Aline Wauters

Aline obtained her Master of Science in Clinical Psychology in 2018 at Ghent University. During her law studies at Ghent University (she completed her Master of Laws in 2013), Aline gradually became more interested in theories on interpersonal dynamics and psychology. After starting her studies in psychology, Aline gained specific interest in the field of health psychology and did her internship at a general hospital, where she broadened her knowledge on dealing with psychosocial influences on pain and illness. She wrote her dissertation on the influence of parental behavior on postoperative outcomes for children who underwent surgery. 

Aline received a BOF scholarship to work as a PhD student on the role of child attention to pain and parental narrative style in understanding child pain memory. She obtained her PhD in 2023 under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Tine Vervoort and Prof. Dr. Dimitri Van Ryckeghem. During her PhD, Aline closely collaborated with Dr. Melanie Noel of the Alberta Children's Pain Research Lab in Canada, who is a pioneer in research on memory bias in the context of pediatric pain. Since 2024, Aline holds a position as post-doctoral researcher in the Health Equity Advancement Lab in Ghent, where she focuses on unraveling the mechanisms that may help explain racialized, ethnic and gender/sex disparities in pediatric pain care and mental health treatments. 

Apart from her work in academia, Aline also works as a clinical psychologist in PRAKTIJK 50. There, she mainly focuses on the treatment of mental health problems in the perinatal period (i.e., before, during and in the early years after pregnancy). Sparked by a specific interest into parental mental health problems situated in this challenging life period, she also is a certified perinatal counselor. She aspires to integrate these clinical insights into future research. In this regard, she is currently doing some pilot work on perinatal mental health and currently works on a project proposal examining mechanisms underlying memory for labor pain and birth related experiences amongst a diverse sample of women including women from racialized and ethnic minority groups.