Melina Kastrinou (1998) is doing her internship provided by the Erasmus+ program and she is working on the Injury Prevention Review under supervision of prof. Evert Verhagen. She completed her bachelor in Physical Education and Sport Science at the University of Athens in Greece. The main aim of the internship is to update the Injury Prevention Project with the latest reviews.
External Researcher
Phatho Zondi
Dr Zondi is a is a Sports and Exercise Medicine (SEM) Physician experienced in clinical sports medicine, executive management, and leadership. Based in South Africa, she works with a broad range of athletes across numerous sports codes, which has sharpened her expertise in the management and prevention of injury and illness in athletes. She is the Chief Medical Officer for South Africa’s National Olympic Committee and has traveled to numerous World Championships, and Olympic /Paralympic Games. In recent years her clinical and academic pursuits have focused on female athlete health and performance, while her research and advocacy have focused on projects facilitating equity in sport.
Sean Carmody
Dr Sean Carmody is a medical doctor working full-time with Chelsea Football Club. He graduated from the Hull York Medical School in 2015, and during his medical studies, he completed an intercalated degree in Sport and Exercise Science at Loughborough University. Upon completing his foundation years, he went on to do training in General Practice, gaining full membership in August 2020. He has recently finished his Masters in Sporting Directorship at Manchester Metropolitan University. In March 2021, he commenced the postgraduate diploma in musculoskeletal ultrasound at the University of East London.
During his initial clinical years, Sean successfully undertook his Masters in Exercise and Sports Medicine (Football) at the University of Birmingham. In 2019, he was accepted to the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine having passed the two-part MFSEM exam. Sean has several peer-reviewed publications in the field of football medicine, including papers on mental health, the retired footballer and training load monitoring. Having played international rugby league for Ireland, Sean is passionate about sport and is in the process of finishing his UEFA B coaching licence.
Prior to working at Chelsea FC, Sean spent three seasons working with the first team and Academy at Queens Park Rangers FC. He has also held clinical positions with London GAA (Gaelic Football and Hurling) and the European Tour (Golf). He is Senior Editor for Football Medicine & Performance and Secretary for the Football Association Medical Society (FAMS).
Paul McGinley
Junior Researcher
Paul graduated as a Physiotherapist in 1999 from the now QMU in Edinburgh, and his sports career started in professional football (soccer) in early 2002 at Hibernian FC. He undertook his Masters’ degree in Manual Therapy at the University of Western Australia in 2005 and began working with Scottish Rugby in 2006 where he progressed to become the Lead Physiotherapist for the Scotland National Team, and the Head of Performance Medical. He attended the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand in 2011 with Scotland, and the Rio Olympics in 2016 as the Lead Physiotherapist for GB Rugby 7s for Women. Paul is a qualified Medical Educator for First Aid and Trauma Management for World Rugby, a Gold level member of the ACPSEM and a registered International Sports Physical Therapist (RISPT). In 2017, he ran off to the circus and joined Cirque du Soleil where he became the Director of Performance Medicine, based in Montreal. In 2020, Paul returned to Europe with his family and is now a Scientific Researcher in the Department for Public and Occupational Health at the Amsterdam UMC.
Matthias Lang
Junior Researcher
Matthias (1988) is a former track & field decathlete and sprinter with great passion for all sports. After receiving his Bachelor’s in mechanical engineering in 2010, he spent several years working in the consulting industry before returning to school and earning his Master’s of Human Movement Sciences. His thesis focused on workload management and injury rates for circus artists.
Due to a long list of personal injuries, his main research interests are within injury prevention at all levels - elite, recreational, and disabled athletes. He also enjoys learning about research that is focused on implementing & promoting more active, healthy lifestyles
Gwendolyn Vuurberg
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Gwen Vuurberg (1990) recently graduated as a medical doctor and defended her PhD on chronic lateral ankle instability at the University of Amsterdam. Her PhD was a collaboration between the orthopaedics and radiology department.
Her main research topics are: 1. Prevention of chronic ankle instability and concomitant joint damage; and 2. Prediction and prognosis after ankle injury. On these topics she still assists other PhD-students. Besides research activities, she participates in the organization of a number of courses by the Academic Center for Evidence-based Sports medicine.
Mikel Reilingh
Collaboratoring Researcher
Mikel Reilingh (1983) is an orthopaedic surgeon at Albert Schweitzer hospital with special interest in sports traumatology of the knee and ankle. After obtaining his medical degree in 2008 he started to work as a PhD student at the department of orthopedic surgery of the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam (prof. dr. C.N. van Dijk & prof. dr. G.M.M.J. Kerkhoffs). In 2016, he graduated with his thesis about different treatment options for cartilage defects in the ankle. His orthopaedic training was performed in the cluster AMC between 2011 and 2017. After his residency he did a knee fellow-ship at St. Antonius hospital in 2018.
His main research topics are: 1. Diagnosis and treatment in osteochondral talar defects; and 2. Return to play after ACL reconstruction.
If you want to know more about his research and publications, it might be worth to check out his ResearchGate.
Bruno Tassignon
Junior Researcher
Bruno Tassignon is a PhD-student under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Romain Meeusen at the Human Physiology Research Group, Faculty LK at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium).
Jo Verschueren
Junior Researcher
Jo Verschueren is a PhD-student under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Romain Meeusen at the Human Physiology Research Group, Faculty LK at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium). He also coordinates the specialization 'sports rehabilitation' of the education 'Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy' at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
Sander Bliekendaal
Junior Researcher
Sander holds a Bachelor degree in Physical Education (2006) and a Master degree in Human Movement Sciences (2010). Sander has worked as a PE teacher, as an exercise physiologist and as a manager/researcher in a variety of research projects. Currently he works as a researcher at the faculty of Sports and Nutrition at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. His teaching activities focus on research methodology and thesis supervision. His main research topics are the etiology and prevention of sport injuries in physical education teacher students. Sander is an external PhD student at the Department of Public and Occupational Health of Amsterdam UMC.
Nikki Rommers
Collaboratoring Researcher
Nikki obtained a BSc and MSc degree in Rehabilitations Sciences and Physiotherapy from Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. Currently, she is a visiting PhD student at the Department of Public and Occupational Health of Amsterdam UMC. Her PhD research at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Ghent University (Belgium), funded by Research Foundation Flanders, focusses on injury risk factors in terms of growth and maturation as well as physical performance and motor coordination in elite level Belgian football players between 9 and 15 years of age.
During her stay at Amsterdam UMC, she will work on advanced methodology in injury research, focussing on causal inference in the investigation of injury risk.
Natalia Bittencourt
in Complexity
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Natalia FN Bittencourt holds a PhD (2015) from the Federal University of Minas Gerais and a Msc degree in Rehabilitation Sciences from Federal University of Minas Gerais, both in the Brazil.
Her main research topics are physical therapy pre season assessment, complex system approach, determinants of sports injuries, and preventive programs for sports injuries. As part of her PhD research, Natalia developed a complex system approach for sports injuries and assessed soccer players in order to identify interaction of risk factors for muscle injuries.
Within the Sports PT department from Minas Tenis Clube, Natalia has implemented an injury registration system for epidemiological information, and also has lead the process of applying preventive programs for sports injuries in 1,000 athletes from volleyball, basketball, judo, gymnastic, swimming, and indoor soccer. Additionally, she is responsible for individual supervision in sports clinical practice of postgraduate physical therapists. Also, she works as an Adjunct Professor at University - Uni-BH
Annika Prien
in HitG
Collaboratoring Researcher
Annika Prien graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Sports Sciences from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and with a Master’s degree in Sports and Exercise Psychology from Brunel University London, UK. Since 2015 she has worked as a research assistant at the MSH Medical School Hamburg in the Department for Prevention and Sport. Currently, Annika Prien is studying towards a PhD on long-term health in elite sports at the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam.
In her PhD project entitled “Head in the Game”, Annika evaluates a broad array of health outcomes in retried football players, with a particular focus on the potential long-term effects of sport-related head impacts on cognitive function. Further research interests include injury surveillance in aquatics sports and prevalence of mental health issues in elite athletes.
In her spare time, Annika plays Ultimate Frisbee and enjoys climbing mountains.
Roland Rossler
Collaboratoring Researcher
Roland Rössler is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Public and Occupational Health of VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. During his PhD studies at the Department of Sport, Exercise and Health at the University of Basel, Switzerland, he investigated injury characteristics and injury prevention in children’s football (soccer). After his PhD he coordinated an international multicentre study to investigate the efficacy of the new injury prevention programme, specifically designed for children’s football (“11+ Kids”).
During his postdoctoral project at the VU University Medical Center he investigates the influence of relative age and maturity on motor performance and on physical activity levels in school children. His project is kindly funded by the prestigious “Early Postdoc Mobility Fellowship” from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
James Brown
Collaborating Researcher
James is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine (ESSM)[JB1] at the University of Cape Town (South Africa). His PhD evaluated the effectiveness of a nationwide injury prevention program for rugby union, called BokSmart (www.boksmart.com). As a result of his PhD, he now holds a joint Post-Doctoral position paid by the South African Rugby Union’s BokSmart department (www.boksmart.com) and Chris Burger Petro Jackson Players’ Fund (www.playersfund.org.za).
James’ research interests include: preventing all rugby-related injuries including catastrophic injuries, evaluation and implementation of interventions, understanding barriers to optimal health care of all rugby players including those who have suffered catastrophic injuries while playing the game.
Nicola Sewry
in SafeSix
Collaborating Researcher
Nicola studied her BSc in Human Kinetics and Ergonomics and Biochemistry at Rhodes University, before moving to the University of Cape Town to complete her BSc (Med) (Hons) in Exercise Science (Biokinetics) and her MSc in Exercise Science. She completed her Biokinetics internship at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa where she continues to practice as a Biokineticist. She is currently based at the University of Cape Town at the Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine.
She has a keen interest in rugby, having completed her research in rugby video performance analysis initially and then performance and fatigue monitoring at university level rugby. She is currently studying towards her PhD at the University of Cape Town, with her focus on injury prevention in the South African rugby union setting. Her project will be partnered with the South African Rugby Union (SARU) and BokSmart using the BokSmart ‘Safe Six’ exercises as an injury prevention program.
In her spare time, Nicola is an avid runner and enjoys being outdoors.
Judith Jelsma
Collaboratoring Researcher
Judith Jelsma is currently working as a Phd-student of the DALI project at the Department of Public and Occupational Health at the EMGO+ Institute of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam. Judith completed her Masters in Human Movement Science at the VU University in Amsterdam in 2007. After her study, she worked as a research assistent (PROFIT study) at the Department of Public and Occupational Health of the EMGO+ Institute.
Marelise Badenhorst
Collaborating Researcher
Marelise studied Physiotherapy at Stellenbosch University where she also obtained a Master’s degree in Orthopaedic Manual Therapy. She worked as an Orthopaedic and Sports injury Physiotherapist in both public and private health care, until she became a full-time PhD student as part of the Vrije University-NRF South Africa Desmond Tutu Doctoral Programme in 2015. She is currently based at Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine of the University of Cape Town.
For her PhD study, she will investigate the long-term consequences of catastrophic injuries in South African Rugby union players. This project will be conducted in conjunction with the Chris Burger /Petro Jackson Players’ Fund, a non-profit organisation that provides psychological, physical and emotional support for players who have been seriously injured. In her free time, she enjoys running and mountain biking.
Saulo Delfino Barboza
in HealthPact
Collaborating Researcher
Saulo Delfino Barboza (1988) is a physiotherapist. After his bachelor he became member of the National Society of Sports Physiotherapy (SONAFE, Brazil) and earned his Master’s degree in Health Sciences. During his clinical practice in Brazil he was interested in implementing preventive measures in real-life sport situations. Currently, in his doctoral research at the VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, he investigates methods to provide eHealth solutions for transferring knowledge on prevention and management of sport health problems to different (elite) sport settings.
Luiz Hespanhol Junior
in Run4Health
Collaborating Researcher
Luiz Carlos Hespanhol Junior (1986) is a sports physiotherapist. After his graduation he worked in private physiotherapy clinics and in an elite track and field team (national and Olympic level) in São Paulo, Brazil. His master’s dissertation (UNICID, Brazil) was on the epidemiology of running injuries, and then he got a Brazilian scholarship (from CAPES) to do his PhD in the Department of Public and Occupational Health and EMGO+ Institute at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam. He is also a research fellow of the São Paulo Running Injury Group (SPRunIG) in Brazil. His main interest is in sports and physical activity research, including the promotion of physical activity and the prevention and treatment of sports injuries.