Johan W. M. Heemskerk graduated in Biology and Chemistry at Radboud University Nijmegen. At the same university, he performed his doctoral research on the biosynthesis of plant lipids, with post-doctoral projects at the universities of Hamburg (Germany), Helsinki (Finland) and Cambridge (UK). In 1986, he moved to Maastricht University, with positions at the Departments of Human Biology and Biochemistry.
Since 2000, he has been principal investigator at Maastricht University and Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+), where he has been studying signal transduction processes and cell-cell communication in blood cells in relation to hemostasis, thrombosis, atherosclerosis, vascular biology and nutrition. Main topics in his program are the biochemical, cell-biological and physiological regulation of platelet-dependent coagulation and the importance of this process for thrombus formation, stability and embolism. His research encompasses experimental and intervention studies with blood cells from both human and animal sources, with an emphasis on flow-dependent perfusion models using microfluidics and coagulant mechanisms. Within international consortia, his groups has established platelet phenomes, transcriptomes and proteomes in human mouse subjects and defined patients.
In 2010, he obtained a full professorship with a chair in Cell Biochemistry of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. His research is connected to a multitude of principal investigators at (international) universities. He was awarded the BACH-ISTH award for contributions to hemostasis. In addition, he has been and is participating in multiple European and international consortia: European Platelet Network (EUPLAN); BRIDGE-UK, Horizon 2020 TAPAS and TICARDIO programs, Interreg EMR PolyValve, and CSC projects. In total, Prof. Heemskerk supervised or is supervising >55 MSc and >55 PhD student theses and (co)authored over 400 scientific publications.
Since 2021 he continues to work as emeritus professor in international consortia, with multiple clinical and research groups through Europe, UK and USA, and selected diagnostic-based companies. He is scientific advisor of the Synapse Research Institute.
