Marieke Verkleij received NRS Travel Grant

I’m working at the VU University Medical Center Amsterdam as a pediatric psychologist and researcher, specialized in pediatric pulmonology. On June 3rd 2016 I had my doctoral graduation regarding “Children with problematic severe asthma: A biopsychosocial perspective.”
As a member of the European Cystic Fibrosis Mental Health Working Group, I visited the European Cystic Fibrosis Conference from 7-11 June 2016 in Basel, Switzerland, with the help of the NRS Travel Grant.
During the conference, I was able to present my research work with screening results of anxiety and depression in adolescents with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and their parents from our CF Center Amsterdam by a poster session. I also participated at the CF Mental Health Working Group meeting, where we shared experiences regarding screening and treatment of anxiety and depression in CF all over Europe, and we made concrete plans for implementation of the guidelines.  Besides that, I visited lectures and workshop at the congress to renew my knowledge on the field.

To be at the ECFS 2016 was a great challenge for me to create new contacts for collaboration, share experiences with CF-care and have input from novel perspectives.  I’m very grateful to the NRS who gave me this opportunity.

Marieke Verkleij, PhD
Pediatric Psychologist/Cognitive Behavioral Therapist
Department of Pediatric Psychology
VU University Medical Center Amsterdam
E-mail: m.verkleij@vumc.nl