Albert Bruschke: Dutch cardiologist and professor

He was professor at Leiden University Medical Center between 1984 and 2000. He was founder of Dutch coronary arteriography.

Bruschke studied medicine in Leiden and studied aftwards two years internal medicine in the former St. Elisabeth Hospital [nl]. Bruschke started in in 1963 a cardiology training at the St. Antonius hospital [nl] in Utrecht under the supervision of C.L.C. van Nieuwenhuizen. He became a registered cardiologist in 1966. In 1965 he introduced introduced coronary angiography in the Netherlands, as one of the in the first countries in Europe. He received his doctorate from the University of Groningen in 1970 with his thesis "The diagnostic significance of the coronary arteriogram: a study on its value in relation to other diagnostic methods".

As a Special Fellow, Bruschke immersed himself in research into the natural course of coronary abnormalities at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, the United States from 1971 to 1972. His efforts resulted in multiple of publications on the progression of coronary disease. These articles were later classified as 'Citation Classics' in 1982. After his Cleveland studies, Bruschke was invited to numerous national and international committees in the field of coronary disease, including becoming Fellow of the Society of Cardiac Angiography, the College of Chest Physicians, the American College of Cardiology and Founding Father of the European Society of Cardiology. In 1972 Bruschke became head and trainer of the cardiology department of the St. Antonius hospital [nl] in Utrecht. He was in the Netherlands also chairman of the coronary angiography committee (1973-78), represented the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Cardiologie at the "Specialisten Registratie Commissie" (translated: Specialist Registration Committee) (1980-82) and was chairman of the board of the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Cardiologie from 1983 to 1985.

He became professor and trainer of cardiology at Leiden University Medical Center in 1984. With the arrival of Bruschke, the Cardiobiochemistry laboratory also started to focus on research into the lipoproteins in blood from 1985. He supervised in his period 22 PhD-students. He retired in 2000.

Bruschke died in Leiden on 1 December 2022, at the age of 87.