Suzan van der Pas

Suzan van der Pas is a Lecturer in Social Innovation at Leiden University of Applied Sciences and an Associate Professor at the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs at Leiden University. Appointed as a Medical Delta Lecturer in April 2025, she leads the Social Domain Workshop The Hague & Leiden and heads the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship research group.

Her research focuses on social innovation and the governance of health and well-being, with particular attention to older adults and family relationships. Van der Pas is fascinated by how people interact, drawing from her childhood experience of culture shock when moving from New Zealand to the Netherlands at age 15. Her work emphasizes developing innovative solutions for healthcare and welfare professionals, with a strong focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and citizen participation.

Van der Pas's recent publications (2024) address well-being on prescription, dementia care pathways, and the intersection of social work with social innovation. Her research shows a consistent theme of breaking down silos between different care professionals and creating more integrated, personalized support systems that recognize individual differences rather than applying categorical approaches.

Scientific Recognition:

• Appointed Medical Delta Lecturer (2025)

As a researcher, Van der Pas occupies a unique position with a bird's-eye view of current events while remaining close to practical applications. She emphasizes that 'having knowledge is one thing, applying it effectively is another,' and her work bridges academic research with practical implementation in healthcare settings. Her approach to research methodology is innovative, incorporating citizen science where target groups actively participate in data collection and analysis.

Van der Pas's lab, the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship research group, focuses on developing creative solutions for complex healthcare challenges. She believes that 'everyone is different' and that care must be personalized rather than categorized, challenging the notion that individualized care is necessarily more complicated or expensive.