Prof. Manon J.N.L. Benders, MD, PhD is Professor of Neonatal Medicine at the Department of Neonatology at UMC Utrecht and the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital (WKZ), the Netherlands. She is an internationally recognized expert in neonatal brain injury, with a research focus on early detection, neuroprotection, and regenerative therapies to improve long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in high-risk infants, including those born preterm or affected by hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and perinatal stroke.

Prof. Benders has extensive international clinical and research experience. During her career, she worked as a Junior Research Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as a Senior Research Fellow at the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG), and as Senior Lecturer and Consultant Neonatologist at King’s College London and St Thomas’ Hospital, where she contributed to advancing neonatal neuroimaging and neuroprotection research.

Her work integrates advanced neuroimaging, neuromonitoring, and translational clinical trials, including pioneering studies on regenerative therapies for neonatal brain injury, for example stem cell. She leads several national and international research consortia and clinical trials and is committed to translating scientific discoveries into innovative therapies that improve outcomes for children and their families.