Joris Hoeks

Dr. Joris Hoeks (1978) started his study Health Sciences in 1997 at Maastricht University, where he graduated with a specialty in Human Movement Sciences in 2001. In September 2001, Dr. Hoeks started his PhD at the department of Human Biology of Maastricht University on the role of uncoupling protein-3 (UCP3) in muscle fatty acid metabolism.  A substantial part of his PhD he spent in the department of Physiology of the Wenner-Gren Institute at Stockholm University (Sweden), to study the measurement of oxygen consumption in isolated skeletal muscle mitochondria under supervision of Prof. Dr. Barbara Cannon. Dr. Hoeks successfully defended his thesis on March 10th 2006.

After obtaining his PhD, he was granted a “Talent” scholarship by the Faculty of Health Sciences of Maastricht University to continue his work on the role of mitochondrial uncoupling in metabolism. Dr. Hoeks then continued as a post-doctoral fellow (2006-2010) and assistant professor (2010-2015) within the Diabetes and Metabolism Research Group. In 2015, he was appointed associate professor of Nutrition and Movement Sciences.

Dr. Hoeks’ research primarily focuses on skeletal muscle metabolism in relation to obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus, with special interest for mitochondria and environmental factors such as cold and circadian rhythmicity. For his research, he applies a translational approach and combines human intervention trials with more mechanistic studies using cell or animal models. Dr. Hoeks received several (inter)national, competitive grants, including a prestigious NWO VIDI grant and a Senior Research Fellowship from the Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation. In 2012, he was awarded the Young Investigator Award for basic science from the European Association for the Study of Obesity. Dr. Hoeks authored over 55 papers, many of which appeared in high-impact journals such as Cell, Nature Medicine, Cell Metabolism, Journal of Clinical Investigation and Diabetes.