Marieke Lagro (1969) is gynaecologist and MD Global Health. During the GHTM residency, working in obstetrics turned out to be a surprisingly satisfying experience for Marieke. She had never expected to enjoy working in this field of medicine so much (the nursing staff & the gynaecologist certainly played an important role in this experience) nor that it would eventually lead to her current profession.
From 1998 – 2002 Marieke worked as a medical officer in Mpongwe Mission Hospital in Zambia. In this 90-bed district she was mainly responsible for the children’s and maternity ward. Here, her interest in and knowledge of women’s health further developed. A real challenge, and good learning experience, was introducing the Kangaroo-method to nurse premature babies. One of its success stories was the baby in photo 1. The outreach program was resuscitated with money from a friend’s foundation. Marieke loved to join the outreach team on their visits to ‘nearby’ communities. Together with the midwives she conducted a small research project about postpartum health problems, which was a lot of fun and resulted in two publications.
Marieke specialised in Obstetrics & Gynaecology in Rotterdam. Since 2009 she works as a gynaecologist in the Groene Hart Ziekenhuis in Gouda. The team of gynaecologists, midwives and nurses is very dedicated to the training of doctors, including residents Global Health & Tropical Medicine. Marieke is involved with global health in different ways. She is a member of the Working Party on International Safe Motherhood & Reproductive health and since 2013 secretary to the Board of the Dutch Society of Tropical Medicine and International Health (NVTG). As a direct supervisor she is responsible for the training of residents Global Health and Tropical Medicine.
Since 2012 Marieke is volunteer for Stichting Immo (Netherlands Institute for Human Rights and Medical Assessement). The institute contributes to the protection of human rights by making medical assessments of suspected victims of torture and inhumane treatment in the context of an asylum procedure. These persons are severely traumatized and an assessment by iMMO is usually their last resort. Marieke finds the work rewarding.
Do you want to read more about Safe Motherhood? Visit the working party’s website at https://safemotherhood.nl
For more information about iMMO, check: http://www.stichtingimmo.nl/
Now: Marieke Lagro and resident GHTM Esther van der Neut