Albertine Donker

About the Author 355 11 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Albertine Donker was born on May 3 rd 1977 in Leiden, the Netherlands. After completing secondary school at the Driestar College in Gouda, she started her medical training at the Leiden University. She obtained her medical degree cum laude in 2002, after which she started as an intern in pediatric medicine. In 2004, Albertine started the residency programme in pediatrics, successively at the Máxima MC Veldhoven (supervision prof. dr. Sidarto Bambang Oetomo) and at the Radboud University Medical Center (supervision dr. Jos M.Th. Draaisma). After her graduation as a pediatrician in 2009, she continued her training as a fellow in pediatric hemato-oncology at the Radboud University Medical Center (supervision prof. dr. Peter M. Hoogerbrugge) and the Amsterdam UMC, AMC (supervision dr. Marjolein Peters), until her registration as a pediatric hemato-oncologist in 2011. During this fellowship, Albertine came into contact with the Radboud Center for Iron Disorders (RCID), a national and European expertise center, involved in both research activities and patient care in the field of genetic disorders of iron metabolism. In 2012, she started with her PhD trajectory at the RCID and at the Department of Pediatrics of the Máxima MC, Veldhoven, resulting in this thesis (supervision prof. dr. Dorine W. Swinkels, dr. Dirk L. Bakkeren). Since2011 Albertine has beenworking as a pediatric hematologist at theDepartment of Pediatrics of the Máxima MC, Veldhoven, with a special interest in benign hematologic disorders, including anemias, clotting disorders and hemoglobinopathies.