Robotic touch sensors are not just skin deep
May 2, 2025
CHICAGO --- Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine received significant attention in the Chicago Tribune June 4 for its newly announced collaboration between Northwestern and Dutch scientists and entrepreneurs in Chicago and the Netherlands in the field of healthy aging.
But the big draw for the event was two prominent Dutch citizens -- King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima. The Dutch monarchs visited the Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center at Feinberg as part of their tour of the Midwest and Canada to mark new transatlantic partnerships.
About a dozen media photographers and video crews covered the event.
Northwestern and Dutch scientists will look for breakthroughs in areas such as anti-aging technology, cancer treatment, Alzheimer’s disease and new robotic tools for rehabilitation, the Tribune wrote. Entrepreneurs here and there also will look for ways to commercialize medical breakthroughs.
Related link: Feinberg Welcomes Dutch King and Queen to Campus
Julius Dewald, chairman of Feinberg’s department of physical therapy and human movement sciences and a Dutch native, helped develop the partnership and organized the visit. The research center’s lobby displayed his robotics work, which helps stroke patients with rehabilitation, as well as research by other Northwestern scientists.
Dewald talked to the Tribune about the joy his late mother would have experienced if she could have participated in the event.
“If she were still alive, this would have been the proudest day of her life,” he said.
Dr. Marsel Mesulam chatted with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima about his new clinical trial in Alzheimer’s disease.
“This is the single most important event in the field of Alzheimer’s prevention,” said Mesulam, director of Northwestern’s Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center.
The Tribune captured the excitement of the occasion as King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima arrived at Lurie in a big Chevy with a Dutch flag behind a police escort.
“They smiled and waved, then shook hands with seven Dutch professors who’ll be coming to Northwestern as part of the program,” the Tribune’s Carpenter wrote.
Almost as quickly as the event began, it was over, he concluded.
“The king and queen waved and shook hands as they walked out into the late-morning sun. The motorcade pulled away. They waved again, this time from inside the car.”
Read the entire article online in the Chicago Tribune.
