Barnabas Crist Bal

Dorret Boomsma Barnabas Crist Bal

Publisher Marketing: Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Dorret I. Boomsma (b. November 18, 1957, Huizen, The Netherlands) is a Dutch biological psychologist specializing in the study of twins. After receiving her Ph. D., Boomsma received an appointment as an assistant professor at the Vrije Universiteit in the Department of Psychonomics. In 1994 she became associate and in 1998 full professor and head of the Department of Biological Psychology. 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. 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 on various physical and mental diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, pediatric bipolar disorder, and depression. This work has been reported in over 450 published papers and one book and has led to many awards for Boomsma.