Soraya was born on August 24th 1999 in Groningen, The Netherlands. After living in Indonesia, The Unites States and Singapore, she returned to the Netherlands and started her bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences at Maastricht University. For her bachelor’s thesis she investigated the application of mask MR Angiography (MRA) to detect intraplaque hemorrhage (IPH) in carotid atherosclerotic plaque. In 2020, she concluded her bachelor’s degree and continued to do a master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences at Maastricht University. She decided to pursue her strong interests in nutrition and lifestyle interventions in relation to health and specialised in “Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism”. In the second year of her master programme, she fulfilled a one-year internship in the department of Food Technology, Engineering and Nutrition at Lund University, Sweden. She conducted a clinical research study and investigated the beneficial effects of oat polar lipids on cardiometabolic risk factors in healthy young adults.
In October 2022, Soraya started her PhD at the department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences under the supervision of Prof. Patrick Schrauwen and Dr. Joris Hoeks. Soraya will investigate the effect of timed lifestyle interventions on improving the 24-hour rhythmicity of metabolism and glucose homeostasis in individuals at risk for type 2 diabetes.