As one of the few pediatric movement disorder trained specialists in Canada, Dr. Meijer combines her knowledge in genetics and pediatric movement disorders to diagnose, treat and study rare forms of pediatric movement disorders with a focus on dystonia, tremor and Tourette syndrome. She leads the only multidisciplinary Tourette syndrome clinic in the province of Quebec, where she is developing a research program which focusses on following a prospective cohort to understand the environmental and genetics factors influencing tic fluctuation and severity. She also studies a cohort of pediatric dystonia and tremor patients to better characterize the phenomenology and identify novel genetic causes in children. Ultimately, her research will contribute to improving diagnosis and care for children with movement disorders.
Career Summary
Dr. Meijer joined the pediatric neurology team and the research centre at CHU Sainte Justine, University of Montreal, as a clinician researcher and assistant clinical professor specialized in pediatric movement disorders in 2018. She first developed an interest in human genetics during her B.Sc. in Biology at McGill University. She pursued this interest by completing a Ph.D. in neurogenetics in the laboratory of Dr. G.A. Rouleau, Director of the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University. Her thesis focused on the genetics of Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia and Hereditary Spastic Ataxia. Following her PhD, Inge obtained a medical degree and specialized in Child Neurology at Montreal University – CHU Sainte Justine, to better understand the clinical aspects of neuro-genetic diseases. She chose to further specialize by completing a Movement Disorders Fellowship at Mount Sinai Beth Israel with Dr. R. Saunders-Pullman and Dr. S. Bressman. She was awarded a Clinical research Fellowship from the American Academy of Neurology/ American Brain Foundation to study the underlying genetic causes of childhood onset dystonia. She is one of the few pediatric movement disorder trained specialists in Canada, where she combines her knowledge in genetics and pediatric movement disorders to diagnose, treat and study rare forms of pediatric movement disorders with a focus on dystonia and Tourette syndrome.