Bio
Ben Semmekrot is a physician at the Canisius-Wilhelmina Hospital in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, where he has been practicing as a pediatrician-neonatologist since 1999 and he is currently in charge of teaching pediatric residents. His previous position as a neonatologist was at the Radboud University Hospital in Nijmegen. Dr. Semmekrot performed studies for his thesis on the ontogenesis of Atrial Natriuretic Peptide receptors in the developing fetal kidney in Lausanne, Switzerland, and in Paris, France.
Dr. Semmekrot is particularly interested in the prevention of pediatric and infant death caused from perinatal asphyxia. He is currently conducting research on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and Apparent Life-Threatening Event (ALTE) which is an acute, unanticipated change in an infant’s breathing, appearance, or behavior that can be terrifying to a parent or caretaker. Dr. Semmekrot has noticed that in studying cases of perinatal asphyxia, too little attenion is given to the umbilical cord and placenta, and their possible involvement in these cases.
As a practicing pediatrician, he has a special interest in newborns and infants, and sudden infant death with unknown causes. Since 1996, Dr. Semmekrot has been collaborating with the Dutch Working Group for Prevention of SIDS, known as the Landelijke Werkgroep Wiegendood (LWW). He regularly visits bereaved families who have lost a child and shares this information in Child Death Reviews, which are held by the LWW twice a year in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Participants include pediatricians, pathologists, biologists, epidemiologists, pediatric cardiologists and child abuse specialists.