Mission and Goal
Our Mission is to advance the understanding of placebo and nocebo effects, their underlying mechanisms, and their potential applications in clinical practice. We seek to conduct rigorous scientific research that illuminates the ways in which these effects can be harnessed to improve patient outcomes and reduce negative side effects of medical interventions. Our team is dedicated to creating innovative solutions for healthcare providers, including evidence-based training programs and tools, that can enhance placebo effects and mitigate nocebo effects.
We recognize the importance of patient input and collaboration, and we work closely with patient organizations to ensure that our research is patient-centered. We also involve patients and health care providers as co-investigators in our studies to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence placebo and nocebo effects.
As part of our national and international collaboration, we participate in international consortia and networks to share our findings, collaborate on research studies, and learn from the experiences of other researchers in the field.
Finally, we believe that public outreach is essential for promoting understanding of placebo and nocebo effects. That's why we organize public outreach events, such as lectures and workshops, to share our findings with the wider community and engage in a dialogue about the power of placebo and nocebo effects.
Research team
We are a multidisciplinary team of more than 20 researchers at different levels, including professors, postdocs, PhD candidates and master level students. Our team brings together diverse expertise from psychology, communication, medicine, and neuroscience.
Principal Investigators
Dr. Sylvia van Beugen
Assistant Professor at the department of Health, Medical and Neuropsychology at Leiden University
Bio
Prof. dr. Andrea Evers
Professor of Health Psychology and chair of the Institute of Psychology at Leiden University
Bio
Dr. Antoinette van Laarhoven
Associate professor in Health and Medical Psychology at Leiden University
Bio
Dr. Stefanie Meeuwis
Postdoctoral researcher at the Health, Medical, and Neuropsychology Unit at Leiden University
Bio
Dr. Henriet van Middendorp
Associate Professor at the Health, Medical and Neuropsychology unit of Leiden University
Bio
Dr. Aleksandrina Skvortsova
Assistant professor at the unit of Health, Medical and Neuropsychology of Leiden University
Bio
Dr. Judy Veldhuijzen
Associate Professor at the department of Health, Medical and Neuropsychology at Leiden University
Bio
Dr. Liesbeth van Vliet
Assistant Professor at the Department of Health, Medical and Neuropsychology at Leiden University
Bio
PhD students (alumni)
Dr. Danielle Bartels
Lecturer in applied psychology at Fontys hogescholen
Dr. Stefanie Meeuwis
Postdoctoral researcher at the Health, Medical, and Neuropsychology Unit at Leiden University
Bio
Dr. Aleksandrina Skvortsova
Assistant professor at the unit of Health, Medical and Neuropsychology of Leiden University
Bio
Dr. Rosanne Smits
Postdoctoral researcher at RadboudUMC
Dr. Lemmy Schakel
Psychologist in training to a GZ psychologist at Yulius
Dr. Judith Tekampe
Source and Contact Investigator GGD at Yource Netherlands
Dr. Mia Thomaidou
Research fellow, School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University
Dr. Merve Karacaoglu
