This week's Hall of Fame member is Marijke Slieker-ten Hove.
Name: Marijke Slieker-ten Hove
Profession: Physiotherapist
Which was your first ICS meeting: 1994: Prague, 1st - 5th June
Why are you an ICS member: The first time I visited ICS was because one of our gynaecologists told me about ICS and said, 'this is really something for you!' Because I have family in Prague it was an exciting trip full of surprises where I met Jo Laycock and Kari Bo and a few other physios in a worksop of Laycock and Stanton. I learned there that the position of the physio within ICS was not big. The next ICS was in Sydney and I was lucky that I was invited by industry to go with them to ICS and they kept doing that till Tampere. I was sure that I could be at ICS every year and we could make plans. I tried to collect physios active in education in Tampere and at that meeting we also were invited to select a physio to join the board, which was an amazing step! In Heidelberg we got the possibility to organise the round table where physios visiting ICS for the first time could connect before ICS started, always with the chair of ICS opening this round table. After Aberdeen I stepped out the round table organisation after 10 years.
ICS was the place to be, to learn, to share results of research and discuss different future research. The network is international and feeding and motivating me on all levels of knowledge. Also learning to be modest in the amount of knowledge we have and where the work needs to be done. ICS became my research family and although my retirement is coming, I always have warm memories to cherish. Within ICS we can grow, personally and as a professional. My biggest examples have always been Kari Bo and Marijke van Kampen, and was honored that she was with me during my PhD ceremony at the Erasmus University. Also, the contacts with Jo Laycock, Chantal Dumoulin and Helene Frawley were so inspiring in the past years. I have been enjoying my time in the education committee and working with everybody at the office. ICS visiting is good and inspiring, participating in committees’ doubles this absolutely!!!
Special ICS memories: The first Round Table in Heidelberg was so inspiring and gave me the spirit to go on. My first presentation of my work of my PhD in Paris was number 4 in the main room and I did not have any clue what it all meant. I won the best clinical abstract and at the end of the week got my prize, it was the last thing I expected!
Biggest influence: Realizing that education to become a pelvic physiotherapist is/was on such a different level in different countries and need to be worked on. We could do that with a lot of very motivated colleagues. It also helped a lot to position the pelvic physio in our own country. Because I was on ICS every year we could meet the Dutch doctors every year and made our relation stronger.
The one paper (or book/article/video) you must read/view: I love the video abstract of Jenny Kruger which is used world-wide to explain people the influence of intra abdominal pressure.
If you could go back in time what advice would you give to yourself and why: I don't. I have done everything with so much motivation and pleasure that I would do the same all over.
Biography: Marijke is a pelvic physiotherapist. For the last 20 years Marijke has been responsible for the development and leading the master education pelvic physiotherapy in the Netherlands. Marijke's PhD focused on pelvic floor (dis)function in a general female population 45-85 years, from the Erasmus university in Rotterdam, NL. Since 2010 Marijke has been the director of a pelvic floor physio clinic ProFundum (Institute) in NL and since 2018 Director of the ProFundum Pelvic Centre.
Marijke has a long history in ICS, participating since Prague with Linda Cardozo on the lead in the education committee of ICS. Starting in Tampere with preparation of the physio roundtable which started officially in Heidelberg participating about 100 physios. She held the position as organising committee member of ICS Rotterdam and responsible for all physio actions, round table, meetings and party. From this round table she developed the physiotherapy committee and was a member for many years. At the moment member of the standardisation of terminology of pelvic floor. Marijke won the price of best clinical abstract in ICS-IIUGA in Paris, and was the first one to research the relation between pelvic organ prolapse and pelvic floor muscle function. Member of honour of the Dutch pelvic floor association. Teaching/training for a long time internationally with ICS.