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Cardiovascular diseases are a major burden worldwide. This programme challenges you to reduce this burden by unravelling cardiovascular disease mechanisms, developing treatments and therapies, and investigate risk management and preventive strategies.

Cardiovascular Health and Disease positions you at the cutting edge of basic and clinical science, in the cardiovascular research field. You study the cardiovascular system in the broadest sense and learn to conduct cardiovascular-related research on a basic, translational, or (pre)clinical level.

Learn to translate a disease into a scientifically sound experiment or model, and translate your experimental model back to the disease. Expand your knowledge concerning the disease or build bridges towards therapeutic leads by studying underlying mechanisms of the disease. Research projects, courses and writing assignments focus on different cardiovascular subjects, allowing you to gain experience in multiple labs. Examples of subjects covered are arrhythmias, vascular biology and disease, heart failure, cardiomyopathies, stroke, and cardiovascular risk factors and prevention.

Societal challenges are incorporated in this Master’s programme, such as diversity, health equity, development of animal-free models, prevention, and patient participation in cardiovascular research.

Altogether, this programme allows you to become an expert in the cardiovascular research field, with the opportunity to either fully specialise yourself within a subdomain of cardiovascular research, or to broaden your horizon within the Life Sciences field.

Why you should study Cardiovascular Disease and Health at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ

• Carry out one or two hands-on research projects at our research groups, and the possibility to do a general research profile project abroad to gain additional skills and an international perspective on your chosen specialisation.
• Excellent preparation to continue your education in the UU PhD programme Cardiovascular Research.
• Freedom to design your own programme, by choosing a research project and electives that best fit your interests. You also select 1 out of 8 thematic which are designed to equip you with skills for your future career.
• Train within the unique Utrecht Life Sciences ecosystem, where collaboration between clinicians of the UMC Utrecht, fundamental researchers, and industry work side by side to advance cardiovascular research.
• Develop yourself not only as a researcher, but also as a professional. With room for electives and learning transferable skills, the programme supports your personal growth and prepares you for diverse career paths in academia, healthcare, and industry.

Introducing the Graduate School of Life Sciences

Life Sciences is one of the four strategic themes of Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ and is organised in the Graduate School of Life Sciences (GSLS). The GSLS brings together the research expertise and facilities of the faculties of Science, Medical Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, in cooperation with . Research at the GSLS is highly interdisciplinary, because scientific breakthroughs take place where physics, medicine, chemistry and biology interact. The graduate school offers 15 Master’s programmes with each a different focus. As a school we also offer one course for all students. During your first week the GSLS will offer you a (mandatory) one week introduction for all students: Introducing Life Sciences (part of the course Life Sciences Academy).