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I am Hannie Kremer, I was born in Heerlen in 1959 and I grew up in Vaals, in the south of the Netherlands. Currently, I am a professor in the departments of Otorhinolaryngology and Human Genetics of Radboudumc. My research focus is understanding hereditary hearing loss and the molecular function of the auditory system, mainly the peripheral part i.e. the inner ear.
Where do you live?
I live in Oostrum, which is between Nijmegen and Venlo, together with my husband Leo Mertens.
When you were a kid what did you want to be when you grew up? Can you tell us something about your childhood years?
Actually, I don't remember very well what my thoughts were about what I wanted to be. But some years ago, when looking at my old stuff in my mother's place, I found an essay that I wrote at primary school when I was 8 years old. This ended with the sentence that one day, I would work in a hospital wearing a white coat. And that is exactly what happened!
I grew up in a hamlet just outside Vaals, where my father was a fruit grower. Together with kids living on the opposite side of the street we had a lot of fun playing outside and we helped each other with schoolwork. I liked to do sports, just not very competitively, and I liked walking my dog and going cycling. I also liked to read and to play the mandolin, although my dream was to learn to play the piano which I tried later. This was not a great success. My high school was a former boarding school for rich girls at a kind of historical estate with a wonderful park. I had a great time there.
What was your previous academic training, where did you study and why did you choose that study/those studies?
I studied Biology at Radboud University. My biology teacher in high school had just finished his studies in Nijmegen and he put together a program that contained the recent topics in genetics and cell and molecular biology. This kind of triggered my passion for molecular genetics and therefore I decided to study biology rather than medicine.
Which of your research discoveries are you most proud of?
That is a difficult question but I think this is the discovery of what is likely to be the most frequent cause of hereditary hearing loss in the Netherlands and possibly in Northwest Europe. This is a small defect in the RIPOR2 gene that could have easily been overlooked. This finding will provide many individuals in the Netherlands with the cause of their progressive hearing starting in (early) adulthood and is the starting point for the development of therapeutic strategies.
What is your most important scientific challenge in the coming 5 years?
The RIPOR2-associated hearing loss is highly variable in age of onset and severity. Finding genetic factors that modify the onset and severity of the hearing loss is important but is likely to be very challenging.
If you could choose any mentor, who would it be?
Khadija Arib
What is your favorite topic: molecules - patients - population?
Molecules, in health and disease
What should be changed / improved in the scientific community?
Less competition and more collaboration, and closer contacts between researchers of different generations
Is there anything we can wake you up for in the middle of the night?
I’m not at my best if someone wakes me up in the middle of the night. But if I need to indicate something, it would be a nice dinner with friends or exciting results of experiments.
What is the thing that irritates you most?
People with a hidden agenda
Who would you like to have dinner with, if you had the chance?
Sigrid Kaag
How do you relax from the demanding job being a scientist?
To relax I like to cook for friends, to walk and go cycling, and to design and make silver jewellery
Do you have a tip for our most junior scientists?
Choose an excellent research group for your PhD and postdoc, take time to reflect, realize which things in your work give you energy
Please add a photo which represents a remarkable event or experience you were part of? Please explain.
During my PhD I went with a colleague and my promotor to Shanghai to teach, for a month, in a Max Planck guest laboratory. After that, we went traveling in China, also in Tibet. That was in 1987. So far, that was my most exciting and impressive journey.
