Manon Hillegers | Erasmus MC

Core-applicant

Portrait photo of Manon Hillegers

Title(s)
Professor of child and adolescent psychiatry

First name
Manon

Initials
M.H.J.

Last Name
Hillegers

Prof. Manon Hillegers (female, 1970, MD PhD) is a (child) psychiatrist and head of the department of child and adolescent psychiatry/psychology at the Erasmus Medical Center-Sophia children’s hospital.
Hillegers has experience in early-life risk factors and in depth intergenerational (stress) measurements in relationship to mental health trajectories. She brings in expertise with several longitudinal cohort studies with deep phenotyping including EMA. In addition, expertise from several serious gaming studies, in which she examines or modulates mood and behaviour in ambulatory daily-life setting (e.g. with the Grow It! app, www.growitapp.nl, or within the eHealth Junior consortium). As a board member of the Generation-R study and co-PI of the Mood and Resilience in Offspring (MARIO) project, she will provide access to these cohorts for the SiA programme.

Hillegers is a clinician-scientist (inter)nationally known for her expertise in mood (bipolar) and psychotic disorders. She is a frequently invited key note speaker, both national, as well as international.

She studied  the development of psychopathology in offspring of patients with mood (bipolar) and psychotic disorders for more than 2 decades. Her interests in early identification of emerging psychopathology using innovative tools in high-risk populations led her to study also chronically ill children. She is the principal investigator of the eHealth junior project (NWA-ORC project, www.eHealthjunior.nl). In this 5-M€ project, a large consortium examines the use of eHealth in clinical settings in chronically ill children, for which she collaborates with industry as well as SMEs. In addition, she recently obtained together with 2 colleagues a  4- M€ grant PROTECTME in which technical, social and medical sciences collaborate with societal partners to develop digital tools for prevention of mental health problems in the young. She is a PI, chair of the behavior & cognition group and board member within Generation R. The Generation R Study is a population-based prospective cohort study from fetal life until young adulthood. The study is designed to identify early environmental and genetic causes of normal and abnormal growth, development and health from fetal life until young adulthood. Leadership, organizational roles, international experience: As head of the department and member of the Sophia Children’s Hospital board of EMC, Hillegers leads a large group of junior researchers (>45) and clinicians (>210) at EMC and maintains collaborations with many EMC departments. As evidence for international involvement, Hillegers is board member of the European Society Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP, www.escap.eu) Congress president of ESCAP congress in 2022 in Maastricht. She served 6 years as the European representative within the program board of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP).

  1. Mens MMJ, Keijsers L, Dietvorst E, Koval S, Legerstee JS, Hillegers MHJ. Promoting Daily Well-being in Adolescents using mHealth. J Youth Adolesc. 2022 Nov;51(11):2173-2189.
  2. Bolhuis K, Tiemeier H, Jansen PR, Muetzel RL, Neumann A, Hillegers MHJ, van den Akker ETL, van Rossum EFC, Jaddoe VWV, Vernooij MW, White T, Kushner SA. Interaction of schizophrenia polygenic risk and cortisol level on pre-adolescent brain structure. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2019 Mar;101:295-303.
  3. Schreuder MM, Vinkers CH, Mesman E, Claes S, Nolen WA, Hillegers MH. Childhood trauma and HPA axis functionality in offspring of bipolar parents. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2016 Dec;74:316-323.
  4. Mesman E, Nolen WA, Reichart CG, Wals M, Hillegers MH. The Dutch bipolar offspring study: 12-year follow-up. Am J Psychiatry. 2013 May;170(5):542-9.
  5. Hillegers MH, Burger H, Wals M, Reichart CG, Verhulst FC, Nolen WA, Ormel J. Impact of stressful life events, familial loading and their interaction on the onset of mood disorders: study in a high-risk cohort of adolescent offspring of parents with bipolar disorder. Br J Psychiatry. 2004 Aug;185:97-101.