Dorret I. Boomsma (born 18 November 1957, in Huizen, The Netherlands) is a Dutch biological psychologist specializing in

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

and

twin studies Twin studies are studies conducted on Identical twin, identical or Fraternal twin, fraternal twins. They aim to reveal the importance of environmental and genetics, genetic influences for traits, phenotypes, and disorders. Twin research is consid ...

Education

* Secondary education: Willem de Zwijgerlyceum,

Bussum Bussum () is a commuter town and former municipality in the Gooi region in the south east of the province of North Holland in the Netherlands near Hilversum. Since 2016, Bussum has been part of the new municipality of Gooise Meren. Bussum had a ...

* Bachelor's:

Vrije Universiteit The (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the othe ...

in Psychology,

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

, 1979 * Master's: Vrije Universiteit in Psychophysiology, cum laude, 1983 * Master's:

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a Public university, public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a Federated state, state, it is the fla ...

in Biological Psychology/Behavior Genetics, 1983 * Ph.D.: Vrije Universiteit (thesis: Quantitative Genetics of Cardiovascular Risk), cum laude, 1992

Career

After receiving her Ph.D., Boomsma received an appointment as an assistant

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

at the

in the Department of

Psychonomics Psychonomics is a field of cognitive science and psychology characterized by the use of mathematical modeling to discovering the laws (Greek: ' nomos') that govern the workings of the mind (Greek: ' psyche'). The field is directly related to exper ...

. In 1994 she became associate and in 1998 full professor and head of the Department of

Biological Psychology Behavioral neuroscience, also known as biological psychology, biopsychology, or psychobiology,Psychobi ...

Twin studies

Boomsma has built a database of over 75,000 twins and family members in The Netherlands, which has been used for dozens of twin studies. The twins and their families have undergone periodic testing over a period of decades, providing a mass of longitudinal data for

statistical analysis Statistical inference is the process of using data analysis to infer properties of an underlying probability distribution.Upton, G., Cook, I. (2008) ''Oxford Dictionary of Statistics'', OUP. . Inferential statistical analysis infers properties of ...

. A large number of participants have also provided DNA, blood, and urine samples for testing. Her research has primarily focused on better understanding the influence of

heredity Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic infor ...

on various physical and mental diseases, including

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina, heart attack), heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumati ...

s, pediatric

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

, and depression. This work has been reported in over 1000 published papers and one book and has led to many awards for Boomsma.

Research

Twin studies Twin studies are studies conducted on Identical twin, identical or Fraternal twin, fraternal twins. They aim to reveal the importance of environmental and genetics, genetic influences for traits, phenotypes, and disorders. Twin research is consid ...

provide a way to understand how

genotype The genotype of an organism is its complete set of genetic material. Genotype can also be used to refer to the alleles or variants an individual carries in a particular gene or genetic location. The number of alleles an individual can have in a ...

affects an observable characteristic (called a

phenotype In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology (physical form and structure), its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological propert ...

). In short, identical (

monozygotic Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...

) twins carry the same

allele An allele is a variant of the sequence of nucleotides at a particular location, or Locus (genetics), locus, on a DNA molecule. Alleles can differ at a single position through Single-nucleotide polymorphism, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), ...

s for 100% of their

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

s whereas fraternal (

dizygotic Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...

) twins will carry different alleles at 50% of the genes for which their parents had different

genotypes The genotype of an organism is its complete set of genetic material. Genotype can also be used to refer to the alleles or variants an individual carries in a particular gene or genetic location. The number of alleles an individual can have in a ...

. So if some characteristic (say, depression) that is observed in one identical twin is always observed in the other one, but this does not hold for fraternal twins, then one can conclude that heredity plays an important role in causing the condition. Boomsma has been a pioneer in collecting a broad spectrum of data (e.g., medical histories,

IQ tests An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. Originally, IQ was a score obtained by dividing a person's mental age score, obtained by administering ...

, MRI scans) and biological material (e.g., DNA and RNA samples, blood and urine samples) from thousands of twins and analyzing them to determine the role of genetics in characteristics as varied as adult height, brain volume, intelligence, migraine headaches, anxiety,

drug addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to use a drug or engage in a behavior that produces natural reward, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use can ...

, and love of coffee. Her results span a wide range of behavioral characteristics, including discovery of the surprisingly large genetic component to feelings of loneliness, the fact that first borns have higher IQs than their younger siblings, and the increased influence of genetics on

body weight Human body weight is a person's mass or weight. Strictly speaking, body weight is the measurement of mass without items located on the person. Practically though, body weight may be measured with clothes on, but without shoes or heavy accessori ...

as children grow older.

European Research Council Advanced Grant

In 2008, the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

began awarding grants of about 2.5 million

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

(about $3.5 million) to the top scientists and scholars in Europe via a competition that covered all

academic disciplines An academic discipline or academic field is a subdivision of knowledge that is taught and researched at the college or university level. Disciplines are defined (in part) and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, a ...

. Due to the large amount of money and complete lack of bureaucracy and restrictions, these were extremely competitive, with a very strong applicant pool and a 13% acceptance rate. Boomsma received one of the ERC grants for a project on the genetics of

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

. Her research is focusing on three themes: * Neuropsychiatric disorders (ADHD, anxiety, depression) and cognition * Depression, anxiety, substance use, abuse, and dependence * Depression, migraine, obesity, and cardiovascular disease The goal of this research is to use her twin database and biological specimens to try to determine which genes play a role in causing these conditions.

Awards

Boomsma has received several awards for her research. These include: * Thompson Award, Behavior Genetics Association (1985) * Junior-Heymans Award, Dutch Psychological Association (1996) * Membership in the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

(Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, KNAW) (2001) * Membership in the

Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities The ''Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen'' (Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities), located on the east side of the Spaarne in downtown Haarlem, Netherlands, was established in 1752 and is the oldest society for the ...

(Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen) (2001) * Spinozapremie (NWO) (2001) * James Shields Award, International Society for Twin Studies (2002) *

Dr Hendrik Muller Prize The Dr Hendrik Muller Prize for Behavioural and Social Sciences is awarded every other year by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences to a researcher or group of researchers who has made a significant or valuable contribution to the beh ...

for Behavioural and Social Sciences (2009) * KNAW Merian Prize (2011) * Elected member of

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

(2012) * Dobzhansky Award (2013) * KNAW Academy Professor Prize (2014) * Honorary doctorate University of Helsinki Medical School (2022), Finland * Ming Tsuang Lifetime Achievement Award (2022) from the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boomsma, Dorret 1957 births Living people People from Huizen Behavior geneticists Dutch psychologists Dutch women psychologists Members of Academia Europaea Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Spinoza Prize winners Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni Academic staff of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam University of Colorado Boulder alumni