Merel is a member of the cancer group in the Primary Care Unit, part of the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge. She currently works as a Research Associate on the CanTest project that’s looking to establish the diagnostic accuracy, acceptability and cost-effectiveness of haemoglobin in faecal immunochemical tests (FITs) in the primary care symptomatic population in the East of England.

Prior to joining CanTest, Merel worked on other projects in the Primary Care Unit, including managing the MelaTools programme, a set of studies that aimed to improve timely diagnosis of melanoma through optimisation of GP and patient assessment of pigmented skin lesions. Within the cardiovascular group led by Jonathan Mant, Merel was involved in the Polypill project, which investigated whether ‘polypills’ have a role in secondary prevention of stroke in older people in the developed world.

Merel obtained her PhD from the University of Leiden, where she investigated dual-task performance, functional capacity limitations and episodic storage through behavioural and electrophysiological experiments in healthy volunteers.