPH-CaSE, MUSICARE, and EurValve. Their recent activity (2021 onward) marks a notable shift toward cardiac radioablation, applying stereotactic radiotherapy techniques (traditionally used in oncology) to treat life-threatening heart rhythm disorders via the STOPSTORM project. This evolution signals a move from diagnostic/simulation support toward direct therapeutic intervention using cross-disciplinary techniques.

Moving from computational cardiac modelling toward pioneering radiation-based cardiac therapies — positioning themselves at the intersection of cardiology and radiation oncology.

How they like to work

Catharina Ziekenhuis consistently joins consortia as a clinical partner or third party rather than leading projects — they have zero coordinator roles across all four projects. With 66 unique partners across 13 countries, they integrate into broad European consortia, contributing clinical data, patient cohorts, and domain expertise. This is typical of a hospital bringing real-world clinical validation to research-driven projects led by universities or technical institutes.

Connected to 66 unique partners across 13 countries, indicating broad European reach through participation in large multi-partner consortia. Their network spans academic medical centres, computational modelling groups, and medical device developers.

What sets them apart

As a large teaching hospital with an active cardiology research programme, Catharina Ziekenhuis offers something most academic partners cannot: direct access to patient cohorts, clinical workflows, and real-world treatment validation. Their involvement in STOPSTORM places them among a small group of European centres exploring cardiac radioablation — a field where fewer than a handful of hospitals have clinical experience. For consortium builders, they bring clinical credibility and the ability to test whether computational models or new therapies actually work at the bedside.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EurValve
  Their largest funded project (EUR 346,949) — personalised decision support for heart valve disease, combining clinical expertise with computational modelling across a European consortium.
• STOPSTORM
  Their most recent and longest-running project (2021–2027), representing a strategic pivot into cardiac stereotactic radiotherapy — a frontier field bridging cardiology and radiation oncology.