About Sandra Kooij
Who is Sandra Kooij?
I am a creative, dedicated and experienced psychiatrist from the Netherlands. Since 1995, I have been involved in research, assessment and treatment of ADHD in adulthood. Adult ADHD did not exist then in the Netherlands, so children with persisting impairment from ADHD got no help after adolescence. I wanted to improve the outcomes of these adults by learning to recognize, diagnose and treat their ADHD. Our research has shown that the elderly may still be impaired. Research and education of both patients and professionals to improve the standard of care has been my mission for more than 25 years.
In my free time I love to paint, sing, walk the dogs, work in the garden and have dinner with friends.
What have I done?
In 2006, I completed my PhD Nijmegen on the epidemiology, assessment and treatment of adult ADHD, with Prof. Jan Buitelaar at the Radboud University.
I set up the first psychiatric unit specializing in adult ADHD in the Netherlands, at the PsyQ/Parnassia Group in the Hague in 2002. Here I trained many specialized ADHD teams throughout the country. At the same time, I started the Dutch Expertise Center Adult ADHD that is involved in research and education of patients and professionals. The ADHD clinic and Expertise Center have been accredited with Top Mental Health status since 2008.
10 year jubilee of all national ADHD teams at PsyQ, 2013
In addition, colleagues and I created in 1998 the Dutch Adult ADHD Network (www.adhdnetwerk.nl), to unite professionals involved in ADHD in the Netherlands, as well as in 2003 the European Network Adult ADHD (www.eunetworkadultadhd.com) for professionals from Europe and beyond.
Finally, in 2007 I also formed the DIVA Foundation, which develops and distributes the Diagnostic Interview for ADHD in adults, (DIVA-5), currently available in 30 languages and counting (www.divacenter.eu).
I published many scientific papers and books.
Please find a podcast Interview in English with Sandra Kooij (2021) about her work by dr. Norma Echavarria from Argentina: Café con Expertos en TDAH. Dra Sandra Kooij – YouTube.
I am a member of:
- Eunethydis, the European Research Network for ADHD
- Apsard, the American Psychiatric Association of ADHD and Related Disorders
- World Federation of ADHD (as advisor to the Scientific Board)
- European Psychiatric Association (EPA) (as Chair of the Section of Neurodevelopmental Disorders across the lifespan)
- ADHD Europe (as an advisor to this patient organization)
- Impuls & Woortblind (patient organization in the Netherlands) (as an advisor and member of the scientific committee)