Kirsten Davidse

Kirsten has been working as a registered nurse at Erasmus University Medical Centre from 2014 until 2017. At the general endocrinology ward, she took care of patients admitted for diagnostic endocrine function tests. She got interested in the endocrine pathology, treatment, and guidance of patients with rare endocrine genetic disorders, like Prader Willi Syndrome.

In 2019, Kirsten got her master's degree Advanced Nursing Practice and was the first Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Netherlands who focused entirely on rare endocrine genetic syndromes. That makes Kirsten a real pioneer in endocrine nursing. Together with Dr. Laura de Graaff, Genetic and Developmental endocrinologist at Erasmus University Medical Centre she started a multi-disciplinary outpatient clinic for adults with Rare Genetic Syndromes. This Centre aims to improve quality of healthcare for adults with RGS, combining unique specialized multidisciplinary care with innovative fundamental and clinical research. To improve transition from paediatric care to adult endocrine care, Kirsten contributed to the launch of the Young Adults Clinic, a specialised transition clinic that was initiated to prevent dropout of patients with rare endocrine disorders during the transition phase. With her efforts to improve (transition of) care for adults with rare diseases, Kirsten contributes significantly to patient care of Endo-ERN and ERN ITHACA.

The multidisciplinary team of the Centre for RGS takes care of over 1250 adults with RGS from 19 national reference centres, including 200 adults with PWS. Kirsten coordinates clinical care and actively participates in research done by the INfoRMEd-PWS network (International Network for Research, Management & Education on adults with PWS (see about-informed-pws.pdf (ese-hormones.org) This large international network of adult endocrinologists has been very active in the last 5 years; the collaboration has resulted in the publication of eight articles with practical recommendations (about adrenal insufficiency, kidney disorders, hyponatremia, transition, hyperprolactinemia, bone problems among others), which have improved clinical care for adults with PWS worldwide.