Jaap Oosterlaan (born 1962) is a full professor of Paediatric Neuropsychology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He has a background in health sciences, completed his PhD in psychology, and is now a full professor of Paediatric Neuropsychology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His primary affiliation is with the Emma Children’s Hospital at Amsterdam University Medical Center, where he serves as the director of the Follow Me healthcare innovation program, as well as the chair and principal investigator of the Emma Neuroscience Group. For more information, please visit the Amsterdam UMC website.
The Follow Me healthcare innovation program at Emma Children’s Hospital, Amsterdam University Medical Center, aims to integrate excellent patient care, continuous evaluation and innovation of care processes, scientific research, and professional training. The program designs and implements structured outpatient care pathways for all level-three pediatric patients. Information for patients can be found here. The structured nature of these care pathways facilitates the creation of extensive patient databases, which can be linked to various sources of structured data collected during hospital admissions. These comprehensive databases support the evaluation of care and research on outcomes, risk and protective factors, and prognosis. Follow-up programs have been developed for various diagnostic groups, including patients admitted to the ICU and NICU, those undergoing congenital and open-heart surgeries, and patients with endocrine disorders (variations in sex characteristics). New programs are regularly launched, and an increasing number of research projects are building on these expanding databases. Currently, the healthcare innovation program is being adapted for broader implementation across the Amsterdam University Medical Center. Oosterlaan also chairs a working group preparing for the launch of a healthcare innovation program across all seven academic children’s hospitals in the Netherlands.
Oosterlaan supervises and collaborates on a wide range of research projects closely linked to the Follow Me healthcare innovation program. These include studies on the outcomes of patients admitted to the ICU and those undergoing congenital surgeries. An increasing number of studies are using machine learning to develop clinical prediction models, some of which have already been implemented in clinical practice. In addition, his research group conducts studies aimed at (1) charting and (2) understanding the effects of disease and treatment on brain structure and function, and (3) developing and testing interventions to enhance brain function. This scientific work focuses on child psychiatric conditions, primarily ADHD, as well as a range of other pediatric conditions that affect the brain, such as preterm birth, sickle cell anemia, meningitis, and traumatic brain injury. Typically, this line of research employs brain imaging techniques like EEG and MRI, along with various measures of brain function, including cognitive, motor, behavioral, and academic performance.
Oosterlaan has published more than 450 international peer-reviewed papers, with an h-index of 85 (Web of Science). Under his supervision, more than 50 PhD students have received their doctoral degrees, of which 6 were awarded the designation cum laude. Oosterlaan is currently supervising another 15 PhD students. He participates in several national (e.g., NeuroIMAGE) and international consortia (e.g., various ENIGMA groups). Oosterlaan is a board member of the Amsterdam Reproduction & Development Research Institute and a member of the Dutch Health Council, where he serves as chair of the standing committee that reviews draft advisory reports and ensures compliance with the Health Council's standards.
