I am an orthopaedic spine surgeon and postdoctoral researcher in the Utrecht Scoliosis Research Group with the ambition to improve the quality of life and treatment options for children with acquired spinal deformities.
During my PhD, I studied the changes in spinal shape during human evolution and in scoliosis using advanced 3-D imaging techniques. The UMC Utrecht scoliosis research group has, with great help of the Cotrel Fondation, studied the patho-anatomical changes during growth of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients and patients with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.
Currently, we run two large longitudinal studies on normal and abnormal spinal growth in younger sisters of scoliosis patients and on optimization of scoliosis brace treatment. With these studies we try to understand what the role is of the intervertebral discs in the development of scoliosis.
Our scoliosis research line has led to introduction of ultrashort BoneMRI as well as spinal ultrasound for scoliosis patients. I performed international research fellowships at the Alfred I duPont Hospital for Children, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a clinical fellowships in Edinburgh.
This international experience led to my strong belief in knowledge exchange and data sharing for high-quality research and the initiation of collaboration with many international top research groups for subsequent projects.