Professor of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Jan Willem Gorter, affiliated with the Brain and Child Health spearheads and the Rehabilitation Medicine Knowledge Center Utrecht (KCRU), has received a Canadian career award. The Canadian Paediatric Society elected him the winner of the Career Research Award, which “recognizes the career of an outstanding researcher working on an aspect of pediatric research in Canada.
The pediatric rehabilitation physician is obviously very pleased with the award: ‘Obviously, this award is an appreciation for the team of students, staff and researchers, as well as the children, adolescents and families I have had the privilege of working with. I am very grateful for all the support and mentorship I have been able to receive from colleagues in the CanChild research group, the Department of Pediatrics, and McMaster University, where I have worked for the past 13 years. In this, I would also like to include the team from the Rehabilitation Medicine Knowledge Center Utrecht and the Brain and Child Health spearheads of UMC Utrecht.
Jan Willem Gorter has been Professor of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine at UMC Utrecht since August 1, 2021. He already held an appointment as professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, and had been a visiting professor of pediatric rehabilitation medicine at UMC Utrecht for several years prior to his appointment. With his research on children with brain disease, muscle disease, oncological disease and skeletal disposition disorders, he bridges the Brain and Child Health spearheads.
The Career Research Reward Gorter has now received is for an outstanding and talented researcher working on an aspect of pediatric research in Canada. In Utrecht, Gorter and his team aim to take the complex care of children with developmental disabilities and the family to a higher level in order to improve their health. Gorter: ‘We do this by increasing our knowledge of how these children can better participate in our society, help increase their autonomy and ease the transition to adulthood.’ To this end, Gorter developed, among other things, the Six-F Word Model, which is based on the child’s abilities rather than limitations due to a disorder.
