Fransje van der Waals (born 1950 in

Heemstede Heemstede () is a town and a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the fourth richest municipality of the Netherlands. History Heemstede formed around the Castle ''Heemstede'' that was built overlooking the ...

) is a Dutch medical physician and founder of the non-profit organisation Health oundation.

Career

After her study at the Faculty of Medicine of the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

, Fransje received her MD degree in 1978 and her PhD from the same university in 1995. In 1981, she was board certified in the Netherlands as general practitioner. In 1987, she became assistant professor and head of the Women's Health Studies Department at the

Academic Medical Center An academic medical centre (AMC), variously also known as academic health science centre, academic health science system, or academic health science partnership, is an educational and healthcare institute formed by the grouping of a health profes ...

of the

. In the period 1979-2001, Fransje published over 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals and between 1983 and 1997 she also published five books on women's health issues. She also wrote medical columns in

ELLE ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

and Santé magazines on a regular basis and has a weekly radio talk show on health-related subjects. During her entire career, van der Waals has remained active as a general practitioner and has been a partner in a general practice in the center of Amsterdam for almost 25 years. As a physician she is used to educate her patients as well as teach and train healthcare personnel. She thus initiated Health oundation, a distance computer-based training program for healthcare workers in the developing world who are involved in the treatment and care of HIV/AIDS patients. A first pilot of the program was shown at the International AIDS Conference in Barcelona in 2002. From that moment on, things proceeded quickly. From a one-woman idea Health oundation became a leading educational organization on HIV healthcare. Currently, her foundation has grown to a successful organisation. Beside HIV ducation, TB ducation, Pediatric HIV ducation and Community ducation are developed and used in developing countries. More

e learning Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, edtech, it often refe ...

programs are being developed, including bacteriology, malaria, reproductive health and a program for children to educate, train and empower healthcare workers all around the world. The concept of

blended learning Norm Friesen (born March 21, 1966) is Professor in Educational Technology at Boise State University. Norm Friesen studied German Literature, Secondary Education, and Communication at the Johns Hopkins University, University of Alberta and Simon Fr ...

using

as well as onside workshops makes these training programs a success.

Personal life

Fransje is married to Jaap Goudsmit and has three daughters. She currently lives in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

External links

Health e Foundation

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waals, Fransje 1950 births Living people HIV/AIDS researchers Dutch general practitioners People from Heemstede