Anne PJ de Pagter (MD, PhD) is an associate professor and paediatric hematologist in the Erasmus MC-Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotterdam and the Willem-Alexander Children's Hospital (WAKZ) of the LUMC in Leiden, the Netherlands.

Alongside her clinical work Anne founded the Challenge & Support program. Challenge & Support offers professional development-oriented coaching for healthcare professionals in a department-wide program. The mission of Challenge & Support is to improve patient care by amplifying professional personal development of all medical professionals and thus to sustainably contribute to a safe and stimulating learning and working culture. This programme is currently expanded nationwide with over 150 teams of healthcare professionals involved.

The effectiveness of the Challenge & Support coaching program is continuously evaluated in collaboration with the Challenge & Support Research network and department of Work and Organizational Psychology of the University of Amsterdam. Based om the experience of Challenge & Support, similar programs for medical students, PhD students (MATCH) and nurses (LIFT) are developed to improve lifelong learning and development in healthcare professionals.