Dr. Barbara Sassen is currently a senior lecturer and post-doc researcher at the University of Applied Science, Faculty of Health Care, University of Applied Sciences in Utrecht, the Netherlands. She received her PhD degree in 2011 at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, with the title 'Supporting healthcare professionals to encourage patients to decrease cardiovascular risk attributable to physical inactivity'. In this PhD research she developed an intervention strategy for the implementation of health promotion and self-management in the professional practice by nurses and paramedics. She studied health sciences, health promotion and health education at Maastricht University. She also studied the course training linked to the Master Educational sciences, at the University of Utrecht and finished a Bachelor in Nursing with professional experience as a nurse in the mental health care and outpatient care.

Her interest is directed at the proper implementation ofprevention, health education and health promotion, disease prevention and providing self-management support and lifestyle coaching by healthcare professionals working in the healthcare system.