I received my medical training at Medizinische Hochschule Hannover (Germany) from 1987 to 1993 and was trained and worked as a Pediatric Nephrologist in this center until 1999. After working a consultant Pediatric Nephrologist in Bonn between 1999 and 2001, I moved to Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and have since been working in VU university medical center (now part of Amsterdam university medical centers).

My clinical work covers the entire spectrum of pediatric nephrology. I closely co-operate with the department of pediatric urology and have a leading role in the multidisciplinary spina bifida team of AUMC.

My major fields of interest lie in the measurement and estimation of GFR, diagnostic potential of proteinuria analysis and in renal tubular disease, in particular Lowe and Dent disease. I have done substantial research on cystatin C, the novel marker of GFR and I am in the steering committee of the European Kidney Function Consortium working on standardization and application of gold-standard GFR measurement. I am on the scientific board of the Dutch Kidney Foundation. My most recent research has focused on kidney disease in patients with Down syndrome and measurement of GFR in patients with spina bifida.

I am very active in post-graduate teaching and have set-up annual teaching courses on pediatric nephrology at our institution.