International Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Open Access

Merel Jansen

Biography

Merel Jansen was born in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on April 20th 1983. In 2001, she completed her secondary education (HAVO) at the Revius Lyceum Doorn and she started studying physiotherapy at the Hogeschool Utrecht. After obtaining her Bachelor of Health Science degree in 2005, she followed the Master’s program Health Sciences with specialization in Prevention and Public Health at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Meanwhile she worked as a physiotherapist in a health centre. During the Master’s program she did her five-month research internship at the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. In this internship she focused on determinants of physical activity in youth, which was part of the cross-national survey Health Behaviour in School-aged Children. After obtaining her Master of Science degree in 2007, she started her PhD project at the Department of Rehabilitation at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre. In this project, called the No Use is Disuse (NUD study), she investigated the effectiveness of assisted physical training in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) under supervision of dr. Imelda JM de Groot, dr. Nens van Alfen and Prof. dr. Alexander CH Geurts. The NUD study was funded by the patient organization Duchenne Parent Project. During the first two years of her PhD project she also worked part-time as a physiotherapist at a school for chronically ill children. Furthermore, she performed clinical evaluations for an exon-skipping trial at the Radboud University Medical Centre.

Currently, she is continuing her research on physical training in boys with DMD at the Department of Rehabilitation at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre.

Research Interest

Duchenne muscular dystrophy, physiotherapy, clinical evaluations, an exon-skipping trial, Rehabilitation

Relevant Topics