Mirjam Sombroek van Doorm (1968) has been appointed professor of Law and Health at the Department of Juvenile Law & Health Law of the Institute of Private Law since 1 October 2022. The broad remit of Law and Health reflects the ambition to strengthen (interdisciplinary) cooperation between the various faculties, especially between the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Medicine/LUMC. Partly due to her successful grant applications in the field of law and health, such cooperation can be taken further. Her PhD thesis on medical confidentiality and the doctor's duty of care in child abuse in the legal relationship between doctor, child and parents is defended in 2019. Mirjam Sombroek van Doorm studied International Law at Leiden University (1993) and French Language and Literature at Paris III (Sorbonne Nouvelle) and Leiden University (1996). She is a visiting professor at the Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne, at the Université Paris II Panthéon Assas and at UC LAW in San Francisco. She is also a member of the Dutch Health Council and the Dutch Sports Council. Additionally, she is a disciplinary judge at the Regional Disciplinary Tribunal for Health Care in Amsterdam.

More information about Mirjam Sombroek-van Doorm

Education

• PhD: 'Medisch beroepsgeheim en de zorgplicht van de arts bij kindermishandeling in de rechtsverhouding tussen arts, kind en ouders', Leiden University (Medical confidentiality and the doctor's duty of care in child abuse in the legal relationship between doctor, child and parents) (2019).  

• International Law, Leiden University (1993). 

• French Language and Literature, Paris III (Sorbonne Nouvelle) and Leiden University (1996)

Career

Mirjam Sombroek van Doorm was a member of the Faculty Board of the Faculty of Law from 2019-2023 and combined this with her academic work. Since October 2022, she has been Professor of Law and Health (1.0 fte) at Leiden University. Additionally, she is a visiting professor at the Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne, at the Université Paris II Panthéon Assas and at UC LAW in San Francisco. She is also a member of the Dutch Health Council, the Dutch Sports Council, various editorial boards, and is a disciplinary judge at the Regional Disciplinary Tribunal for Health Care in Amsterdam. 

Principal positions

• Professor of Law and Health (1,0 fte) (2022-present). 

• Director of Leiden Law School and appointed to the Faculty Board (2019-2023).

Visiting professorships

• UC LAW San Francisco, California, USA (January – May 2025). 

• Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne, France (2022-present). 

• Université Paris II Panthéon Assas, France (2023-present). 

Other positions

• Visiting professor UC LAW in San Francisco (Spring term, 2025). 

• Visiting professor Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne (2022-present). 

• Visiting professor Université Paris II Panthéon Assas (2023-present). 

• Judge at the Regional Disciplinary Court for Healthcare in Amsterdam (2017-present). 

• Member of the Dutch Health Council (January 2024-present). 

• Member of the Dutch Sports Council (September 2024-present). 

• Author Tekst & Commentaar Gezondheidsrecht (2020-present). 

• Member of the Drug Development Board of the LUMC (2025-present). 

• Member of the Self Steering Committee One Health/Una Europa (internationaal universitair samenwerkingsverband; 2022-present). 

• Member of Healthy Society (cooperation of Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities; 2023-present). 

• Consulted as an expert to provide urgent advice to the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport on the vaccination of healthy children aged younger than 12 years, and which vaccine to use (December 2021). 

• Consulted as an expert to provide urgent advice to the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport on the vaccination of healthy children aged 12 years and above, and which vaccine to use (June 2021) 

• Author of Bijzondere Overeenkomsten in Studiereeks Burgerlijk Recht (section on Special Agreements in Study Series on Dutch Civil Law) (2023-present). 

• Member of the monitoring committee for the evaluation of the Domestic Violence and Child Abuse (Obligatory Reporting Code) Act and the Young People at Risk Reference Index Act (2019). 

• Chairman of the Foundation KinderrechtenNU (2015-2016). 

• Member of Leiden Interdisciplinary Network Child abuse & neglect (LINC) (2012-present).

Editorship

Mirjam Sombroek van Doorm is a member of various editorial boards: 

• 2025- Tekst & Commentaar Gezondheidsrecht (Tekst & Commentary Health Law) 

• 2022- Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Jeugdrecht (Dutch Journal of Juvenile Law) 

• 2021- Leerboek Gezondheidsrecht (Health Law Textbook)

Research areas

Mirjam Sombroek van Doorm has secured a number of research grants, particularly at the intersection of healthcare law, children's rights, and medical innovations, for example in the field of gene therapy for children (NWA project Cure4Life) and stem cell research (NWA project Regenerative Medicine). She has also obtained funding through university profile areas and conducts legal research on issues related to drug discovery and development, regenerative medicine, and population health. Together with her team of doctoral candidates and researchers, she examines the legal aspects of medical innovations, innovations in healthcare, and other societal developments related to gender, health, and migration. Where possible and necessary, she incorporates the perspective of children's rights into her healthcare law research. This involves the unique position of children in healthcare law, their right to health, participation, and shared decision-making. She is also active in establishing partnerships with other foreign universities in the field of One Health within the international university consortium Una Europa. 

Successful grant applications 

• Network on Europe-Africa Relations – Education and Research (NEAR-ER): consortium application (Erasmus+/Jean Monnet) (2024-present).  
• NWA call CURE4LIFE. Development and societal impact of stem cell-based genetic medicines (2022-2023 PhD position)
• NWA-small project Regenerative Medicine in context: let’s start preparing society for the impact. Informed consent and ownership with respect to (the use of) body material in regenerative medicine (2022-2023 postdoc 2 years).
• ZonMW, Clinical DECIsion support system for carDiovasculaire risk managEment in primary healthcare: een Verantwoordelijk- en Aansprakelijkheidsperspectief (DECIDE-VerA)
• ZonMW fourth evaluation of the Wet Medisch-wetenschappelijk Onderzoek met Mensen (WMO) (2022-2023)
• University Research Profile Area subsidies (2023-2026):
  - Regenerative medicine
  - Population Health
  - Drug discovery and -development
• Meijers PhD position on Credibility Assessment of asylum claims lodged by minors on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity from a health law perspective (2023)
• Nu Niet Zwanger programme

PhD students

• 2023 -  present, Maarten Wille  

• 2023 - present, Koosje van Lessen Kloeke  

• 2023 -  present, Elias Tissandier  

• 2024 - present, Maurits Westerik  

• 2024 - present, Esther Oldekamp  

• 2023 - present, Jeanette Satink 

• 2025 - heden, Eeuw van den Heuvel  

Upcoming international publications

M.P. Sombroek van Doorm, ‘Palliative care for children at the end-of-life – An international children’s rights approach’, in: Children, Human Rights, and Biomedicine: Protecting Children in the Pursuit of the Highest Attainable Standard of Health, expected 2025.  

Teaching, lectures and interviews

Mirjam Sombroek van Doorm teaches health law in the master's phase of law at Leiden University, among others. She also teaches in the Leiden interfaculty minor in child abuse. She supervises theses in the fields of health law and child and juvenile law, is active in postgraduate education and regularly gives lectures and interviews. She also teaches health law as visiting professor in the master's phase at the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, at the Université Paris II Panthéon Assas and at UC LAW in San Francisco. 

Here are some of het recent educational activities:  

• Right to Health perspectives (postgraduate course UC Law San Francisco; spring semester 2025). 

• Privatissimum, Het kind in het gezondheidsrecht (The child in health law) (master’s course Child Law & Health Law; 2018-heden). 

• Secret medical et l’abus des enfants (colloque Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas; 2023-present). 

• Soins palliatifs pédiatriques: les aspects juridiques (colloque Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas; 2023-present). 

• Droit de la santé (Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne master droit international, européen et comparé; 2022-present). 

• JPAO Centre for Professional Learning 'Geweld in afhankelijkheidsrelaties' (2022). 

• JPAO Actualiteitencollege Gezondheidsrecht (2019-2022) 

• Practicum, internationale kinderontvoering (international child abduction) (master’s course Child Law; 2018-2019). 

• Juridische aspecten van kindermishandeling (Legal aspects of child abuse) (master’s course Child Law; 2017-2020). 

Here are some of her recent lectures:   

• Lecture (in Dutch) for the 10th annual health law conference: Kinderrechten in de zorg (Children’s rights in healthcare) (2024).  

• Lecture (in English) for the University of Pretoria, South Africa: Right to health from a human rights and children’s rights perspective (2023). 

• Cleveringa lecture (in Dutch): Doctor and medical professional secrecy; When does silence turn into speech in cases of suspected domestic violence and child abuse? (Paris; November 2023). 

• Defence of Preliminary Advice (in Dutch) for the Dutch Association for Health Law in the focus area ‘Youth, care and law’ (2023). 

• Webinar (in Dutch) for Strong home: ‘Principle of consent & UNCRC from a legal perspective’ (2022-2023). 

• Lecture (in Dutch) for National Expertise Centre on Child Abuse (LECK): Medical confidentiality and child abuse: new legal grounds for exchanging information (2020). 

• Lecture (in Dutch) for 5th annual conference on health law: The duty of care of medical practitioners (2019). 

• Lecture (in Dutch) for confidential doctors and GPs: Medical confidentiality and child abuse: from conflict of duties towards duty of care (2019).  

• Lecture (in Dutch): A Children's rights perspective on mandatory mental health education in schools, within the framework of Gender, Inclusivity and Protecting the 21st Century Family Conference in Londen (2019). 

• Lecture (in Dutch): Child abuse: from conflict of duties towards duty of care (2019). 

Here are some of her recent interviews  

• Podcast NPO Radio 1 (February 2025): ‘De Koningswens, afl. 4. Baas in eigen buik.’ 

• NRC (November 2024): ‘Eerst verloor hij de regie over zijn leven, daarna verloor zijn dochter de regie over hem.’ 

• Follow the Money (October 2024): ‘Inspectie praat medische misser Amsterdam UMC onterecht goed.’  

• Interview LD (April 2024): ‘Hoogleraar Mirjam Sombroek Van Doorm zet zich in voor kinderrechten in de zorg. ‘Kinderen willen betrokken worden en meedenken’.’  

• Interview LD (March 2024): ‘Abortus in Frankrijk in grondwet, strafrecht bij ons.’ 

• NOVUM (February 2023): Questionnaire, p. 20. 

• Leiden Law Park: Interview over regeneratieve geneeskunde.  

• Interview kinderrechtencollectief (July 2021): Wel/niet vaccineren: ‘’Houd kinderen en jongeren niet klein, maak ze groot en sterk!’’  

• Reformatorisch Dagblad (November 2020): ‘De dokter moet zwijgen of juist niet.’  

• Medisch contact (March 2019): ‘Kindermishandeling: zorg-, meld- en zwijgplicht afwegen.‘ 

• Nederlands Jeugdinstituut: ‘Juridische hulp voor toepassen meldcode.’ 

• Leidsch Dagblad (March 2019): ‘Oplossing voor duivels dilemma: wat doet arts bij vermoeden van kindermishandeling?’  

• Zorg & Welzijn (March 2019): ‘Huisarts kan niet uitgaan van meldingsplicht bij kindermishandeling.’ 

• Defence for Children (February 2019): ‘Het medisch beroepsgeheim versus het melden van (mogelijke) kindermishandeling.’  

• Mare (February 2019): ‘Kindermishandeling: wanneer moet een arts het beroepsgeheim doorbreken?’  

• Privacyweb: ‘In gesprek met een beweger: Mirjam Sombroek-van Doorm promovenda aan de Universiteit Leiden.’  

Activities