Experts

Meet our Scientific Committee

Maarten Tushuizen
Maarten Tushuizen
Gastroenterologist & hepatologist

Dr. Maarten Tushuizen is a gastroenterologist & hepatologist at the Leiden University Medical Center. His research focusses on NAFLD/NASH, principally development of clinical care paths including diagnostics, surveillance and treatment. Furthermore, his interests are the various aspects (including prevention) of NAFLD/NASH before and after liver transplantation, including posttransplantation diabetes mellitus, hepatocellular carcinoma and cardiovascular disease risk.

Onno Holleboom
Onno Holleboom
Internist, faculty member & Principal Investigator

Dr. Onno Holleboom MD PhD is an internist registered in Vascular Medicine and Endocrinology, faculty member of the Department of Vascular Medicine and Principal Investigator at Amsterdam UMC. He initiated a multidisciplinary outpatient clinic for NAFLD together with hepatology and including clinical trials. Within the NAFLD-NL consortium and supported by the MLDS foundation, he aims to develop care paths for NAFLD together with LUMC and Radboud MC. Together with prof. Max Nieuwdorp, he runs a research group with 6 PhD candidates focussing on genetic and gut microbial drivers of NAFLD in three cohort studies, as well as more fundamental work on lipid droplet and inflammatory pathways. He has published 60 peer-reviewed articles, including in Circulation and Cell Metabolism and received various prestigious grants, a.o. from The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and the Amsterdam UMC Fellowship.

Manuel Castro Cabezas
Manuel Castro Cabezas
Internist-endocrinologist/vascular specialist

Dr. Manuel Castro Cabezas is a practicing internist-endocrinologist/vascular specialist. He joined Julius Clinical as Scientific Officer in September 2019. At present he is senior consultant Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Vascular Medicine at the Franciscus Gasthuis & Vlietland in Rotterdam. Dr Castro Cabezas is scientific officer at Julius Clinical Zeist and associate professor in Medicine at Erasmus MC Rotterdam. He has published over 200 papers in peer reviewed journals dealing with metabolic syndrome, hyperlipemia, diabetes, insulin resistance, obesity, familial combined hyperlipidemia, HIV lipodystrophy and free fatty acid metabolism.

Diederick (Rick) Grobbee
Diederick (Rick) Grobbee, MD, PhD, FESC
Professor of Clinical Epidemiology

Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, University Medical Center Utrecht. Chief Scientific Officer and director, Julius Clinical Ltd, Academic Contract Research Organization. Active researcher on cardiovascular and cardiometabolic disease. Member of the board European Society of Cardiology. Member of the Board, World Heart Federation. Editor in Chief, Global Heart. Fellow Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion.

Number of publications 1503 (https://publons.com/researcher/2553426/diederick-grobbee/ ), H index (WoS) 161.

Prof. Stefan D. Anker, MD, PhD, FESC
Prof. Stefan D. Anker, MD, PhD, FESC
Professor of (Tissue)Homeostasis in Cardiology & Metabolism

Stefan D. Anker is Professor of (Tissue)Homeostasis in Cardiology & Metabolism at Charité Berlin (from June 2017). Dr. Anker studied medicine at Charité Berlin and completed his clinical training in Germany and the UK. He obtained his M.D. from Charité Medical School, Berlin, Germany (1993), and his Ph.D. (1998) at National Heart & Lung Institute of Imperial College London. He was Professor of Cardiology & Cachexia Research at Charité (2002-14), and Professor of Innovative Clinical Trials in Göttingen (2014-17).

Dr. Anker has authored more than 1,000 articles (total citations: >217,000, h-index: 179, papers with ≥300 citations: 113; source: GoogleScholar, 14. Jan., 2022) and was named Highly Cited Researcher 2015–2021.

Marco Alings
Marco Alings
Scientific Officer

Marco Alings is a Scientific Officer for cardiovascular trials at Julius Clinical, and a practicing cardiologist/electrophysiologist in the Amphia Hospital, Breda. As past president of the WCN (Werkgroep Cardiologische centra Nederland), a research network of 55 cardiovascular sites, he was and still is national lead and/or PI in numerous clinical trials in over 20 years.

Professor Christophe Moreno
Christophe Moreno
Professor of Hepatology and Clinical Director

Christophe Moreno is Professor of Hepatology and Clinical Director of the Liver Unit in the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatopancreatology and Digestive Oncology in CUB Hôpital Erasme since 2012. He completed his medical training in the Faculty of Medicine of the Université Libre de Bruxelles and achieved his PhD in the Laboratory of Experimental Gastroenterology (Université Libre de Bruxelles) in 2007.
He was president of the Belgian Association for the study of the Liver (2017-2018), member of European Association for the Study of the Liver and the American Association for the Study of Liver disease.
He was Associate Editor for Journal of Hepatology (2014-2019) and is Associate Editor for UEG Journal since 2019.
Christophe Moreno has published more than 120 articles in prominent journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Journal of Hepatology. His main research interests are alcohol-related liver diseases, complications of cirrhosis, and non alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Prof. Dr. Sven Francque
Prof. Dr. Sven Francque
Chairman & Professor, University Hospital Antwerp & University of Antwerp

Prof. Dr. Sven Francque obtained his MD at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, in 1994 and was subsequently trained in internal medicine and in gastroenterology and hepatology at the Antwerp University Hospital, Belgium and at the Department of Hepatology of the Beaujon hospital, Clichy, France. He has a long-standing interest and expertise in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and conducted basic research focusing on the vascular changes in steatosis and their contribution to disease progression and leading to his PhD in 2011. His research unit continues to study pathophysiological mechanisms of NASH. He is also conducting clinical research and his unit is partner in several research consortia supported by the European Commission. He participates in several clinical trials in the field and was/is as scientific committee member involved in the design of several phase 2 and phase 3 trials in NAFLD. He is senior clinical researcher for the Research Fund of the Flemish government. He is currently chairman of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of the University Hospital Antwerp and professor of medicine at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Antwerp.

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