On July 1st, Hellen Lustermans successfully defended her PhD thesis titled “Navigating the Perinatal Period: Understanding the Interplay between Mental Health and Nutrition.” The defense was an engaging and stimulating discussion with five fantastic opponents who traveled from Maastricht, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Nijmegen, and Amsterdam to participate.

Hellen impressed everyone with her thoughtful responses, making us incredibly proud. We are also deeply grateful to the opponents for their insightful and challenging questions.

This day marked the official completion of Hellen’s outstanding PhD journey, during which she authored 13 research papers—five of them as first author.

Congratulations, Hellen! We wish you all the best in your future career.