Director Institute of Genetics and Cancer
University of Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Professor Joris Veltman is a Dutch human geneticist, Director of the Institute of Genetics and Cancer at the University of Edinburgh. Prior to this, he was Director of the Institute of Genetic Medicine and Dean of the Biosciences Institute at Newcastle University, and before that he worked at the Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University, The Netherlands.
Joris has contributed significantly to unravelling the genetic causes of rare disease, to our understanding of mutational mechanisms underlying genetic disorders and to the implementation of genomics approaches in medicine. His research using both exome and genome sequencing provided strong experimental evidence for a de novo paradigm in severe early-onset disorders. He now studies genetic factors in male infertility, working with state-of-the art genomics technologies and computational approaches. He is a founding member of the International Male Infertility Genomics Consortium, aiming to bring together expertise and share data to advance research and diagnostics in this understudied disorder.
Joris is an active member of the European Society of Human Genetics, current chair of the ESHG Annual Meetings Committee, former chair of the ESHG Scientific Programme Committee and organiser of the ESHG Next Generation Sequencing course.
In 2016, Prof. Veltman and Brunner were awarded the King Faisal International Prize for Medicine for pioneering the clinical application of next generation genetics. In 2021 he was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, United Kingdom.