Professor Jaap Valk was trained in neurology, psychiatry, general radiology and neuroradiology (with, a.o. Prof. Dr. BG Ziedses des Plantes). From 1971 to 1999, he was head of the Department of Neuroradiology (since 1981, also of Radiology) of the Free University Hospital, Amsterdam. Since 1999 he is head of the Neuroradiology section of the MRI center, Amsterdam. He authored and co-authored over 200 scientific articles in leading journals, 17 books on neurological, psychiatrical and neuroradiological subjects, amongst which Computed Tomography of Cerebral Infractions (Raven Press, 1981), Basic Principles of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Elservier, 1985), Magnetic Resonance of Head, Neck and Spine (1987), Magnetic Resonance of Myelin, Myelination and Myelin disorders (co-authored with Prof. Dr. MS Van der Knaap, Springer Verlag, 1990), widely accepted as a standard text in the field and will appear in 2005 in a fully revised and extended 3rd edition (Springer Verlag), and Magnetic Resonance of Dementia (2002, Springer Verlag). He contributed chapters to many other books. Research is especially directed at pediatric neuroimaging, inborn errors of metabolism, toxic encephalopathies, normal aging and white matter disorders in dementia.
Professor Valk is an honorary member of the Dutch Society of Special Education, of the International Academy of Research in Learning Disabilities, of the Turkish Neuroradiological Society, the Royal Belgian Radiological Society, the Dutch Society of Radiology, the Dutch Society of Neuroradiology and the Radiological Society of North America. He is member of the editorial board of leading neuroradiological and radiological journals. For his scientific work he was awarded the Wertheim Salomons gold medal, the highest honor of the Dutch Society of Radiology, the Cornelia de Lange award of the Dutch Society of Child Neurology, and he was also awarded the Gold Medal (1999) of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) for his innovative work in MR of White Matter Disorders. He was also appointed Fellow of the ISMRM in 2002. |