The 2013 Ultra-Early Intervention Conference, 16 May 2013
Faculty
Ann-Marie Widström, RN MTD PhD
Ann-Marie Widström, is midwife, associate professor and senior researcher at the Department of
Women's and Children's Health, Unit of Perinatal Heath (including midwifery education) at the
Karolinska Institutet. Her main research area is newborn behavior in the first hours after birth and
maternal infant interaction. Ann-Marie.Widstrom@ki.se
Jeffrey R. Alberts, PhD
Jeff Alberts is Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University, in Bloomington,
Indiana, USA. For many years he has studied the psychobiology of rodent behavioral development,
with studies ranging from prenatal behavior to weaning. He has also focused on parent-offspring
interactions. Because his approach has emphasized the adaptive physiology and behavior of whole
organisms, it was an almost natural transition for him to become certified as a NIDCAP observer,
about a year ago. That training and his involvement with physicians, nurses, and scientists at
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center explains his current, dual affiliation. Jeff now serves on
the Board of directors of the NIDCAP Federation International. alberts@indiana.edu
Martha Welch, MD PhD
Dr Welch received her medical degree in 1971from Columbia University College of Physicians &
Surgeons. In 1978 she founded the Mothering Center in Greenwich CT for treatment of families with
children with behavioral disorders. As a result of her ten year collaboration with Nobel Laureate Niko
Tinbergen, she published the book “ Holding Time” in1988 in 6 languages. In a rare career switch, in
1997, Dr Welch joined the faculty of Columbia University Medical Center in the Department of
Psychiatry, Division of Developmental Neuroscience. She is jointly appointed to Pediatrics as well as
to Pathology and Cell Biology. Dr Welch’s work is translational –spanning human infants, animal
models, and cell culture. mgw13@columbia.edu
Blaise Pierrehumbert, PhD
Blaise Pierrehumbert is a developmental psychologist. He is head of a research unit at the Lausanne
University Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and he also teaches, as a Privat-Docent, at
the Psychology Institute and at the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the Lausanne University. His
research topics are attachment and developmental psychopathology, neuroendocrinology of
attachment and stress, early deprivation, and cross-cultural aspects of attachment.
Blaise.Pierrehumbert@chuv.ch
Zack Boukydis, PhD
Zack Boukydis is a developmental/clinical psychologist and visiting Professor in the Department of
Pediatrics, University of Turku, Turku Finland, the Department of Pediatrics, Semmelweis Medical
School, and the Institute of Psychology, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary. With his
collaborators, he helped to develop the Close Collaboration with Parents training program for NICU
staff to watch infants with parents. He has had a number of funded research protocols, and is the
author of numerous publications and recently published Collaborative Consultation with Parents and
Infants in the Perinatal Period (Brookes). zboukydis@gmail.com
Aleid G van Wassenaer-Leemhuis, MD PhD
Aleid van Wassenaer-Leehius is a pediatrician and researcher at Academic Medical Center at
University of Amsterdam. Chairperson of Dutch society of follow up of NICU graduates. Adjunct
Professor of Pediatrics, New York Medical College. Her main research fields of interest are
neonatology, paediatric endocrinology (thyroidology), developmental paediatrics.
a.vanwassenaer@amc.uva.nl
Dominique Meijssen, PhD
Dominique Meijssen is a health care psychologist and researcher at Academic Medical Center at
University of Amsterdam. Her main research field of interest is parenting and psychological stress
after very preterm delivery. d.e.meijssen@amc.uva.nl
Liisa Lehtonen, MD PhD
Liisa Lehtonen is professor and Head of Neonatatology at the Turku University Hospital in Turku,
Finland. She has broad involvement in research of newborns e.g., clinical short- and long-term
outcome, brain development, mother-infant relationship, economic aspects of neonatal care. She is
consulting expert for the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health in Finland and
associate Editor Acta Paediatrica. Liisa.Lehtonen@tyks.fi
Megan Spencer-Smith, PhD
Megan Spencer-Smith is a devolopmenatl psychologist at Murdoch Childrens Research Institute,
Melbourne Australia and postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska
Institutet. megan.spencer-smith@ki.se
Inger Pauline Landsem, RN MBA
Inger Pauline Landsem is a NICU nurse and research fellow at Dept of Pediatrics at the University
Hospital of North Norway, Tromsö. She is also a NBAS Trainer and has been involved in the Tromsø
Intervention Preterm Study (TIPS). Inger.Pauline.Landsem@unn.no
Karin Stjernqvist, PhD
Karin Stjernqvist is a developmental psychologist and professor at the Institution of Psychology at
University of Lund, Sweden. She is president of the Scandinavian Brazelton Center and has a long
involvement in family centered developmentally supportive care. Her main field of research I
longitudinal follow-up studies of prematurely born infants. karin.stjernqvist@psy.lu.se
Lena Hellström-Westas MD PhD
Lena Hellström-Westas is a neonatologist and professor in Perinatal Medicin at Uppsala University.
She has a long experience in family centered developmenatall y supportive care and is medical codirector of the board of Karolinska NIDCAP Training Center. Her main field of research is brain
development, brain physiology and gender aspects of the prematurely born infant.
lena.westas@kbh.uu.se
Hugo Lagercrantz MD PhD
Hugo Lagercrantz was appointed professor of pediatrics at the Karolinska Institute 1989. He is editorin-chief for Acta Paediatrica. He has been a member of the Nobel Assembly and the Nobel
Committee. He has a long experience in family centered developmenatall y supportive care and is
medical director of the board of Karolinska NIDCAP Training Center. His research has involved many
different areas, e.g., levels of catecholamines in infants during normal birth (“The stress of being
born”), apnea of prematurity and the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), brain development
particularly of children who are born too early, how consciousness emerges and what happens when
there is an abnormal development of the brain. He is the main editor of the book the “Newborn
Brain – neuroscience and clinical applications (Cambridge University Press). Hugo.lagercrantz@ki.se
Björn Westrup, MD PhD
Björn Westrup is a senior consultant in neonatology and Director of the Karolinska NIDCAP Training
Center at Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital. His field of research is
mainly medical and physiological aspects of developmentally supportive care, family centered care
and iron metabolism. He has been director of the Karolinska NIDCAP Training Center since its start in
1999. It was the first NIDCAP Center in Europe and has played a major role in the development of
other European centers. Dr Westrup has pioneering the development of family centered
developmentally supportive couplet care – a care model that minimize the separation of infant from
its mother by if needed providing medical care also for the mother together with her infant in the
neonatal unit. Bjorn.westrup@karolinska.se