After qualifying as a midwife in 1990 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Moenie van der Kleyn worked
as an independent midwife in the Netherlands and since 1991 as a caseload midwife in Vienna
(Geburtshaus Nussdorf). and in her private practice in Styria in Austria. As an IBCLC lactation
consultant she developed a special interest in breastfeeding sciences. Moenie also received a master
degree in Public Health at the medical university of Graz in 2014. Over many years she was engaged
as commissioner of the Austrian Midwives’ Board, Member of the Austrian State Lactation
Commission as well as member of the Advisory Board of the Austrian Birth Register, initiating the
Austrian homebirth register. She has interdisciplinary interests in the influence of vaginal birth on
perineal tears and pelvic floor conditions.
Since 2011, Mrs van der Kleyn has been employed by the FH JOANNEUM university of applied
sciences in Graz, as head of institute of midwifery and degree program, since 2021 head of the
department of health studies. She has a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher
Education.
Currently, she is also the director of the Josef Ressel Centre for the Investigation of Early Life
Metabolic Programming regarding Dispositions of Obesity, with a focus on early life nutrition and its
impact on infant growth. Her academic interests include all aspects of midwifery, with a particular
focus on midwifery evidence and politics related to normal childbearing, breastfeeding and public
health. Moenie is married and has two children.