Dr M.A. Benninga (1961) has been appointed Professor of Paediatrics, specialising in paediatric gastroenterology, at the University of Amsterdam’s Faculty of Medicine (AMC-UvA).

Marc Benninga studies the etiology (the causes of disease) of functional gastrointestinal conditions such as gastroesophageal reflux disease, chronic abdominal pain, constipation and fecal incontinence. He also focuses on the coordination and execution of large-scale clinical therapeutic trails to evaluate new medicines and the effectiveness of nutritional supplements such as pre and probiotics.

Benninga has worked at the Paediatric Gastrointestinal department of the Emma Children’s Hospital AMC since 2001, where he served as both staff member and – since 2007 – department head. He serves on the editorial boards of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, and Digestive and Liver Disease. Benninga also serves as chairman of the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition’s Motility and Paediatric Functional GI Disorders working group. As a principal investigator, Benninga brought in various research grants. In 2010, he obtained two grants for over €700,000 from ZonMw’s Health Care and Efficiency Research Programme, to study the effectiveness of hypnotherapy in the treatment of children with chronic abdominal pain and the effectiveness of hypnotherapy in the treatment of adolescents and adults with inflammatory bowel disease in remission and irritable bowel syndrome.