Karin Fijnvandraat’s research activities focus on congenital blood disorders in children, such as sickle-cell anaemia and the hereditary clotting disorder haemophilia. She is working to find ways of preventing the formation of inhibiting antibodies in patients with mild haemophilia. These  inhibitors impede the treatment of haemorrhages within this patient group, as they degrade the therapeutically administered coagulation factor. In order to facilitate the necessary research on this rare disease, she established the INSIGHT consortium – an alliance between 34 hospitals from 10 European countries and Australia – in 2008. The network has since initiated studies on other aspects of mild haemophilia.

There is currently a great need for more fundamental knowledge in the area of paediatric blood transfusions. Fijnvandraat is working with Sanquin Research to study blood transfusions in premature infants and sickle-cell patients. Her activities in the area of sickle-cell disease focus on the prevention of organ damage and improvement of care for this patient group.

As a newly-appointed professor, Fijnvandraat will be actively engaged with research, patient care and education at the Emma Children’s Hospital, the Haemophilia Treatment Centre and the AMC-UvA’s Sickle-Cell Expertise Centre.

Fijnvandraat works as a paediatrician-haematologist at the Emma Children’s Hospital and serves as a consultant and senior researcher at Sanquin Research. She is a member of various national and international networks in the area of haematological research. Fijnvandraat is a board member of the European Association for Haemophilia and Allied Disorders.