Wietske Ester studied medical biology (MSc 1997) and medicine (MD 2002) at the University of Amsterdam and genetic epidemiology at Erasmus University Rotterdam (MSc 2005). She conducted her PhD thesis “Genetic and environmental factors in pre- and postnatal growth disorders. Studies in children born small for gestational age (SGA), with and without postnatal short stature” at the ErasmusMC-Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotterdam (PhD graduation 2009). She worked in pediatrics and clinical genetics and was trained in general psychiatry at the Parnassia Group and child- and adolescent psychiatry at De Jutters in The Hague, The Netherlands. During her psychiatry residency she performed research at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, NYC. From 2014 onwards she started autism research at the Sarr Expert Center for Autism at Lucertis Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the Parnassia Psychiatric Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. From 2015 onwards she works as a child- and adolescent psychiatrist at the Sarr out-patient clinic for children with autism spectrum disorders, and as a scientist into autism research. Research interests: Wietske Ester focuses her research on biological and epidemiological psychiatry and specifically autism. She supervises PhD students working on the Zon-MW/REACH-AUT project concerning transitions in education. In this context she also teaches municipal child health physicians in autism early detection through an online school. From 2012 onwards, she is involved in a collaboration with the Generation R study regarding psychiatric epidemiology. Her latest project involves distress in caregivers and children with autism in which Theraplay will be investigated. Individual research grants awarded over €500.000.