Prof. Dr. Ysbrand van der Werf

Prof. Dr. Ysbrand van der Werf, PhD, is Professor of Functional Neuroanatomy at the Amsterdam UMC, The Netherlands. He obtained his MSc in both Biology and Psychology at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, obtained his PhD from the Graduate School for Neurosciences in Amsterdam and has worked at McGill University in Montreal, Canada and the Netherlands Institute for Neurosciences. He currently supervises a team of postdocs, PhD students and research assistants at Amsterdam UMC, The Netherlands. He was elected into ‘De Jonge Akademie’, a platform for young scientists in the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He serves as associate editor of the journal of Human Brain Mapping, the scientific advisory board of the Multiple Sclerosis research foundation, the scientific advisory board of the Normal Ageing Brain Bank Amsterdam, serves on the autopsy team of the Netherlands Brain Bank and is the author of a popular science book on sleep in Dutch. He is a frequent speaker for lay and scientific audiences and at international scientific meetings.

His work is primarily concerned with understanding cognitive functions of the brain, using a wide array of techniques: neuroimaging (structural and functional MRI, PET, EEG, MEG), neuropsychology and experimental therapeutic interventions (transcranial magnetic stimulation, light therapy, sleep therapy). He is the PI of an international multicenter imaging study on Parkinson’s disease (ENIGMA-PD), leads a research line on neuroimaging in hypersomnia and investigates disordered sleep in neurological and psychiatric disorders.