Dr. Joris Hoeks (1978) started his study Health Sciences in 1997, with a specialty in Human Movement Sciences at Maastricht University, where he graduated 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 in Stockholm (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) at Maastricht University. In 2015, he was appointed associate professor of Human Biology and Human Movement Sciences.

Dr. Hoeks’ research primarily focuses on mitochondrial metabolism in relation to obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus, with special interest for skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue. For his research, he was awarded the Young Investigator Award for basic science from the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) in 2012. Dr. Hoeks’ research is funded by research grants from the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD) and the Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation (DFN Innovative pilot grants and DFN Senior Research Fellowship). In 2014, Dr. Hoeks received a prestigious VIDI grant for innovative research from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO/ZonMW).