” Geriatric home care starts by caring, but includes so much more”.

Sandra currently holds a position as a full professor at the Department of Health Services Research at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences of Maastricht University. She is the head of the Department of Health Services Research (HSR) where over 120 researchers and support staff are employed.

Research area of interest: Geriatric nursing home care.

She is involved as a supervisor in various projects on geriatric care. More specifically these projects focus on essential nursing care which is ‘the most provided care but the least evidence-based’. On the other hand, she conducts projects that aim to assess and improve the quality of home for older adults and nurses.

She is a board member of the Living Lab in Ageing and Long-Term Care (Academische Werkplaats Ouderenzorg Limburg; www.awo-limburg.nl), which is a sustainable and successful formal collaboration between research, teaching and care organizations providing long-term care using joint appointments and multidisciplinarity. The AWO-L contributes via scientific research to better quality of life of older persons, quality of care and quality of work of caregivers in long-term care. Furthermore, Zwakhalen holds a position at Zuyd University of applied science in the Netherlands.

She currently coordinates the Policy, Management and Evaluation of Health Care track of the Bachelor Health Science program at Maastricht University. She is highly involved in the development and execution of the Dual track of the Bachelor of Nursing at Zuyd Unversity of Applied Science that focuses on care for older people.

After completing her PdH in Dec 2007 on pain assessment in people with dementia she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Regina (Canada). She was appointed as visiting professor at Greenwich University between 2012-2016. For various years she was a member of the board (treasurer) of the European Academy of Nursing Science (EANS http://www.european-academy-of-nursing-science.com/). Sandra has also been active in coaching activities within professional organizations and she participates as a member of (advisory) boards. She is regularly invited as a keynote speaker at scientific conferences, (guest) editor and reviewer for scientific journals and reviewer of major international research funding agencies and universities. She is a reviewer for a variety of journals and has been successful in acquiring major research grants and managing projects.