Biographical Sketch

Frans Rutten studied medicine at the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and graduated in 1986. From August 1986 till December 1988 he worked as a physician in the department of internal medicine and cardiology of the St. Jozef Hospital, Kerkrade, the Netherlands. From December 1987 till December 1988 he worked as a physician in the department of cardiology in the Academic Hospital Maastricht. In Januari 1989 he started his 2-year vocational training in general practice at the Utrecht University. In November 1991 he settled as a general practitioner in Rhenen, a small city in the center of the Netherlands. From 1991 onwards he participated in (updates of) Dutch general practice and multidisciplinary guidelines focussed on cardiovascular disease and also European guidelines from the European Society of Cardiology. Till 1999 he worked full-time in general practice. In July 1999 he started to work part-time at the Julius Center and obtained his PhD degree in 2005 on 'Heart failure in COPD'. Since 2005 he continued to work at the Julius Center, first as assistent professor (until 2014), then as associate professor (until 2018), and from 2018 onwards as professor of general practice with a focus on cardiovascular disease in primary care. He obtained the Teaching in Higher Education (UTW, in Dutch BKO) qualification in 2017. 
Awards:
2006 The ‘Heert Dokter’ award for best paper in 'Huisarts & Wetenschap'
2014   Utrecht General Practitioner of the year award
2017-  Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology
2018   The Dr. Carel Bakx award for achievements in cardiovascular research in primary care
 

Interests and Focus

Management of cardiovascular disease in primary care, from early detection of disease and risk-stratification to risk-based treatment.

Disease-specific interests are heart failure and the crossing borders with COPD, atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease, and TIA/stroke. Aim is to improve early diagnosis of diseases within the cardiovascular continuum, also in high-risk populations such as those with type 2 diabetes and COPD. 

Key Publications

• Differences between general practitioners and cardiologists in diagnosis and management of heart failure: a survey in every-day practice

  Rutten FH, Grobbee DE, Hoes AW Eur J Heart Fail, 2003;5:337-344

• Unrecognized heart failure in elderly patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

  Rutten FH, Cramer MJ, Grobbee DE, Sachs AP, Kirkels JH, Lammers JW, Hoes AW Eur Heart J, 2005;26:1887-94

• Recognising heart failure in elderly patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in primary care: cross sectional diagnostic study

  Rutten FH, Moons KC, Cramer MJ, Grobbee DE, Zuithoff NP, Lammers JW, Hoes AW Br Med J, 2005;331:1379-85.

• Heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: An ignored combination?

  Rutten FH, Cramer MJ, Lammers JW, Grobbee DE, Hoes AW Eur J Heart Fail, 2006;8:706-11

• Beta-blockers may reduce mortality and risk of exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

  Rutten FH, Zuithoff NP, Hak E, Grobbee DE, Hoes AW Arch Intern Med, 2010;170:880-7

• High prevalence of previously unknown heart failure and left ventricular dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes

  Boonman-Winter LJ, Rutten FH, Cramer MJ, Landman MA, Rutten GE, Hoes AW Diabetologia, 2012;55:2154-62

• Resting heart rate is a risk factor for mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease but not for exacerbations or pneumonia

  Warnier MJ, Rutten FH, de Boer A, Hoes AW, de Bruin ML PlosOne, 2014;9:e105152

• Prevalence of unrecognized heart failure in older persons with shortness of breath on exertion

  van Riet EE, Hoes AW, Limburg A, Landman MA, van der Hoeven H, Rutten FH Eur J Heart Fail, 2014;16:772-7

• Unrecognized heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in frail elderly detected through a near-home targeted screening strategy

  van Mourik Y, Bertens LC, Cramer MJ, Lammers JW, Reitsma JB, Moons KB, Hoes AW, Rutten FH J Am Board Fam Med, 2014;27:811-21

• Opportunistic screening for heart failure with natriuretic peptides in patients with atrial fibrillation: a meta-analysis of individual participant data of four screening studies

  van Doorn S, Geersing GJ, Kievit RF, van Mourik Y, Bertens LC, van Riet EES, Boonman-de Winter LJ, Moons KGM, Hoes AW, Rutten FH Heart, 2018;104:1236-37