Gill Townend successfully defends her PhD (July 2019)

Congratulations to Gill Townend, who successfully defended her PhD thesis on 4^th July 2019. The hour-long public defence took place in the Aula of Maastricht University in front of colleagues, friends and family from the Netherlands and the UK.

Dr. Townend’s thesis – Rett Syndrome: Recognising the Communication Challenges, Needs and Potential of Individuals Living with a Rare Disease – draws together research she has conducted since 2013, while working at the Rett Expertise Centre Netherlands.

A copy of the thesis can be downloaded through the following link:

https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/en/publications/rett-syndrome-recognising-the-communication-challenges-needs-and-

Dr. Townend with colleagues from the Rett Expertise Centre Netherlands, members of the assessment committee, parents from the Dutch Rett community and Caroline Lietaer (president of Rett Syndrome Europe)

Dr. Townend with her Rett UK and Dutch colleagues (Mariëlle van den Berg and Gerna Scholte, Callie Ward and Abigail Davison-Hoult)

Dr. Townend with her promoter (Prof. Dr. Leopold Curfs) and co-promoter (Dr. Peter Marschik)

During the defence….

And with her daughters acting as her ‘paranymphs’