Dr Van der Woude joined HYMS in 2004 in what is now the Centre of Immunology and Infection, arriving from the School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania where she started her independent research career. Her research focusses on understanding bacterial virulence, mainly in context of urinary tract infections and gastrointestinal infections (food poisoning). Aspects of particular interest include population heterogeneity, biofilms and strain diversity. In addition to research, Dr. van der Woude is involved in teaching Phase I and Phase II HYMS students as well as Biology under- and postgraduate students. She has administrative roles within both HYMS and Biology, and is active in the national and international research community.