Meet the Team
Our team consists of pediatricians and researchers with extensive experience in the pediatric field in both Suriname and the Netherlands. Below you will find information about the board members of P.R.E.S.
Aartie Toekoen MD
Dr. Toekoen was trained as a pediatrician in Suriname and at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam in the Netherlands and has been working at the APCS since its inception. She has extensive experience in general pediatrics and pediatric intensive care. She has a specific interest in treatment of hematological disease, such as sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, and hematological malignancies.
Rens Zonneveld MD PhD
Dr. Zonneveld has worked as a pediatric resident at the APCS between 2014 and 2016. He was trained at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam and at Harvard Medical School in Boston. He earned his PhD from the University of Groningen in 2017. Title of his thesis was “Early Onset Sepsis in Surinamese Newborns”. He is now a Medical Parasitologist in Amsterdam and continuous to do research in Suriname on various topics.
Ms. Shirley Heath
Ms. Shirley Heath has been manager of the APCS since its inception. She oversees all daily activities of the APCS and has coordinated the renewal and expansion of the Staatsolie Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the APCS in 2015. She has been involved in all research and education projects at the APCS.
Ming-Jan Tang MD
Dr. Ming-Jan Tang was trained as a medical doctor at the Free University in Amsterdam and worked as a pediatric resident at APCS between 2013 and 2016. During her stay in Suriname she successfully coordinated a pilot implementation project for a newborn screening for hemoglobinopathies in Suriname. She is currently working as a pediatrician in Groningen and remains active in clinical and research activities in Suriname.
Neirude Lissone MD
Dr. Neirude Lissone was trained as a pediatrician in Suriname and Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. She has worked at the APCS since 2010 and has been instrumental to the transition of the former to the new Staatsolie Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the APCS. She is a general pediatrician with a specific focus in Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care and has been setting up effective outpatient clinic follow-up of newborns in Suriname.
Amadu Juliana MD PhD
Dr. Amadu Juliana was trained as a pediatrician at the University Medical Center Groningen and in Suriname. In 2008, together with other Surinamese pediatricians, he founded the APCS and introduced neonatal intensive care in Suriname. He has developed plans for the new Staatsolie Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the APCS, which opened in 2015. He has been trained as a pediatric cardiologist in the Netherlands between 2016 and 2018 and received his PhD from the University of Groningen in 2021 with his thesis on severe infection in Surinamese newborns and children.
