266 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Marco Boonstra was born on September 2nd, 1985, in Drachten, the Netherlands. In 2023, he completed his secondary education at Liudger in Drachten. Marco then went on to study biology at the University of Groningen, where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in 2006. He continued his education in Groningen at the Faculty of Arts obtaining a master’s degree in journalism, specializing in newspaper journalism. Marco’s master thesis focused on the public opinion regarding climate change and how newspapers might have shaped this opinion over time. After his university studies, Marco continued his career as a (senior) communication advisor. Between 2009 and 2014, he worked at GGZ Friesland, a mental health institute in Friesland. In addition to his work as a communication advisor, he developed and conducted research at Zorgfocuz, a research company for the healthcare and welfare sector. From 2014 to 2019, he worked as a communication advisor at Dialysis Center Groningen. Being responsible for patient education, he became interested in the topics health literacy and health communication. In cooperation with Andrea de Winter, he developed a project plan, leading to a research grant by the Dutch Kidney Foundation that enabled the studies in this thesis. From 2018, Marco worked at the Department of Health Sciences of the University Medical Center Groningen. There, he worked on his PhD project ‘Bridging the gap’ aiming to develop and test a multicomponent health literacy intervention targeting kidney patients and health care professionals in primary and secondary care. In addition to his PhD project, he worked on the topics social insurance literacy and food literacy, in cooperation with researchers from the departments of Health Sciences and Nephrology. Currently, Marco works as an Academic Teacher at the Department of Social Medicine, also at the University Medical Center Groningen. He develops education materials and teaches on research and prevention within the Bachelor of Medicine program and supervises students during scientific tasks.
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