Keynote SPEAKERS

Anka Nieuwhof-Leppink is the coordinator of a team of urotherapists at the Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, part of the University Medical Centre Utrecht. Her team is responsible for the clinical and outpatient care of children with bladder and bowel disorders. She is also a senior lecturer for the urotherapy course at the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences.

Her main areas of expertise are lower urinary tract symptoms, urotherapy, bladder and bowel management, conservative management of bladder anomalies, behavioural therapy, clean intermittent catheterisation (CIC) and anxiety.

Anka began her career as a paediatric urology nurse before specialising as a urotherapist. She later obtained a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology, which fueled her interest in behavioural therapy, scientific research and the advancement of the urotherapy profession. Over the years, she has contributed to numerous projects, research studies and peer-reviewed publications, culminating in a dissertation and PhD in 2020. In the same year, she and her colleagues received a grant from ZonMw, an independent Dutch government organisation, to explore the SENS-U device as a tool for innovation in urotherapy.

From 2010 to 2017, Anka was a board member of the ESPU Nurses, serving as president since 2013. She currently holds the position of Education Chair for ICCS and is a member of the ESPU Research Committee.