B. Penninx

 















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Name            : Brenda W.J.H. Penninx
Department  : VUmc, Department of Psychiatry
Position        : Professor of psychiatric epidemiology, 
Scientific Director, Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety  (NESDA, www.nesda.nl).
 
CURRICULUM VITAE
Prof.dr. Brenda Penninx (1970) is professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and has been involved in several Dutch and international longitudinal cohort studies for the last 15 years. Central themes in her research are risk factors and consequences of depressive and anxiety disorders. She has published more than 200 international articles on this subjects, which are well referenced as reflected by her current H-index of 42.  Prof. Dr. Penninx currently supervises 2 postdocs and more than 20 PhD-students.

Brenda Penninx studied Health Sciences at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. She obtained her PhD in Epidemiology at the VU University in 1996. Afterwards she stayed in the USA for several years as Visiting Fellow at the American National Institute on aging in Bethesda, MD, and as Assistant/Associate Professor at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
In 2004 she returned to the VU University Medical Center in the Netherlands to become the principal investigator of the NESDA study; the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. Brenda Penninx  works for the department of Psychiatry and the EMGO and NCA institutes of the VU University Medical Center and is also affiliated to the departments of Psychiatry of the Leiden University Medical Center and the University Medical Center Groningen. For more information about the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA), visit www.nesda.nl.

CURRENT PROJECTS
NESDA: The Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety
Approximately one out of three persons in the Netherlands suffer from depression or anxiety at some time in their lives, with major consequences for their general health and daily functioning.
It is still not clear what makes people susceptible to depression and anxiety disorders, or why the symptoms are transient or chronic. To answer these questions, it is necessary to follow a large cohort of people for a long time in a longitudinal study. The Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA) was initiated for this purpose. 2981 People with and without depression or anxiety symptoms will be monitored for eight years with an assessment at baseline, and follow-up assessments after 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 years. Not only psychiatric functioning is being assessed, but also physical, neurophysiological, genetic and psychosocial aspects. The subjects have been  recruited from primary care practices and specialized mental health institutions in several regions in the Netherlands. The research receives funding from the ZonMw Geestkracht program.

NESDA Consortium
The NESDA study is being conducted by a group of academic and non-academic institutions. The Department of Psychiatry of the VU University Medical Center, the University Medical Center of Groningen and the Leiden University Medical Center collaborate with the Trimbos Institute, IQ healthcare (Radboud University Nijmegen) and NIVEL (Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research). Mental health institutions (GGZ inGeestl GGZ Drenthe, Lentis, Arkin, GGZ Friesland and Rivierduinen) and patient organisations are also participants.

 For more information, visit our website: www.nesda.nl

KEY PUBLICATIONS
1. Vreeburg SA, Hoogendijk WJ, van Pelt J, de Rijk RH, Verhagen JCM, van Dyck R, Smit JH, Zitman FG, Penninx BW. Major Depressive Disorder and Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity: Results from a large cohort study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2009;66:617-626.
2. Vink JM, Smit AB, de Geus EJC, Sullivan P, Willemsen G, Hottenga JJ, Smit J, Hoogendijk W, Zitman FG, Peltonen L, Kaprio J, Pedersen N, Spector T, Ohm Kyvik K, Morley KI, Heath AC, Westendorp RGJ, Slagboom PE, Tiemeier H, Hofman A, Uitterlinden AG, Aulchenko YS, Amin N, van Duijn C, Penninx BW, Boomsma DI. Genome-wide association study of smoking initiation and persistence. Am J Hum Genetics 2009;84:367-79.
3. Sullivan P, de Geus EJC, Willemsen G, James MR, Smit JH, Zandbelt T, Arolt V, Baune BT, Blackwood D, Cichon S, Coventry WL, Domschke K, Dumenil T, Farmer A, Fava M, Gordon SD, Heutink P, Holsboer F, Hoogendijk WJ, Hottenga JJ, Kohli M, Lin D, Lucae S, MacIntyre DJ, Maier W, McGhee KA, McGuffin P, Montgomery G, Muir WJ, Nolen W, Nöthen MM, Perlis R, Pirlo K, Posthuma D, Rietschel M, Schosser A, Smoller JW, AB Smit, Tzeng JY, van Dyck R, Zitman FG, Verhage M, Martin NG, Wray NR, Boomsma DI, Penninx BW. Genome-wide association for Major Depressive Disorder: a possible role for the protein PCLO. Mol Psychiatry 2009;14:359-75.
4. Licht CM, de Geus EJ, Zitman FG, Hoogendijk WJ, van Dyck R, Penninx BW. Association between major depressive disorder and heart rate variability in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA). Arch Gen Psychiatry 2008;65:1358-67.
5. Penninx BW, Beekman AT, Smit JH, Zitman FG, Nolen WA, Spinhoven P, Cuijpers P, de Jong PJ, van Marwijk HWJ, Assendelft WJJ, van der Meer K, Verhaak P, Wensing M, de Graaf R, Hoogendijk WJ, Ormel J, van Dyck R. The Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA): Rationale, objectives and methods. Int J Meth Psychiatr Res 2008;17:121-140.