Specialization
Focus of research
Lieke Beltman (1994) obtained a medical degree from the University of Maastricht in 2020. During her Bachelor education she joined a study into breast reconstructions after mastectomy at the department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery of the Maastricht UMC. She was a medical intern at the Amsterdam University Medical Center where she also conducted a study into the histopathology of Hirschsprung disease at the department of Pediatric Surgery of the Amsterdam UMC. This further spurred her interest in Pediatrics.
Lieke Beltman is currently appointed at the Emma Children’s Hospital Amsterdam UMC, where she works on a PhD. As part of her studies, she manages a recently launched (2017) outpatient clinic for children with congenital diseases requiring surgery early in life, including children with Hirschsprung disease, oesophageal atresia, congenital lung malformation, anorectal malformation, sacrococcygeal teratoma, short bowel disease, gastroschisis and omphalocele. This outpatient clinic offers multidisciplinary follow-up at the ages 6, 12 and 24 months and 6, 12, and 16 years by a multidisciplinary team of pediatric surgeons, pediatric pulmonologists, pediatric gastroenterologists, psychologists, physiotherapists, radiologists and geneticists. The newly developed outpatient clinic is part of the Emma Children’s Hospital Amsterdam UMC Follow Me program, an ambitious program that aims to establish multidisciplinary follow-up programs for all tertiary care pediatric patients with the ambition to enhance clinical follow-up, support routine outcome monitoring, and fuel clinical multidisciplinary research to improve clinical care. More information on the Emma Children’s Hospital Amsterdam UMC Follow Me program can be found here.
Lieke Beltman’ current research is partly embedded in this follow-up program and focuses on the prediction of long-term outcomes after early-life surgery in children with congenital disease and Hirschsprung disease in particular. Her work aims to understand the risk and protective factors including disease characteristics and perioperative data. In addition, her current research involves discovering the histopathology of Hirschsprung disease. The ultimate aim of her studies is to improve accurate diagnosis, preoperative treatment and surgical techniques in children with congenital disease requiring surgery.